Dumb Riffs » newspaper

Karl Whitney — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:58:23 +0000

My article about the 1984 Lleyn earthquake is in today’s Irish Times here.

Karl Whitney — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:32:51 +0000

My profile of Bjork in last Friday’s Belfast Telegraph here.

Karl Whitney — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:52:34 +0000

Interviewed ex-Joy Division and New Order bass player Peter Hook today, after a couple of frustrating attempts to catch him yesterday. I’ll put up a link to the interview once it’s published. For now, here’s a link to a Joy Division documentary on You Tube, with thanks to Ed for sending it to me.

Karl Whitney — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:10:47 +0000

“With the price of oil escalating, and the threat of global terrorism, the world is in urgent need of a viable alternative to oil,” Dr Christian Koch told reporters in Kleinhartmannsdorf. “So when I announced that I had developed a method to produce fuel from waste meterial, I had expected positive coverage of my pioneering technique. But instead, the headline in the Bild newspaper last Wednesday was ‘German inventor can turn cats into fuel – for a tank he needs 20 cats,’ and ever since I’ve been receiving hate mail from animal rights campaigners.

“It’s true that my technique could turn dead cats into organic diesel fuel, but so far I’ve never used a single one. Okay, the odd toad or two may have jumped into my patented KDV 500 machine, and perhaps a couple of rabbits, but I mostly produce my fuel from waste products such as paper, plastic, and textiles, with only a few animals thrown in. If I did use cats, each cadaver would produce about 2.5 litres of fuel, so yes, I would need about 20 cats to fill up my car’s tank. But that’s a theoretical calculation, and I wish to make it clear that I’ve never actually used so much as a single kitten.”

From this week’s Private Eye spotted in Deutsche Welle, 18/9/2005 by David Painter

Karl Whitney — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:51:22 +0000

The air outside has been thick with the smell of hops from the Guinness brewery since last night. It must mean I’m back in Dublin, after my travels to London, Paris and West Cork. And it’s September, which means: back to the PhD.

Last Monday’s Irishman’s Diary, about my trip to Groucho Marx’s house on the Upper East Side of Manhattan is available here.

Karl Whitney — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:19:00 +0000

A piece I wrote about W.C. Fields’s visit to Dublin in June 1909 was published in The Irish Times yesterday, and is available to view here. Or here.

Karl Whitney — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:58:00 +0000

My article about Live Earth in today’s Belfast Telegraph here.