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Note to Self

Am I Normal?

Note to Self

WNYC Studios

Self-improvement, Tech, Note, Npr, Education, Public, Wnyc, Manoush, York, To, New, Self, Radio, Business, Technology, Relationships, City, Society & Culture, Zomorodi, Newtechcity

4.72.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2018

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mona Chalabi, data editor at the Guardian, takes the numb out of numbers. She joins Manoush to talk about stats versus stories, how data defines normal, and average testicle size. That one’s an interactive iPhone chart. For real.

Her hand-drawn illustrations are in her Instagram feed, if you want to check them out as you listen. Specifically, Manoush and Mona talk about the “iceberg of pervs,” women in Congress, the hairiness series, and male vocal change.

*all credit for the numb/numbers wordplay goes to Mona, via her Twitter bio.

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Listen to Mona's new podcast, Strange Bird.

Subscribe to our Wednesday morning newsletter for info on new episodes, our must-reads, and the news you need to get just a little geeky.

Follow us on Twitter @manoushz and @notetoself, or on Facebook. Email us any time at [email protected] - we love to hear from you. Responses from real humans, not bots, promise.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, everybody, before we start a heads up, there is some cursing in this episode and a discussion

0:07.0

about, well, some of the discussion is about bodies and body parts, certain body parts.

0:12.4

If you're listening with people of an age who maybe, I don't know, you don't feel like

0:17.5

having them hear it, then put some headphones on.

0:21.7

If you have already got headphones on or you don't care, get ready for a treat.

0:28.9

I just remember having a conversation with a friend of mine about a sexual encounter that she

0:32.5

had and about the testicles in that sexual encounter. And then she just takes me a week later and

0:39.5

was like, what is the average testicle size? And I was like, I better can answer that with data.

0:45.2

If you can answer that question with data, is there anything data can't do?

0:51.7

I'm a new sorority, your guide to this accelerating world, and we talk about all kinds of subjects on this show.

1:00.2

What dating apps have done to romance? Finding the right amount of screen time for yourself, your kids,

1:06.6

what it would mean to live in a world where Alexa dresses you on a daily basis.

1:11.4

Those are just some of the topics we've covered recently. But the point is, everything is moving fast.

1:17.6

Our lives are changing extremely quickly thanks to technology and media. And sometimes

1:24.9

it's hard to find someone who is keeping up with it all. But once in a while, I come across someone

1:30.3

who is doing more than keeping up. They are making sense of it all. And note to self, when you find

1:37.6

that person, you look and watch and listen to everything they do. They become a great lens to the

1:46.1

internet. And in this case, to data. I want to introduce you to the wonderful Mona Chalabi.

1:53.2

She is at the guardian where she tracks everything that she finds interesting. And therefore,

1:59.5

makes it interesting to her audience with data. She's a total awesome nutcase.

2:07.2

Here's one of the things that she does that is just so cool. She draws by hand these incredible

2:12.4

charts that illustrate answers to questions you didn't know you had. Or you knew you had these

...

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