The only exception to this is the final list at the bottom which aren’t confirmed but would be interesting to see made.

Like the first part, the list consists of films that I’m interested in rather than a complete list of films currently in production – that would be far too extensive for a blog post!

2013

Broken City – 18 Jan (US)

An ex-cop trailing the wife of New York City’s mayor finds himself immersed in a larger scandal.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg; Russell Crowe; Catherine Zeta-Jones

A Good Day to Die Hard – 14 Feb (UK)

John McClane and his son take on local forces in Russia.

Starring: Bruce Willis

Untitled Star Trek sequel – 17 May (UK)

No storyline currently available.

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch; Karl Urban; Simon Pegg; Chris Pine

The Fast and The Furious 6 – 21 May (UK)

No storyline currently available.

Starring: Jason Statham; Dwayne Johnson; Vin Diesel; Michelle Rodriguez; Paul Walker

Man Of Steel – 14 June (US)

Starring: Henry Cavill (CC/Superman); Russell Crowe (Jor-El); Amy Adams (Lois); Kevin Costner (Jonathon Kent)

The Wolverine (Jul/Aug 2013)

Starring: Hugh Jackman

The Hobbit: There and Back Again – 13 Dec (UK)

Other releases slated for 2013

Kane & Lynch

Bruce Willis & Jamie Foxx

Iron Man 3

Fantastic Four

The Flash

Hancock 2

Robocop reboot

The Birds

Percy Jackson  & The Olympians: The Sea of Monsters

The Chronicles of Riddick sequel

Starring: Vin Diesel & Karl Urban

2014

Kill Bill vol. 3

Starring: Uma Thurman ; Daryl Hannah

Salt 2

Starring: Angelina Jolie

Terminator 5

Untitled Tron Legacy sequel

Untitled Transformers sequel

Untitled X-Men sequel

Untitled Daredevil reboot

Godzilla

The Punisher

Highlander

Nick Fury

Starring: Samuel L Jackson

2015

Bad Boys 3

Starring: Will Smith(?) & Martin Lawrence

Untitled Batman Reboot

I, Robot 2

Starring: Will Smith

2016

Avatar 2

Rumours of:

• Hitman 2
• xXx: The Return of Xander Cage
• Wonder Woman
• Grayskull (He-Man)
• Red Sonja
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Indiana Jones 5
• Justice League: Mortal
• Jumper 2
• Jurassic Park IV
• Sin City 2
• Wanted 2

Wig-wag

You’ll mostly see these outside a fire / ambulance station or at a railway level crossing.

They are easily identified by the single amber and two flashing red lights.

The general rule for responsibility of them is that if it’s on a level crossing then the railway authority is responsible for them and those elsewhere on the highway are the responsibility of the Highway Authority.

Pelican

Pelican push button

The original signalised pedestrian facility which uses the ‘flashing amber’/'flashing green man’.

This type of crossing was proposed to be phased out but some are still being installed in different parts of the country.

This type of crossing has red and green man signals on the opposite side of the crossing, known to engineers as “far-sided” signals.  Many pedestrians like these signals because they can see the green man when they are crossing and will generally speed up if it begins to cross.

This is actually unnecessary because the pedestrian has right-of-way over traffic all the time they are on the crossing, even if the signal turns back to green for traffic.

Puffin

Puffin single unit

The Pedestrian User Friendly INtelligent crossing facility was intended to replace pelican crossings.

This type of crossing is designed to be safer than the older pelican by

(a) eliminating the ‘flashing amber’ period, thus removing the ambiguity from drivers and pedestrians

(b) by varying the length of crossing time to suit high or low volumes of pedestrians or slow moving pedestrians.

For drivers, the puffin looks no different to normal traffic signals.  The cycle is: green to amber, then to red, on to red/amber and finally back to green.

Puffin separate push button & aspect

For pedestrians, the green man appears for a just enough time for them become established on the crossing, going off once they are on the road.  Then an overhead infra red or video imaging camera will follow the pedestrian across the road, controlling the length of time available to pedestrians, generally up to a maximum of around 32 seconds.   This maximum time can be changed by engineers.

A single person crossing quickly would cause the pedestrian stage to end after around 15 seconds. An additional overhead detector monitors waiting pedestrians, so that if the only pedestrian decides not to cross and walks away (or finds a gap in the traffic to cross the road), the demand will automatically be cancelled.

This all goes towards making the puffin a much more efficient crossing for traffic and pedestrians alike.

The layout of the signals is very different for pedestrians, since Puffin installations use red and green man signals in a box above the push button. These are known as “near-side” signals.

Pedestrians tend to not like these so much as the pelican because they are unable to see a signal once they begin their crossing.  However, this was one of the points of introducing the puffin because some authorities were increasing the green man time on pelicans to give pedestrians enough time to cross under green man.  This resulted in unnecessary waiting times for vehicles.

Toucan

Toucan far-side signal (click to enlarge)

Toucan single unit

Toucan separate push button & aspect

So-called because “Two Can Cross”!  Yes, really!

This is a combined pedestrian and cycle crossing facility.

The only obvious difference between this type of crossing and a puffin is the extra width of the crossing to allow for cycles, and an extra signal aspect next to the green man showing a green pedal cycle.

Unlike the puffin these crossings can have either far-sided or near-sided signals, although many authorities nowadays are opting for the near-side option.

Pegasus

Equestrian single unit

Notwithstanding the fact that Pegasus was a “winged” horse, the name seems to have stuck for this type of crossing.

Pegasus is the newest of the crossing types and is an equestrian crossing facility.  These can be a single crossing serving just the equestrian users, but you may also see it combined with either a toucan or puffin facility.  In the latter case this will, in most cases, actually be two separate crossings, normally 3 metres apart, in order to segregate the horses from the pedestrians/cyclists.

The equestrian crossings are easily recognisable by their taller poles and extra push button boxes mounted high on the pole for horse riders and, like the toucan crossing, can be near-sided or far-sided as the engineer requires.

Rotating cone

In all of the above crossings the push button units should have a small rotating cone device on the under-side of the right-hand button.  This rotates when the pedestrian signal turns green and is an indication for visually impaired users that it is safe for them to cross, particularly useful where there is no audible signal.

Before you all go running for cover, this isn’t what you think it is!!

This is simply a list of rules that I’ve been tweeting over the last couple of months.  I haven’t used them all yet but this is the full list … at least until I come up with some more!

#1: You’re born, you live, you die … you just have to figure out what you want to do in between.

#2: Yawning is the body’s way of saying ’10% Battery Remaining’.

#3: You can’t be late until you show up.

#4: Just when you think you’ve got the answer … someone changes the question.

#5: Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.

#6: Don’t run from a sniper. You’ll only die tired.

#7: There are very few problems that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives.

#8: An apple a day will keep anyone away if you throw it hard enough.

#9: DON’T make decisions when you’re angry and DON’T make promises when you’re happy.

#10: When finding someone to date, drinking compatibility is more important than you think.

#11: Love your enemies. It will confuse them!

#12: If you’ve made it to thirty-five and your job still requires you to wear a name tag, you’ve made a serious vocational error

#13: There are seven billion people in this world … don’t let one ruin your day!

#14: When in doubt, mumble.

#15: Dates in your calendar are closer than they appear.

#16: Keep the dream alive … hit the snooze button.

#17: There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither one works.

#18: If you give a person a fish you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use Facebook and they won’t bother you for weeks.

#19: If you try and fail, you should erase all evidence that you tried.

#20: Women are like roads: the more curves they have, the more dangerous they are.

#21: All men are born free and equal. If they go and get married, that’s their own fault.

#22: Don’t make eye contact while eating a banana.

#23: Knowledge is power … if you know it about the right person.

#24: Duct tape is like violence: If it’s not working, you’re not using enough of it.

#25: Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

#26: Knowledge is knowing that pepper is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in fruit salad.

#27: Forgive your enemies, but remember their names.

#28: Never go to bed angry. Stay up and plot your revenge.

#29: Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

#30: Girls are never wrong. Until they are … then they cry … and are, somehow, not wrong again.

#31: Using a remote control is the closest thing most of us will get to being wizards.

#32: Before you give somebody a piece of your mind, be sure you can get by with what you have left.

#33: If you can’t convince them, confuse them.

#34: In a perfect world you’d be able to mark people as spam in real life.

#35: True laziness is being excited when plans get cancelled.

#36: “Come with me if you want to live” is a great line for a movie … not so good when used during sex!

#37: What doesn’t kill you could come back to finish the job, so keep your wits about you.

#38: Women don’t hit harder. They just hit lower.

#39: Embrace your problems … and then make them somebody else’s.

#40: The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it.

#41: Nothing’s more expensive than a woman who is free on the weekend.

#42: Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass … it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

#43: The lazy rule: Can’t reach what you dropped? … then you don’t need it.

#44: You will know no greater panic than when you’re trying to press ‘End Call’ after dialling accidentally.

#45: Friends come and friends go … enemies accumulate.

#46: Trust that little voice in your head that says “Wouldn’t it be interesting if …”; and then do it.

#47: Take up pessimism … you will either be right or pleasantly surprised.

#48: When you’re talking to someone who is really attractive, the odds of you doing something stupid are multiplied by 100.

#49: Everything you do will be at least 100 times louder when you’re trying not to wake anyone up.

#50: Don’t say anything mean about people who can’t read … write it down instead.

#51: Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

#52: Never take a bullet for anyone – if you have time to jump in front of the bullet, they have time to get out of the way.

#53: A good friend will take you to the hospital if you fall into a coma. A great friend will draw a moustache on you on the way.

#54: We don’t stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing.

#55: Criticism is the best sign you’re onto something.

#56: Winning will always attract losers with opinions.

#57: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

#58: You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.

#59: If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten.

#60: If you can stay calm while all around you is chaos, then you probably haven’t completely understood the situation.

#61: Sometimes too much to drink isn’t enough.

#62: On a first date, don’t let on that the cost of the meal worries you.

#63: Never make someone a priority in your life when you are only an option.

#64: A woman is a highly developed, deeply intelligent, infinitely complicated being … she needs to be carefully tricked into doing things.

#65: Never do anything you wouldn’t want to explain to the paramedics.

#66: All people have the right to stupidity but far too many people abuse that privilege!

#67: Don’t be afraid of the dark … be afraid of what’s in the dark.

#68: Don’t fry bacon naked.

#69: The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action.

#70: You don’t learn much when your lips are moving, so never miss a good chance to shut up.

#71: If she sounds cute on the phone, add 20 pounds.

#72: Sleep is for people without Internet access.

#73: Trying is the first step toward failure.

#74: Sometimes the dreams that come true are dreams you never even knew you had.

#75: Never make the same mistake twice … fill your day with a wide variety of mistakes from a large number of sources.

#76: If there’s a road less travelled, don’t take it. You won’t find beer.

#77: Don’t worry about people from your past. There’s a reason why they didn’t make it to your future.

#78: Jogging backwards will NOT help you gain weight.

#79: Always hold your girlfriend/wife’s hand at the mall. If you let it go, she will shop!!

#80: Women are made to be loved, not understood.

#81: We are born wet, naked, and hungry. Then things get worse …

#82: A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

#83: True love is never having to say “How was I ?”

#84: Never ask the cop to hold your beer while you dig out your drivers license.

#85: Alcohol doesn’t solve your problems … but then again, neither does milk.

#86: If a woman tells you “Fine. You do want you want.”, she means “If you do, I’ll stab you in your sleep!”

#87: Women and cats will do as they please; men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.

#88: Even if you preface it with “I think strippers smell nice”, saying “You smell like a stripper” will be misconstrued.

#89: Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

#90: There’s a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can’t get away.

#91: Coffee can make you jumpy and irritable. There are also negative effects.

#92: Before you give somebody a piece of your mind, be sure you can get by with what you have left.

#93: The Jobcentre will not find it funny if you send them a bill for overtime because you carried out job searches on weekends, at night or bank holidays.

#94: Starting a sentence with “If you ask me” almost always indicates that no one asked you.

#95: Speak when you’re angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.

#96: There are three ways to get something done: Do it yourself, hire someone to do it, or forbid your kids to do it.

#97: experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

#98: Just because a path is well travelled does not mean it is the right way.

#99: Everything is funnier when you aren’t allowed to laugh.

#100: In an argument, a woman always has the last word. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

I can hear you asking “Well, that’s all lovely, Kev, but why put it on your blog?”.

Short answer is that I needed a subject for a new post and, in the end, I decided to go start a series of posts on my job.  Nothing job-specific like what I’m actually working on at the moment … I doubt my bosses would be too pleased!

No, I figured it would be safer to be more general and discuss some of the elements of the job, without getting too technical, in the hopes that some of you would (a) find it interesting and (b) learn some things about the subject.

In future posts I’ll explain the subtle differences of the various types of crossing that you’ve probably spotted on your regular journey around your town, as well as the methods that local authorities have at their disposal to control the signalised junctions in their areas and how they work.

So, what better place to start than … well … the beginning!

The story begins in 1868 in London.  It’s December and a mysterious contraption is erected at the junction of George Street and Bridge Street, close to the Houses of Parliament.

At that time it was not uncommon to experience traffic jams in the bustling city streets, not with motor vehicles, but with horse-drawn carts and drays, hansom cabs, omnibuses, and pedestrians all clogging the city streets. A journey through London was also complicated by the many road-works for a new sewer system and the over ground and underground railways.

The first signals

That contraption turned out to be the world’s first attempt to control traffic on the roads and it’s main purpose was to provide a means for pedestrians to affect a safe crossing of the roads.  Obviously, being so close to Parliament, it is highly probable that they were there for the Members of Parliament more than anyone else!

The signal was a “semaphore” based system, rather than the three coloured lamps that we know today.

The semaphore was a tall post with moveable arms, operated by a Police officer. When the arms stuck straight out sideways, it meant stop. At night a gas light at the top was lit. The light had a red lens for stop and a green lens for go.

On January 2, 1869, a gas leak resulted in the lamp exploding, causing serious injury to the policeman who was operating it.

The American connection

The man responsible for the design of that early system was a railway engineer by the name of John Peake Knight, who at the time was designing signalling systems for the railways and simply transferred the idea to the road.

Unfortunately, after the accident meant that his system was never used again and London had to wait until 1929 before traffic signals made a reappearance.

The traffic light as we know it was an American invention.  Exactly who invented it is a matter of contention.

In 1912, a Salt Lake City, Utah, police officer named Lester Wire mounted a handmade wooden box with coloured red and green lights on a pole, with the wires attached to an overhead trolley.

But the most favoured inventor is one Garrett Morgan.  He is given credit for having invented the traffic signal based on his T-shaped design, patented in 1923 and later reportedly sold to General Electric.

It is widely regarded that the world’s first electric traffic signal was installed on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, in August 1914.  That system was based on a design by James Hoge, who received U.S. patent 1,251,666 for his “Municipal Traffic Control System” in 1918.  It consisted of four pairs of red and green lights that served as stop-go indicators, each mounted on a corner post.

Coloured Lights

The red-amber-green colour system derives from a system used by the US rail industry from the 1830s.

The rail companies wanted a means to let their engineers know when to stop or go, with different colours representing different actions.  RED was chosen as STOP because red had long been considered to indicate danger. The other colours were originally white for GO and green for CAUTION.

However, the use of a white light caused some problems. In 1914 it was reported that a red lens fell out of its holder leaving the white light exposed. This resulted in a train  inadvertently running a “STOP” signal and crashing into another train. After this it was decided to change to the now common, green for GO and yellow for caution.

Modern signals still use the red, yellow, and green colours, which were standardised in the US in 1935 as means to ensuring that all traffic signals looked the same throughout the country.

There are seemingly not enough hours in the day to keep your work, family and social life on track, so one or more them start slipping.  If you’re anything like me it’ll be the family and social elements that get kicked to the back-burner, but this isn’t always a good thing.

Sometimes you can actually push yourself into depression.

So you really should make time for things outside of work, time just for yourself. It’s selfish, yes … but necessary for your health and well-being.   Everyone needs some “downtime” to keep functioning normally every day.

Below are just a few of the things that I do to get the stress levels down.

Watch A Movie

Movies are a brilliant way to clear your mind.  They provide an endless source of escapism for you to lose yourself in, if only for a couple of hours.

Sometimes I may plan a whole day of relaxation, in which case I might arm myself with a box set of one of my favourite tv shows.

Go For A Drive

Some people don’t like driving, but I find it quite relaxing.  Especially if I have nowhere in particular to go.  Just drive around … no kids screaming at you, no deadlines to meet. Almost every area has some kind of scenic route you could go and enjoy.

For me, still being relatively new to the county I live in, I still have a lot of areas to explore and so I take every opportunity I can to get out and check out new places.  There are some really beautiful places that can inspire other things, such as painting or photography so why not try combining a drive with a photo or painting mission?

Or just turn the music up and drive around your old haunts – relive some of those teenage years!

Photography

I’m an avid photographer. I’m not what you’d call an expert, but I do love to take photos.

I bought my first proper 35mm SLR camera back in the nineties, but have been a fan of digital since it became affordable.

I finally bought a “proper” digital SLR camera in 2009.  I also have a small point-and-shoot that I carry with me most of the time, “Just in case”!

The big camera stays packed away unless I have something specific I want to shoot, or I have a trip planned, or I’m on one of my “drives” mentioned above.

Painting or sketching can be a good alternative option.

Whatever you do, it’s about using your senses, and if you find you have a knack for one of them, you should explore it to it’s full potential.

Read

If the weather isn’t good for a drive, you could try losing yourself in a good book. If you love books just lay around and read one from your favourite Author and loose track of time.

If you are someone who doesn’t really like long books don’t worry, grab one of your favourite magazines and read away.

This is particularly relaxing in the winter months … reading while sat next to a fire is something I find strangely homely!

Rock Out

Okay, you don’t have to “rock out”!  You can listen to something soothing if that is what you like.

Music can often inspire you to break out a dance move that hasn’t been seen since the school disco, or your cousin’s wedding!

Or it can mellow you out and help you escape your day-to-day worries. It’s another form of mental escape from your life.

Take A Bath

I normally take showers, as most of us probably do – wake up, scramble out of bed, hit the shower for five minutes, and run out the door.

Baths are far more relaxing affairs.  I read somewhere (or maybe someone read it for me!) that a hot bath was a good thing to get your body in the mood for sleep.

I’m not sure how true that is, but it certainly does help to relax after a particularly bad day.

Things got off to a fair start with the journey up to Norwich early Monday morning. And when I say early, I’m talking 04:50 in the AM start.

Problems started an hour and a half in, when the car started to judder like I don’t know what! After about 30 seconds or so it disappeared as quickly as it started.

I made my normal stop-off at a services just outside Norwich for a quick coffee and a breakfast sandwich, only to find that the coffee machine was busted.  “Here we go”, I think, ”the start of things to come”!  Little did I know!

So I’m not going to get my first dose of caffeine until I reach the office. I can deal with that, so I grab my sandwich and a bottle of water which are both consumed in the privacy of the car. The rest of the journey was uneventful.

Whilst at work my HTC developed a fault whereby it was resetting itself. Hopefully, you’ll get the idea where my week’s going. I contacted the phone provider who told me they didn’t have any replacements but would phone me next day. Nice!

On leaving the office the car immediately didn’t feel right. I needed a lot of revs to get the thing moving and then it was making like a kangaroo for the first mile or so until the engine warmed up. Normally I could deal with that but when you’re in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic it’s a little hairy I can tell you!

Things got a lot better once the engine had warmed up and the rest of the journey to my B&B was okay.

Next morning and there was no sign of yesterday’s problems. Hmmm.

Despite this I decided to head home after that day’s work (benefit of being a contractor!).

Whilst at work, the phone provider did actually ring back and they miraculously found a phone that they would be sending the next day by courier. Things were looking up.

I left the office around 1745 and the entire journey home the car was as good as gold.

Once home, after unpacking my stuff and having a bite to eat I switched on the netbook to check up on my emails etc., and the screen decided to display a lovely white bar right down the middle! I was unusually calm and decided to try a restart, hoping that it was just a minor glitch.  I should have known better!

The thing was knackered. I knew it was on its last legs and was in the process of saving for a replacement laptop.   It was at this point that I realised that the old saying about bad things happening in threes had actually been playing out in my own life.  Not that this made me feel any better!

To cut the story short: Yesterday (Wednesday) the replacement phone arrived and seems to be performing better than the old one ever did, especially the battery life! Then today a guy came to look at the car, found a few faults logged in the computer which he cleared and his flashy little machine tested the car and said everything was running fine. Seems as though there was an issue with the Particle Filter(?) or something!

Finally, I went out and got a new laptop thanks to Mr Credit Card!

I definitely do NOT want another week like this one.

Apple need to take a good look at themselves and how potential customers are viewing their actions. The constant whinging that Android are copying their patents smacks of a company that can’t or won’t deal with the actual issue: the iPhone won’t be a market leader if other smartphones can do the same stuff!

I’ve mentioned before that I used to own an iPhone and with all of this moaning I doubt whether I’ll ever go back. The Android system is a lot faster and does everything the iPhone does and more.

Of course, I understand the issue of intellectual rights and  blah, blah, blah … but the fact is that there are plenty of third-party apps available that do everything that Apple is moaning about.

From that point-of-view it won’t stop the Android having all of these facilities, so they’re going to fail if they’re hoping this is going to stop Android equipment being any sort of competitor to them.

Thankfully, it looks like the courts are coming down against Apple, the latest being the latest ruling in Germany that the Galaxy Tablet doesn’t infringe Apple’s copyright.

If Apple have to reduce themselves to this kind of thing to try to guarantee their phones sell then shame on them. It’s about time that they man-up and take on the competition in  a straight fight.

That’s about the only way I’ll have any respect for them ever again.

Related articles

• Apple seeks Samsung Galaxy Nexus ban (somobile.co.uk)
• Apple launching sidelong attacks against Google with new lawsuits in US (arstechnica.com)
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus Revealed To Be Root Of Latest Apple Patent Suit (The Droid Guy)
• Apple Is At It Again, Files New Lawsuit Against Samsung In Germany (an.droid-life.com)
• Apple Blitzkrieg Aims to Kill Android Ice Cream Sandwich (Daily Tech)

So I’ve decided to put them together into two posts. Today’s is all about the films coming out this year and the second will showcase the confirmed and rumoured films for the next few years.

This list is by no means exhaustive being, as it is, a list of films that I’m interested in seeing!

Ghostrider: Spirit of Vengeance – 17 Feb 2012 (UK)

Nic Cage returns as Johnny Blaze.  Johnny hides out to Eastern Europe and is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.

Dir: Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor

Safe House – 24 February 2012 (UK)

A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.

Starring: Denzel Washington; Ryan Reynolds; Brendan Gleeson; Robert Patrick

Bullet To The Head – 13 April 2012 (UK)

After watching their respective partners die, a cop and a hitman form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy.  Sylvester Stallone in the starring role.

Dir: Walter Hill

The Avengers – 27 April 2012 (UK)

Nick Fury and the international agency S.H.I.E.L.D. bring together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki & his various membered army.

Includes: Robert Downey Jr (Stark/Iron Man); Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow); Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury); Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye); Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts); Chris Hemsworth (Thor)

Dir: Joss Whedon

Safe – 4 May 2012 (UK)

Jason Statham stars as a former elite agent who takes on a two-tier mission: rescue a Chinese girl who’s been abducted by the Triads, then use a safe combination to outwit the Russian Mafia, corrupt NYC officials, and the Triads themselves.

Dir: Boaz Yakin

Men in Black 3 – 25 May 2012 (UK)

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones return for the third instalment of Men In Black.

Agent J travels in time to MIB’s early years in the 1960s, to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Agent K and changing history.

Dir: Barry Sonnenfeld

Universal Soldier: A New Dimension – May 2012 (US)

Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren appeared in the first Universal Soldier way back in 1992; Van Damme return in 1999 in Universal Soldier: The Return; both of them starred in 2009’s offering Universal Soldier: Regeneration.  And now they’re both back for a “New dimension”!

No storyline details available.

Dir: John Hyams

Prometheus – 1 June 2012 (UK)

A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

Starring: Michael Fassbender; Charlize Theron; Guy Pearce; Idris Elba

Dir: Ridley Scott

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift – 6 July 2012 (UK)

Included this one because the others were great fun.

This time Manny, Diego, and Sid embark upon another adventure after their continent is set adrift. Using an iceberg as a ship, they encounter sea creatures and battle pirates as they explore a new world.

Dir: Steve Martino & Mike Thurmeier

The Dark Knight Rises – 20 July 2012 (UK)

The one I’ve been waiting for.  I’m a big Batman fan, right from the first comics I read as a kid and Christian Bale epitomises the character for me.

Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, the terrorist leader Bane arrives in Gotham City, pushing it and its police force to their limits, forcing its former hero Batman to resurface after taking the fall for Harvey Dent’s crimes.

Starring: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman); Michael Caine (Alfred); Liam Neeson (Ra’s al Ghul); Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle/Catwoman); Gary Oldman (Chief Gordon); Morgan Freeman (Lucias Fox)

Dir: Christopher Nolan

Expendables 2 – 17 Aug 2012 (US)

Back for another bout of silliness with lots of shooting! This time with added Van Damme and Norris!  Watch out for a cameo from Nocak Djokavic!

Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.

Starring: Jason Statham; Bruce Willis; Sylvester Stallone; Arnold Schwarzenegger; Jean-Claude Van Damme; Jet Li; Chuck Norris; Dolph Lundgren

Dir: Simon West

The Bourne Legacy – 17 Aug 2012 (UK)

Don’t expect to see Matt Damon in this one.

No storyline available.

Starring: Jeremy Renner; Rachel Weisz; Ed Norton; Albert Finney; Stacy Keach

Dir: Tony Gilroy

Total Recall – 22 Aug 2012 (UK)

Based on the Philip K Dick novel “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”.

As the nation states Euromerica and New Shanghai vie for supremacy, a factory worker (Farrell) begins to suspect that he’s a spy, though he is unaware which side of the fight he’s on.

Starring: Colin Farrell; Kate Beckinsale

Dir: Len Wiseman

Resident Evil: Retribution – 14 Sept 2012 (UK)

The fifth in the series and the ideas are getting a little thin on the ground.

In this one Alice fights alongside a resistance movement in the continuing battle against the Umbrella Corporation and the undead.

Starring: Milla Jovovich; Michelle Rodriguez; Jason Isaacs

Dir: Paul W S Anderson

Dredd – 21 Sept 2012 (US)

Judge Dredd’s return to the big screen will hopefully be a bigger success than Sly’s 1995 version.  It also heralds a big year for the star, Karl Urban, who features in a few of the upcoming potential blockbusters.

In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.

Starring: Karl Urban (Dredd);

Dir: Pete Travis

Untitled Taken sequel – 5 Oct 2012 (UK)

In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter.  Co-written by Luc Besson so this ‘should’ be pretty good.

Starring: Liam Neeson; Famke Janssen; Maggie Grace

Dir: Olivier Megaton

Parker – 12 Oct 2012 (US)

A crime/thriller centred on a thief who lives by a code of honour that includes never stealing money from people who need it.

Starring: Jason Statham; Nick Nolte; Jennifer Lopez

Dir: Taylor Hackford

Skyfall – 26 Oct 2012 (UK)

Bond is back!

Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Starring: Daniel Craig (007); Judi Dench (M); Ralph Feinnes; Javier Bardem

Dir: Sam Mendes

47 Ronin – 21 Nov 2012 (UK)

An 18th century set story centered on a band of samurai who set out to avenge the death of their master.

Starring: Keanu Reeves; Hiroyuki Sanada

Dir: Carl Rinsch

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – 14 Dec 2012 (UK)

Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, journeys to the Lonely Mountain accompanied by a group of dwarves to reclaim a treasure taken from them by the dragon Smaug.

This is the first of two parts, the second being released December 2013.

Starring: Elijah Wood; Orlando Bloom; Cate Blanchett; Hugo Weaving; Andy Serkis; Christopher Lee; Martin Freeman; Ian McKellen

Dir: Peter Jackson

Understandably many schools and / or local authorities are concerned about cyber-bullying, some have even taken the over-the-top option of banning social networking completely.

I say “over-the-top” because, whilst I accept that Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and whatever other sites are popular at the moment, have potential security issues for kids, there are some safe alternatives for them to get to used to how they work.

Sites such as Kidblog.org allow a ‘closed’ safe environment for kid’s to blog to each other.

There are a number of reasons that schools should embrace social media.  The obvious first reason is that most of them have age limits – Facebook and Google+ won’t let anyone join who isn’t at least 13.  iTunes has the same age limit.  Therefore any child that has one of these accounts HAS to have had parent’s over-seeing the set-up of those accounts.

I myself, have set up a blog for my niece but it’s private and not findable via a search engine. The only people that can view it are those that have been given access.  I’ve shown her how to post to it and she’s happy enough with it. All comments have to be approved by me before they appear on the site, just in case.

Will a ban stop cyber-bullying?

Short answer: No.

If anything it will move it from an environment where you  have at least some control and visibility, to one where you have none whatsoever.

Perhaps more importantly, children need to be taught how to use  social media safely and securely, and they can’t do this in a vacuum. In today’s modern age keeping your online identity secure and understanding the consequences that sharing information can have are both things that children need to be prepared for.

What constitutes a Social Networking Site nowadays?

Pretty much any site nowadays could be considered “Social Networking”.

Most “experts” would say that a social networking site is one whereby you have a profile, can make a social connection and communicate with people.

The internet has developed so quickly and with hardly any regulation that it’s not always clear.

Is there really that much difference between writing an abusive comment on a blog post and writing a similar thing on their Facebook wall?  I would say not.

Social Media helps creativity

Valuable lessons can be learned, not from the teacher, but from the students interacting between themselves. Social networking provides a solid platform to nurture pupil-to-pupil communication, whether it’s sharing a drawing or photo, providing feed back on someone else’s pictures.

Writing blog posts gets the kids into the habit of writing short pieces on a vast array of subjects, providing them with much-needed experience in being creative with their writing.

Removing that tool restricts their possibilities to develop these skills, that will be an integral part of their later lives.

A number of studies, have proved the positive benefits that use of social media can have as part of a teacher’s toolkit. If you had a powerful, free suite of tools that could raise engagement and and achievement that is surely something to be celebrated?

It seems to me that many education authorities are teaching their kids activities that will have little or no impact on their future lives.  How will this affect their potential success in the 21st century?  Certainly, ignoring some of the most important influences on peoples’ lives today, doesn’t seem like an ideal way of preparing them.

Related articles

• Schools use social media to communicate with students, parents (Tulsaworld.com)
• Social Networking goes to school (Edweek.org)
• Social Networking and Schools (ChildNet International)
• The case for online social networking in education (Jose Picardo)
• Alternative social networking: Over-protection or necessary control (The Guardian)
• Youngsters in India are losing interest in social networking sites, says study (buzzom.com)

Other sites

• Kent Trust Web.org
• Student Jotter.com
• NASUWT website
• UK PRWeb.com
• Classroom20.com
• Webkinz.com
• Club Penguin.com

The first one is the more in-depth and was carried out by marketing firm 11Mark who surveyed 1,000 Americans about their use of phones on toilet breaks.

Three-quarters of those who took the survey admitted to using their smartphones when in the bathroom; one-quarter of them went as far as to admit to never going into the bathroom without their phone!

Usage by phone

This was fairly consistent across all platforms with Android users amounting to 87%,  BlackBerry users 84% and iPhone users 77%.

However, BlackBerry users (75%) are more likely to answer a call than Android (67%) or iPhone (60%) users.

Men v Women

Like the phone stats, men and women were about equal in their bathroom smartphone usage.

74% of males and 76% of women acknowledging they use their phones there.

Perhaps surprisingly, the men appeared to be the more attached to their mobile devices, with 30% saying they never go to the bathroom without their phone, compared to 20% of women.
A small number of men (20%) and women (13%) even admitted to conducting work calls from the stalls!

What people get up to

Reading texts (67%) and answering calls (63%) were the most common tasks performed in the bathroom, according to the survey, although more than half of the respondents (59%) sent a text while on the toilet and more than a third either read e-mail (42%) or confessed to initiating calls (41%) from the bathroom.

Although not as popular as talking and texting, apps are being used too. Men topped that category at 59%, with 43% of women using apps.

The survey suggests that the practice of shopping via smartphones is set to grow. Current figures are 16% of male and 10% of female users have made a purchase from the bathroom.

Use of smartphones for social networking accounted for 29% of the total usage.

Survey 2

Another survey (this time of just over 1,000 Canadians) concerning smartphones is, I think, supposed to be a little more light-hearted, although I found it slightly annoying.

It was carried out for online dating site Match.com and attempts to ‘compartmentalise’ us depending on which phones we use.

For example, the survey suggests that if you are an iPhone user you are more likely date someone in your workplace. This because a quarter of iPhone singles said they had an office romance in the last five years.

Android users such as myself are, according to the survey, most likely to have sex on a first date with 62% saying they’ve done the deed after date number one. Comparably, 57% iPhone users and 48% of BlackBerry users made the same confession.

And don’t think you can escape if you’re a BlackBerry user.  No no, you apparently are the most likely to drink alcohol on a first date with 72% reporting having a boozy beverage on a first night out. Plus 67% of BlackBerry users say they have experienced love at first sight.

Finally, another slight on Android fans:  the survey found that they’re the most likely to have a one-night stand.

Guess I’m a BIG exception to this … I’ve never had a one-night stand, nor have I “done the deed” on a first date.

Related articles

• Smartphone Owners Prone to Using their Devices in the Bathroom (pcworld.com)
• Survey: Android users most likely to engage in hanky-panky on first date (digitaltrends.com)
• Study: 74% Of Americans Use Their Phones On The Toilet (huffingtonpost.com)
• Match.com Survey Reveals Android Users Prefer One Night Stands While iPhone Users Are Most Likely To Get Busy With A Coworker (cultofmac.com)
• Survey: Android Users Most Likely to have One Night Stands – ITProPortal (itproportal.com)