gnarled into a maze unfit for man or beast

[extemporanea]

I hate checking board schedules. I hate it with the raging fire of a thousand suns. A half-assed toaster chip programmed by a semi-literate orang utan could do a better job than I do, in a fraction of the time, and without experiencing this vast, mind-numbing ennui and the concomitant desire to feast on the flesh of the living. But of course academic admin's tendency to operate in well-worn circular grooves precludes the logical solution.

Therefore, as is traditional, I distract myself with linkery. Some of these are nicked off Whatever.

• This is an entertaining dissection of Kingdom of Heaven by an actual medieval history professional with more than his fair share of snark. We like him, although in other posts he's possibly unnecessarily mean about Neil Gaiman.
  
  
• The latest issue of Flurb is up. This is an odd, pleasingly evil-minded and slightly dodgy story which does exquisite things with language.
  
  
• This is an analysis of why the Icelandic banking system crashed. It's eye-opening, astounding and terrifying in its characterisation of corporate greed as a largely male vice. It also makes me want to visit Iceland on account of how it appears to be peopled entirely by bloody-minded and highly educated eccentrics.
  
  
• Finally, Random House is giving away free online sf novels including His Majesty's Dragon and Red Mars, both of which you should probably read if you haven't already.