You Might Like… Some Samples of Stimuli on Volcanoes, Security, Dickens, Eco, Russia, Percolators and More

This is a post in a series appearing each Friday, setting out some articles, videos, podcasts and the like that contributors at Slaw are enjoying and that you might find interesting. The articles tend to be longer than blog posts and shorter than books, just right for that stolen half hour on the weekend. It’s also likely that most of them won’t be about law — just right for etc.

Please let us have your recommendations for what we and our readers might like.

The Atlantic: In Focus – The Year in Volcanic Activity – Alan Taylor – 36 astonishing photographs of volcanoes and their works done in 2011; a good reminder of the pettiness of most of our complaints and projects.

Vanity Fair – Does Airport Security Really Make Us Safer? – Charles C. Mann – “As you stand in endless lines this holiday season, here’s a comforting thought: all those security measures accomplish nothing, at enormous cost. That’s the conclusion of Charles C. Mann, who put the T.S.A. to the test with the help of one of America’s top security experts.”

Wired Magazine – The Curse of Cow Clicker: How a Cheeky Satire Became a Videogame Hit – Jason Tanz – “It’s a Facebook game called Cow Clicker, and it’s unlike anything Bogost ever made before, a borderline-evil piece of work that was intended to embody the worst aspects of the modern gaming industry. He meant Cow Clicker to be a satire with a short shelf life. Instead, it enslaved him and many of its players…”

History Today – Dickens and the Construction of Christmas – Geoffrey Rowell – History Today brings back a piece from 1993, a fascinating look at the ways in which the English have—and have not—celebrated Christmas over the years, and, of course, of the profound influence of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

Together For Jackson County Kids – One teacher’s approach to preventing gender bullying in a classroom – Melissa Bollow Tempel – Dealing with the tricky and socially fundamental issue of gender in a first grade classroom.

YouTube – The dolphin jetpack that lets you swim like one – Jeremy Barnes – If your Christmas list hasn’t yet been sent to Santa, you might want to include one of these. Franky Zapata, a French jet skier, demonstrates a device that will run Santa about €5,000.

iPolitics.ca – How Winnipeg slashed its auto theft rate and what the rest of Canada can learn – Rick Linden – A brief piece on the success Winnipeg has had with its “Auto Theft Suppression Strategy” of “targeted deterrence.”

YouTube – Umberto Eco on The Prague Cemetery, Part 1 – Umberto Eco – The famous semiotician and novelist (who ignored his father’s advice to become a lawyer) talks with CBC’s Michael Enright at the Toronto Public Library about his most recent book. Note that this is only Part 1—keep your eyes open for Part 2. Note too that he opens with a discourse on why he once said that Apple was Catholic and PC was Protestant.

FT Magazine – Who runs Russia? – Charles Clover – A profoundly depressing examination of the mafia culture in the world’s largest country.

Mental Floss – 11 Sounds That Your Kids Have Probably Never Heard – Kara Kovalchik – A series of very short videos that feature the noise of nostalgia for those d’un certain âge.