Last week I caught an evening of flamenco at Kino's Cafe where I ended up sitting across from a computer geek from Iceland. He'd been back there over Christmas and I asked how it was doing after the collapse of their currency. He told me things were very bad, many people were talking about emigrating, and that he was sad for the future of the people that live there.

I've now just finished reading Michael Lewis' hilarious and brilliant "Wall Street on the Tundra", from the latest issue of Vanity Fair, and it is easily the best article I've read since David Foster Wallace's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again."  I almost spit out my popcorn when I read:

Yet another hedge-fund manager explained Icelandic banking to me this way: You have a dog, and I have a cat. We agree that they are each worth a billion dollars. You sell me the dog for a billion, and I sell you the cat for a billion. Now we are no longer pet owners, but Icelandic banks, with a billion dollars in new assets.

Bloody vikings, the inherent superiority of women, Bjork, international finance, fish, elves and exploding SUVs - this article has it all and will leave you in stitches. Go read it now (warning - fairly black humour!)