Author Archives: Kevin Murnane

About Kevin Murnane

I am a cognitive scientist, a freelance writer and author (Nutrition for Cyclists: Eating and Drinking Before, During and After the Ride), a musician (Parametric Monkey - stream on Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube), a bookstore owner (Monkey Books - first edition mystery, science fiction, fantasy and more, listed on ABE books, Amazon and Biblio), and a retired house painter, children's theater actor & owner, and university professor. I'm also a regular contributor to the technology section at Forbes and I write a cycling blog called Tuned In To Cycling. You can follow me on twitter @TheInfoMonkey and contact me at murnane.kevin@gmail.com.

How Dogs and Cats Drink

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Kevin Murnane

Like a lot of other people, I assumed that when dogs and cats lap water out of a bowl they scoop the water up with their tongues. Some recent research in the field of fluid dynamics that makes use of … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged cats, dogs, drinking, fluid dynamics, pets, science | Leave a comment

What Does Xbox One Sales Have “More Than Tripled” Mean?

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Kevin Murnane

We’re often told that something increased or decreased by a certain percentage. This isn’t very useful unless we’re also given some additional information. Here’s an example. In mid November online media and news websites that cover gaming and digital technology … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Gaming, Numbers Game | Tagged critical thinking, Forbes, numbers game, percentages, Playstation 4, Playstation 4 sales, Xbox One, Xbox One sales, Yusuf Mehdi | 1 Comment

Make a Dragon Wanna Retire

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Kevin Murnane

Like that big band funk? Check out Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars. When I first put this post in the que for The Info Monkey, Uptown Funk was just another track among many. While the post was … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged Bruno Mars, funk, Mark Ronson, music, music video, Uptown Funk, video | 1 Comment

Linking College Degrees and Occupations

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Kevin Murnane

Suppose you wanted to create an infographic that showed the occupations of people with a particular college degree. One simple and clear way to do this is with a pie chart like the one to the right which shows the occupations … Continue reading →

Posted in Information visualization | Tagged college degrees, infographics, information visualization, many-to-many mapping, occupations, one-to-many mapping, pie chart | Leave a comment

Making Charitable Donations Through Amazon

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Kevin Murnane

Last February we were very fortunate to get a wonderful dog named Chance through an animal rescue outfit in the Washington DC area called PetConnect Rescue. They are a relatively small, mostly volunteer organization that was founded in 2005 to help … Continue reading →

Posted in Charitable giving | Tagged Amazon, Amazon Smile, charity, non-profit, PetConnect Rescue | Leave a comment

What It Is

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Kevin Murnane

The Info Monkey aims to bring you posts that are interesting, informative, intriguing, exciting, or thought provoking without regard for genre or category. Thoughtful discussion is always welcome; ranting or vitriol are not. Follow on twitter (@TheInfoMonkey), tumblr (The Info … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Amazing Greenhouse Gas Simulation from NASA

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Kevin Murnane

Take a look at this amazing simulation of how carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gases change in volume and move through the atmosphere over time. The swirling red/orange/yellow colors in the northern hemisphere represent carbon dioxide while the white/gray/black colors … Continue reading →

Posted in Information visualization | Tagged carbon dioxide, computer models, earth, global warming, information visualization, Moore's Law, NASA | Leave a comment