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Gay Birmingham Remembered
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Memories by Barbara Carter
Barbara was born in 1954 and lived in Germany until the age of three; she moved to Birmingham to go to University in 1973. Born in 1945 Bridget was adopted and brought up in Broadway in the Cotswolds and also moved to Birmingham for university, in...
Closet affairs
Bridget talked about life in the swinging sixties, where anything goes. She had a number of closet affairs with women, including another nurse while she was working at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. After a particularly painful break ...
Cross dressing queens at the Trocadero
Bridget hadn�t heard of anything going on for lesbians and gay men, other than the cross dressing queens that went to the Trocadero. ...
Barbara�s job as a solicitor
After she qualified as a solicitor in about 1983/84 and got her first job, Barbara�s boss (Brendon Flemming) invited Bridget as Barbara�s partner to a �do� at the solicitors. Then he devised a game of the men removing their trousers, then he...
Bridget worked at Lee Hospital in Bromsgrove in the sixties, �There were two women, a nursing Sister called Hardy and a nursing assistant called Rose, Rose and Hardy. Rose was 100% butch, she never wore anything other than men�s clothes, she had a...
Women�s Liberation Movement
The Women�s Liberation Movement was a life-transforming experience.Barbara compared the old butch/femme stereotypes with the way she came out. �That interestingly was very different from how I got into recognising my sexuality, which was through f...
Politicising through the Women�s Liberation Moveme
Barbara said that �During the early and mid seventies, 74 onwards, it was a very big political movement with lots of different strands and factions, there was a lot of infighting and stuff, not least between lesbians and straight women within the ...
Tensions with heterosexual women
90 Tensions with heterosexual womenFor heterosexual women, one of the big tensions, was that the straight women were made to feel, did feel, that they had to apologise for their sexuality, it was some how more right on to be lesbian. For some wome...
Seventies feminists rejected trans women
Bridget said the Women�s Liberation Movement was also �a safe haven for the misfits who would have had some difficulty fitting into society�. Barbara said, �Yes, there were some lesbians who were on the periphery and coming more from the sexuality...
Barbara said that the Star Club was the centre of what happened in Birmingham, it was the social club of the Communist Party, in Essex Street, close to what is now the gay area. They made the Star Club available for loads of women�s things and les...
Working for Lesbian Line/Switchboard
Barbara worked for the Switchboard for a while in the late seventies / early eighties. �For people who weren�t part of the gay or feminist movement, or even the more standard butch � femme scene which was still out there � making contact was...
The scene in the seventies
Bridget said there wasn�t really a gay area 9around the mid to late 1970s), but places dotted over the city, the Grosvenor Hotel up Hagley Road, the Greyhound (Holloway Head) at Five Ways, the Matador in town, the Jester, mainly men, the Silver Web...
The Old Moseley Arms
Bridget said �The biggest meeting place round here (King's Heath) was the Old Moseley Arms - the �Old Mo� which was quite amazing really � in the public bar at the front, were prostitutes, tramps, alcoholics, police drinking, and a huge lesbian cl...
Lesbian Feminist meetings at Tindal Street School
�Opposite the Old Moseley Arms was Tindal Street School, which allowed lesbian feminist meetings to be held on a Sunday, and those were hilarious, you could look back now and do a sit com � there was one very diminutive woman who used to knit all ...
Trouble at the venues
Bridget said that �Some of the other places which were known as a gay pub, like the Jester, people would be tactile, but not so much at the Old Mo, although everyone knew it was a load of dykes. There was trouble at times, at of the places, for ex...
Political v straight lesbians
Bridget said �There were two completely different types of lesbian gathering in Birmingham � the political lesbians and feminists, and the straight dykes, and at most venues there was a predominance of one or the other. At the Old Mo there were ve...
Academic bullying amongst lesbians
Bridget said that during the mid seventies to mid eighties, �There was a great deal of academic bullying in the lesbian feminist movement, there was quite a lot of repression by people who were the most vocal and the most literate, on those that w...
Non-monogamy
The other great divider (between feminists) was the monogamy versus non-monogamy debate, which Bridget said �That was a cop out for people that wanted to whizz round as many parties as they wanted to. There was a period when everyone thought it wa...
Barbara said �Some women were quite empowered, got drawn into it and helped move things on, especially once women got beyond the self-destructive cliques that women�s liberation turned into and really just ended up destroying itself as a proper vi...
Barbara said �One of the chief tenets of women�s liberation was consciousness raising groups, which transformed things, as women who had been isolated with different men, were coming together in groups, and this enabled women to share their experi...
Men�s view of lesbians nowadays
Bridget said that �Nowadays, lesbians are quite objectified by men in porn, so now it�s a macho thing to like lesbians�. Barbara said that �There has been the feminisation of lesbians, lipstick lesbians, it�s gone mainstream, glamorous bimbos doin...
Younger lesbians nowadays
Bridget doesn�t think young lesbians are the same as in the 70s/80s, she doesn�t think they are politicised. �In our day, the Iraq/Iran thing, we had our doc martens on and would be going somewhere, not just about gay and lesbian issues, we would ...
Greenham Common women
Bridget said how proud she was of the Greenham Common Women, (a camp set up at an American base which was using it as a nuclear base) �There was lots of protest going on about nuclear war and missiles being used. Women camped out there for several...
Lesbian feminist views on Margaret Thatcher in the
�What did lesbians and feminists think of Margaret Thatcher? We loathed her, most of us seeing her would physically shudder, yet she was put up as woman prime minister but had such a male way of doing things with no interest in progressing women�s ca...
Inequalities for women in the seventies and eighti
Barbara said �It�s hard to imagine now but there were such huge inequalities, huge differences in pay, even in the early eighties there weren�t that many women lawyers around. There was a Women�s Centre in Balsall Heath, a little terraced house, but ...
Lesbians gravitated to Kings Heath
Barbara and Bridget live in Kings Heath. Barbara said �I�ve lived in Balsall Heath, Kings Heath or Moseley since my second or third year in university, which is the area most lesbians gravitate to be with others of the same kind, lots of feminists, l...
Sexism on the golf course in 2001
Barbara and Bridget got into a huge row about women�s access to private golf clubs. �We were outed in the Observer, at the time that was happening, we were getting abusive phone calls, �Fucking lesbians ruining our golf club�, and so on. We were set ...
Positive Police response
Bridget and Barbara contacted the police when they were getting the obscene calls regarding their objections to the sexism at the golf club. �It would not be PC if the Police didn�t respond appropriately, there is still some homophobia but a lot of p...
Getting active again
�We�ve tended to get very isolated from things, which is a shame, but what is the movement, now, we used to go to things that were for younger people, what else is there, there isn�t a big movement that we would be part. Bridget said �There was about...
Lesbians� relationships to gay men
Barbara said for her the relationship between lesbians and gay men has changed. �In my most radical phase, in the 70s, it was so women focussed to the exclusion of men, obviously we identified as lesbians and as such, with gay liberation, but there w...
Coming out to their families
Barbara said �Feminism provided a smoke screen for coming out, while I made it clear to my family that my politics had changed and I was into Women�s Liberation and goodness knows what else, going through their minds with the associations with bra bu...
Bridget came out in 1965. Having been married for 50 years, Bridget�s father ended up living with them for years while he was in his eighties. She said �Some people have this amazing ability, they can�t see what�s right in front of them. My father li...
Regarding coming out at work Barbara said �On the work front, it�s not our mission in life to say �I�m gay� but equally if the issue crops up I�ve never lied about it, and people do know, and it�s quite liberal. In the early stages I would have been ...
Civil partnership after 26 years together
After 26 years together, Barbara and Bridget became civil partners. They had their Civil Partnership ceremony on 29th September 2007 at Birmingham Register Office. ...
Content and data © 2008 Gay Birmingham Remembered.
Gay Birmingham Remembered take no responsibility for the factual accuracy of any information contained herein.


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Robert De Niro Slams Trump's "World of Dishonesty and Greed"
On the same night the president was in Los Angeles for a fundraiser, the two-time Oscar winner took the chance to publicly excoriate him, again.
By Bill Higgins
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The occasion was a charity fundraising dinner, but Robert De Niro was anything but charitable in his remarks about President Donald Trump and what he called "the Trump world of dishonesty and greed."
The dinner, on March 13 at the Dolby ballroom in Los Angeles' Hollywood & Highland complex, benefited the Fulfillment Fund, an organization that assists underprivileged children in receiving a higher education.
De Niro began by speaking about the fund's work and then said "a college education is important, but education without humanity is ignorance. Look at our president. He made it through the University of Pennsylvania, so he was exposed to a quality education, but he's still an idiot. And he lacks any sense of humanity or compassion."
"Of course, he did have to overcome the curse of growing up rich and spoiled," said the actor. "And endure the heartbreak of bone spurs. Maybe that had an effect." (After his college graduation in 1968 Trump lost his deferment and could have been drafted in a year when roughly 300,000 men entered the army through the Selective Service system with most going to Vietnam. He received a medical deferment for having bone spurs in his heels and was not called up.)
"And it is especially appropriate tonight, Trump treats education as a con — a way to make a profit at the expense of the suckers. Anyone here planning to get their education at Trump University?" De Niro asked rhetorically. "To be silent in the face of such villainy is to be complicit."
De Niro ended his comments about Trump by saying, "But don't be discouraged, young people. Get your degree from a legitimate institution; you don't have to become president — you can get an honest job. Or become president — why not? — and restore integrity and dignity to the job."
Midway through the speech there were one or two boos, but when De Niro yelled back at the dissenters he received a massive round of applause.
The two-time Oscar winner's speech came on a day when the president was making his first visit to California since the election. While the actor was speaking, the president was finishing a fundraising dinner at the Beverly Park mansion of Edward Glazer, co-chairman of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then went on to spend the night at a downtown hotel.
Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin Address Crowd at Anti-Trump Rally in NYC

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It is very difficult to find the best TOEFL prep book for your particular situation.
This exam has many different options for test study guides, from many different companies. The ETS TOEFL is a very difficult test, and has a huge say on your future.
Because of these reasons I have created this list of the best TOEFL iBT prep books. All of the info below should make it very easy to choose which review guide is right for you.
Want to see which came out on top?
Barron's TOEFL iBT Superpack "
Barron's TOEFL iBT Superpack is our best overall study guide bundle on our list of the top TOEFL prep books.
This "superpack" includes plenty of practice tests and over 20 model essays and model integrated tests. There are copious amounts of practice questions to prepare you for exam day.
The answers and explanations for these practice exams take up over 1/3 of the practice exam book. This means that the practice exam answers and justifications are very exhaustive and in-depth. You won't be left scratching your head in confusion after a difficult question.
These explanations also tell you why each individual answer is wrong, it does not just focus on the right answers like most other guides. Barron's goes into depth on 4 main skills: note-taking, paraphrasing, summarizing and synthesizing. This bundle guides you through these skills and does so well.
The main imperfection of Barron's Superpack is that some of the listening portions sound like someone is reading instead of talking. On the actual exam there would be a lot of uhms and pauses during the listening portion. These are not included in the Barron's lecture tapes.
There's also a minor issue with the reading questions. The exam will ask you to summarize the lecture, while these questions ask you to summarize the reading. Even with these faults, we rank Barron's Superpack as our top overall study guide bundle for the exam.
Cambridge Preparation for the TOEFL Test Book is our second best overall prep guide on our list of the top rated TOEFL iBT preparation books.
The abilities that you need for the test are broken down extremely systematically. You won't be left scratching your head in confusion from not being able to understand a certain topic. This prep book also gives very ample amounts of skill repetition and gives very good practice questions.
The lessons and drills are for every single skill that you will need on the test. The chapters are organized into step-by-step lessons that start from basic skills and move to more advanced skills. This makes it very stress-free to learn everything that you need to know for the exam, increasing your score.
One weakness with Cambridge is that some of the practice material is actually too difficult compared to the actual exam and not very well written. Even though it will prepare you just fine for the exam, it is sometimes challenging to get through.
Another flaw is that some of the explanations for the practice tests are too short. Sometimes you are left wondering why you got a question incorrect and, therefore, cannot learn from your mistakes. We have ranked Cambridge Preparation for the TOEFL Test Book as our number 2 best overall TOEFL iBT study guide.
The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test is are third best overall and best value study guide on our list of the top ETS TOEFL review books.
Since the Official Guide is an official prep book, the practice questions within are written by the writers of the actual exam. The sample questions on the practice exams capture the difficulty of the actual test. They are not too east or too hard. This means that you will not be surprised on exam day with question types or question difficulty that you have not seen before.
There is also an abundant volume of questions to practice.
One flaw of the Official Guide is that the sample exams take up more than 60% of the book. This means that this book is very low on detail and review. You may want to purchase another guide if you are looking for in-depth English and grammar review.
Also, the description of the exams give almost no instruction or tactics for taking the test. In spite of its weaknesses, the Official Guide is our third best overall and best value study guide for our list of the best TOEFL review guides.
Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL iBT is our top pick for speaking and writing prep guide on our list of the top rated TOEFL prep guides.
As you very well may know, reading and listening is one thing, but speaking and writing is another different story. Receiving information and assembling and conveying information is very different. This is why a lot of people have difficulty on the talking and writing portions, and not on the understanding and listening portions of the exam.
Speaking and Writing Strategies is geared towards those types of people. This guide has lots of advanced strategies for the speaking and writing portions of the exam that no other prep books have.
Obviously the one main flaw of this title is that it only focuses on speaking and writing tactics. If you would like help on reading and listening, you will need to purchase another prep book to complete your study. Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL iBT is our top pick for speaking and writing for the TOEFL exam.
Kaplan TOEFL iBT Premier is our fifth best overall prep guide on our list of the best TOEFL iBT prep guides.
This study guide provides realistic descriptions and advice for test taking strategies. You will know all of the tactics and strategies for achieving your best mark on the exam.
This book also includes a sufficient number of practice exams and questions. In the reading and listening sections especially, the answer explanations are done very well and thoroughly. You will effortlessly be able to learn from your mistakes, thus increasing your score.
One fault of Kaplan's is that the language is a bit too advanced for some students to read comfortably and comprehend everything. It may be time-consuming to go through certain chapters and segments when it does not need to be that difficult, wasting your time.
Also, some of the practice tests have mistakes. It is frustrating to be wondering why you got a certain question wrong when you actually got it right. Because of these flaws, Kaplan's is our fifth best overall TOEFL prep book.
Our suggestions offer the most cost effective way to study for the exam without breaking the bank. Even though Barron's Superpack is the most in-depth and has tons of practice questions, it is also the most expensive and is the lengthiest.
Buy Barron's Superpack if you are looking for the best overall study guide and do not care about price or length. If you are looking for something shorter and cheaper that focuses on practice questions, then pick up The Official Guide. And, of course, if your weaknesses are either speaking or writing then pick up Speaking and Writing Strategies.


The Big Apples's Madison Square Garden is where die hard Knicks and Rangers fans come to congregate in Midtown, New York. MSG also hosts some of the hottest entertainment in music and alike – located at 4 Pennsylvania Plaza.
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Protein quantification is an essential step in many proteomics experiments. A number of labeling approaches have been proposed and adopted in mass spectrometry (MS) based relative quantification. The mTRAQ, one of the stable isotope labeling methods, is amine-specific and available in triplex format, so that the sample throughput could be doubled when compared with duplex reagents.
Here we propose a novel data analysis algorithm for peptide quantification in triplex mTRAQ experiments. It improved the accuracy of quantification in two features. First, it identified and separated triplex isotopic clusters of a peptide in each full MS scan. We designed a schematic model of triplex overlapping isotopic clusters, and separated triplex isotopic clusters by solving cubic equations, which are deduced from the schematic model. Second, it automatically determined the elution areas of peptides. Some peptides have similar atomic masses and elution times, so their elution areas can have overlaps. Our algorithm successfully identified the overlaps and found accurate elution areas. We validated our algorithm using standard protein mixture experiments.
We showed that our algorithm was able to accurately quantify peptides in triplex mTRAQ experiments. Its software implementation is compatible with Trans-Proteomic Pipeline (TPP), and thus enables high-throughput analysis of proteomics data.
Introduction of mass spectrometry (MS) provides massive biological information of proteins for both qualitative and quantitative analysis . Recently, quantitative analyses have become of particular interest in proteomics research . To determine the expressional differences of proteins across samples representing different physiological or disease states, various experimental approaches have been developed: spectral counting, stable isotope labeling, and label-free quantification .
Stable isotope labeling is one of popular methods for protein quantification. Peptides of two or more samples are differently labeled using stable isotopes to introduce mass shifts. Then they are experimented within a single LC/MS run, so that the sample throughput could be multiplied when compared with that of label-free quantification. There are various labeling techniques: ICAT , SILAC , 18O labelling , iTRAQ , mTRAQ , and so on. Numerous computational tools for the stable isotope labeling have also been developed, including XPRESS , ASAPRatio , STEM , ZoomQuant , MSInspect , Multi-Q , Q3 , VIPER , MaxQuant , Census , and IEMM .
In this paper, we focus on the isotope label mTRAQ, which is a nonisobaric variant of the iTRAQ and was originally designed for multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) . The mTRAQ labels were first designed in two chemically identical versions. The heavy-label is identical to the iTRAQ 117 label and its mass is 145 Da. The light-label is chemically identical to the heavy-label, but it has no 13C or 15N, so its mass is 141 Da. They are labeled at lysine residue and N-terminal. We verified that the mTRAQ is a powerful isotope label for MS-based relative quantification , and developed a new algorithm to improve the accuracy of peptide quantification in mTRAQ labeling based MS experiments . Recently, the mTRAQ has become available in triplex format, where the label with 149 Da is added.
One of the major obstacles to accurate peptide quantification is the overlap of isotopic clusters. There are two types of overlap problems, one is the overlap between differently labeled peptides, and the other is the overlap between chemically different peptides. The former can happen when the mass difference between labels is very small. In mTRAQ experiments, the mass difference between differently labeled peptides is 4 Da if the original peptide has no lysine, so it is important to separate their isotopic clusters correctly. The latter could be found in all kinds of MS-based experiments. For peptide quantification, most of the times we are interested in relative quantification of peptides whose amino acid sequences are known. When we know the sequences of peptides of interest, there are better chances to recognize the overlaps from differential labeling by comparing them to the theoretical isotopic distributions.
In this manuscript, we present a new data analysis algorithm for peptide quantification in triplex mTRAQ experiments. It is an extension of the algorithm for duplex mTRAQ experiments . We identify isotopic clusters of triplex labeled peptides and separate their intensities using cubic equation modelling when there are overlaps. We also designed an automatic determination algorithm for the elution area of peptides, which could recognize the overlap between chemically different peptides. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm using standard protein mixture experiments.
Three kinds of standard protein mixtures (Std1, Std2, and Std3) were prepared for mTRAQ quantification testing by mixing 7 bovine proteins. Each mixture consisted of alpha-lactalbumin (LALBA), beta-casein (CSN2), serotransferrin (TF), alpha-S1-casein (CSN1S1), alpha-S2-casein (CSN1S1), cytochrome c (CYCS) and beta-lactoglobulin (LGB) in 50 mM Tris pH 8.0 at different amounts as summarized in Table 1.
The standard protein mixtures were labeled with mTRAQTM reagent (AB Sciex, Foster City, CA, USA) as described in  and . Proteins were reduced with 50 mM tris (2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Rockford, IL, USA) for 1 hr at 60 °C, treated with 200 mM methyl methanethiosulfonate (MMTS; Tokyo Chemical Industry, Tokyo, Japan) for 10 min at 25 °C, and then diluted 10 fold with 50 mM Tris (pH 8.0), and digested with sequencing-grade trypsin (Promega, Madison, WI, U.S.A.) at 37 °C overnight at the protein:trypsin molar ratio of 40:1. Tryptic digests were desalted with C18 solid-phase extraction cartridge and dried in vacuo. The dried samples were reconstituted in 500 mM triethylammonium bicarbonate (Sigma-Aldrich St Louis, MO, USA) and incubated with appropriate mTRAQ reagents at 25 °C for 1 hr. For the Set1 experiment, Std1 was labeled with mTRAQ® ∆0 (Light), Std2 with mTRAQ® ∆4 (Medium), and Std3 with mTRAQ® ∆8 (Heavy). For the Set2 experiment, Std1 was labeled with Heavy reagent, Std2 with Medium, and Std3 with Light (Table 1). After the labeling reaction, samples were dried in vacuo, redissolved in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid, mixed equally, desalted with a mixed-mode strong cation-exchange (MCX) cartridge and dried again.
Labeled sample mixtures were reconstituted in 0.4% acetic acid and an aliquot (~1 μg) was injected to a reversed-phase Magic C18aq column (15 cm x 75 μm) on an Eksigent multi-dimensional liquid chromatography (MDLC) system at the flow rate of 300 nL/min. The column was equilibrated with 95% buffer A (0.1% formic acid in H2O) + 5 % buffer B (0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile) prior to use. The peptides were eluted with a linear gradient of 10 to 40% Buffer B over 40 min.
The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system was coupled to a linear trap quadrupole (LTQ) XL-Orbitrap mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific, San Jose, CA, U.S.A.). The spray voltage was set to 1.9 kV, and the temperature of the heated capillary was set to 250 °C. Survey full-scan MS spectra (m/z 300–2,000) were acquired in the Orbitrap with 1 microscan and a resolution of 100,000 allowing the preview mode for precursor selection and charge-state determination. MS/MS spectra of the five most intense ions from the preview survey scan were acquired in the ion-trap concurrently with full-scan acquisition in the Orbitrap with the following options: isolation width, ±10 ppm; normalized collision energy, 35%; dynamic exclusion duration, 30 sec. Precursors with unmatched and single charge states were discarded during data dependant acquisition. Data were acquired using the Xcalibur software v2.0.7 (Thermo Scientific).
The data files collected on the mass spectrometer (.raw) were converted to MGF format by use of Trans-Proteomic Pipeline (TPP, version 4.3 JETSTREAM rev 1, http://www.proteomecenter.org), which is an open source proteomics analysis tool. The data were then searched using MASCOT  (version 2.2.06) against a compound database consisting of the International Protein Index (IPI, European Bioinformatics Institute, http://www.ebi.ac.uk/IPI) bovine database (version 3.42) and IPI human database (version 3.57) totaling 107,511 protein entries, allowing the options of trypsin, ±0.5 Da mass tolerance for fragment ion, ±15 ppm mass tolerance for precursor ion, variable modifications of mTRAQ Light (+140.095 Da), mTRAQ Medium (+144.1021 Da) and mTRAQ Heavy (+148.1092 Da) on peptide N-terminus and Lys residue. A fixed modification of MMTS (+45.9877 Da) on Cys residue and a variable modification of Met oxidation (+15.9949) were also allowed. TPP was used for the validation of database search results. Peptides with TPP peptide probability greater 0.9 and MASCOT E-value less than 0.01 were used for further quantification analysis.
Our algorithm is designed to be executed within TPP. For each LC/MS experiment, TPP generates a pepXML file which contains a list of peptides with sequences, tandem scans, charges, and modifications. Our algorithm calculates medium to light (M/L) and heavy to light (H/L) ratios of peptides in pepXML files and produces new pepXML files that can be used for further analysis. For each peptide, our algorithm first determines its elution area. It then identifies triplex isotopic clusters and calculates M/L and H/L ratios for each MS scan contained in the elution area. Finally, each of the set of M/L and H/L ratios is integrated based on linear regression.
Examples of overlapping triplex isotopic clusters. (a) Schematic model of overlapping triplex isotopic clusters. Blue, red, and green lines represent isotopic peaks of light-, medium-, and heavy-labeled peptides, respectively. (b) Experimental overlapping isotopic clusters of 'EPMIGVNQELAYFYPELFR'. We can observe that the first isotopic peaks of medium- and heavy-labeled peptides are clearly higher than the corresponding third peaks, and it is evidence for the existence of overlaps.
where n is the number of peaks in the isotopic distribution of a peptide, L k , M k , and H k are the intensities of the k th peaks of the isotopic distributions of the light, medium, and heavy-labeled peptides, respectively.
where T k is the intensity of the k th peak of the theoretical isotopic distribution of the peptide. (The EMASS algorithm was used to calculate T k values .) The error value should be very small for the correct ratio pair because L k +4/L k , M k +4/M k , and H k +4/H k are theoretically the same as T k +4/T k . Therefore, we calculated the error value for each candidate pair and select the pair with the lowest error value. After all pairs for 1 ≤ k ≤ 4 are selected, we can calculate the M/L ratio and the H/L ratio .
In most LC/MS experiments, tandem MS scans are acquired using dynamic exclusion (DE). For each MS/MS scan, therefore, we know only one MS scan where the identified peptide is eluted. We need to determine the elution area of the peptide as it is eluted over a period of time. However, some peptides have similar atomic masses and elution times, so their elution areas can have overlaps. A naive approach such as using a fixed range (e.g. within ±30s from the tandem scan of peptides) has a risk of including incorrect MS scans where other peptides are overlapped. Therefore, it is very important to determine accurate elution areas of the peptides for accurate relative quantification.
We assume that the distribution of peptide elution time can be approximated as a normal distribution. Because of noise and overlap of peptides, MS scans with low intensities at both ends of the elution area may not be trusted. If we use only MS scans with high total ion current while modeling the elution profile as a normal distribution, the mean μ of the normal distribution can be approximated, but the variance σ2 can't. Instead, we use the full width at half maximum (FWHM) to induce σ2. From the probability density function of the normal distribution, we deduce and obtain σ2 = FWHM2/8 ln 2.
When a peptide identification and the associated tandem MS scan is given, our algorithm first finds the maximum point of the peptide's elution profile. For each MS scan within ±30s range from the given tandem scan, it identifies triplex isotopic clusters and calculates the sum of intensities. (Details are explained in the next section.) The MS scan whose sum of intensities is the highest is selected as the maximum point of the elution area. Then it extends the elution area while the sum of intensities of MS scan is above a half of that of the maximum point. The length of the extended area is used as FWHM and weighted average time of scans in the extended area is used as μ. The area with higher intensities than 10% of the maximum intensity in the normal distribution (from to ) is used as the elution area of a peptide. An example for approximation to normal distribution is shown in Figure 2.
Elution area approximation to normal distribution. Elution area approximation for 'HPIKHQGLPQEVLNENLLR'. The blue line represents the sum of intensities of the peptide over the elution area and the red line is an approximated normal distribution. From the given elution time (951.423 s), where tandem MS scan was acquired, we first found the maximum point of elution area (957.93 s). Then we extended the area until the sum of intensities is below 50% of that of the maximum point and obtained μ = 960.63 and FWHM = 19.9. Finally, we used the area with higher intensities than 10% of the maximum intensity of the approximated normal distribution.
Our algorithm calculates M/L and H/L ratios for all MS scans in the elution area. Then, each of the set of M/L and H/L ratios is integrated by linear regression using the form "y = cx". The intensities of peaks are split into the intensity of light-, medium-, and heavy-labeled peptide. We estimate c using the set of intensities of light-labeled peptides as x i 's, and the set of intensities of medium- and heavy-labeled peptides as y i 's for M/L and H/L ratios, respectively.
For each MS scan in the elution area, our algorithm identifies isotopic clusters of a target peptide. Let MZ k be the m/z of the k th peak of an isotopic cluster, then we can calculate three MZ1's corresponding to triplex isotopic clusters from the given sequence, charge z, and modification. Our algorithm first finds the monoisotopic peak of each isotopic cluster from MZ1 within 10 ppm error tolerance. Then, it finds subsequent isotopic peaks from MZ k = MZ k- 1+ 1.00235/z within 10 ppm error tolerance. The k th peak is inserted to the isotopic cluster only if the peak improves the least squares fit value (LSQ). If the LSQ between the theoretical distribution of the peptide and the isotopic cluster without the k th peak is lower than that with the k th peak, the k th peak is discarded and the algorithm does not look for any more peaks. If there are two or more candidate peaks for the k th peak, the peak with the lowest LSQ is selected. For example, there are two candidates for the third isotopic peak of the light-labeled isotopic cluster of the target peptide and the smaller peak is selected in Figure 3a.
Four types of overlaps between chemically different peptides. The red stars represent the monoisotopic peaks of triplex isotopic clusters of a target peptide. (a) Two isotopic clusters are overlapped, but no isotopic peak is shared. (b) An MS scan in the elution area of 'HPIKHQGLPQEVLNENLLR' of which expected ratio is 3:1:1. The red lines represent its theoretical isotopic distribution. Since an isotopic cluster with a different charge value is overlapped with the light-labeled isotopic cluster, the LSQ value becomes significantly high, so we discard this MS scan during the quantification of the target peptide. (c) An MS scan in the elution area of 'TVGGKEDVIWELLNHAQEHFGK' of which expected ratio is 3:1:10. An isotopic cluster with the same charge and a higher mass is overlapped with the medium-labeled isotopic cluster. Since the fifth peak increases the LSQ value, only the first to the fourth peaks are used to quantify. (d) An MS scan in the elution area of 'GITWGEETLMEYLENPK' of which expected ratio is 3:3:1. An isotopic cluster with the same charge and 1 Da smaller mass is overlapped with the heavy-labeled isotopic cluster. Since it is difficult to separate these overlapping isotopic clusters accurately, we discard this MS scan during the quantification.
After identification of triplex isotopic clusters of a target peptide, we check them and discard the current MS scan if they are doubtful according to the following criteria. First, we check whether the overall shape of each isotopic cluster resembles that of a theoretical isotopic distribution. At least the LSQ of the most abundant isotopic cluster must be below a threshold (e.g. 0.2). The LSQ of the others should also be below the threshold unless their sums of intensities are lower than a half of that of the most abundant isotopic cluster. (If an isotopic cluster has low abundance, its shape could be abnormal because it may be interfered by chemical noise and other peptides.) Second, we check whether the identified isotopic cluster is overlapped with another peptide. Four types of overlaps are shown in Figure 3. There is no problem if no isotopic peak is shared by two isotopic clusters (Figure 3a). If an isotopic cluster with a different charge value is overlapped, the LSQ of the identified isotopic cluster should be significantly high, so we can discard the current MS scan (Figure 3b). If an isotopic cluster with the same charge and a higher mass is overlapped, shared isotopic peaks could not be inserted to the isotopic cluster of the target peptide because it increases the LSQ of the isotopic cluster (Figure 3c). Only the case in which an isotopic cluster with the same charge and a lower mass is overlapped needs additional filtering (Figure 3d). We can easily detect these overlaps by considering previous peaks, but we can't separate overlapping isotopic clusters in this case because they look like one isotopic cluster. Therefore, we discard the current MS scan if at least one isotopic cluster of a target peptide could be identified as an isotopic cluster with the same charge and a lower mass.
We analyzed two datasets in which seven standard proteins were mixed in different ratios. For the Set1 experiment, Std1 was labeled with light, Std2 with medium, and Std3 with heavy. For the Set2 experiment, Std1 was labeled with heavy, Std2 with medium, and Std3 with light. The expected ratios for each experiment are shown in Table 2.
We first calculated the averages and standard deviations of log10(H/L) values of peptides. Then, we transformed the averages into H/L scale to compare them to expected ratios.
After validation, we obtained 147 MS/MS scans from Set1 and 139 MS/MS scans from Set2, resulting in 168 unique peptides in total. We calculated M/L and H/L ratios of the peptides and classified them according to the proteins. Then we calculated the averages of ratios in individual cases and compared them to the expected ratios (Table 2). The M/L ratios were generally similar to the expected ratios except CSN2 and CSN1S2, whose ratios were somewhat higher than expected ratios. Most H/L ratios were somewhat lower than the expected ratios, but their standard deviations are meaningfully small. We manually inspected the isotopic clusters of these peptides and concluded that the computed ratios are certainly correct despite their discrepancy from the expected ratios. Some examples of these cases are shown in Figure 4. In spite of our effort to label the samples and to mix them accurately, the mixed ratios of samples may deviate from the expected ratio because of different labeling efficiencies between the labels, and experimental errors such as unequal mixing. Average ratio and standard deviation are the two parameters that determine the accuracy of our quantification analysis. Unlike the average ratio that is very sensitive to such errors, standard deviation is more inert because the ratios originated from peptides of the same protein should be identical in theory. Therefore, the low standard deviations give strong evidence that our computed ratios were accurately determined. Figure 5 shows the distribution of ratios for LALBA. Each of M/L and H/L ratios represent similar values. The distributions of ratios for the other proteins are given in Supplementary Figure S1 – in Additional file 1.
Manual inspection for the peptides whose computed ratios are different from the expected ratio. a) The most abundant isotopic clusters for 'DMPIQAFLLYQEPVLGPVRGPFPIIV'. The red lines represent its theoretical isotopic distribution. The expected ratio is 5:10:1, and our algorithm computed 5.612575 as M/L and 0.163601 as H/L for this peptide. (b) The most abundant isotopic clusters for 'ALNEINQFYQK'. The expected ratio is 1:1:3, and our algorithm computed 2.074808 as M/L and 1.48508 as H/L. It is clear that our ratios are more suitable than the expected ratios for these isotopic clusters.
To verify the robustness of our method for the overlap of triplex isotopic clusters, we prepared Set3 experiment, in which Std1 with light and Std3 with heavy were mixed. In the Set3 experiment, two isotopic clusters originated from the same peptide have no overlap and their relative ratio can be computed accurately even though the peptide has no lysine. Therefore, we can show the robustness of our method by comparing the H/L ratios from the Set1 experiment to those from the Set3 experiment. Fifteen unique peptides were identified in both experiments and their H/L ratios are shown in Figure 6. The H/L ratios in the Set1 experiment were very close to the H/L ratios in the Set3 experiment in spite of the interference of the medium-labeled peptides. The relative ratios of two H/L ratios ranged from 0.868378 to 1.315178, except two peptides from CSN2 whose expected L:M:H ratios in the Set1 experiment were 5:10:1. The H/L ratios of the peptides of CNS2 were somewhat lower in the Set1 experiment than in the Set3 experiment because the medium-labeled isotopic cluster was much larger than the heavy-labeled isotopic cluster and influenced it (Figure 4a).
Comparison of H/L ratios between Set1 experiment (including medium label) and Set3 experiment (excluding medium label). Each point represents a unique peptide that has no lysine. The solid line represents y=x. For Set1 experiment, Std1 with light, Std2 with medium, and Std3 with heavy label were mixed. For Set3 experiment, Std1 with light and Std3 with heavy label were mixed. The H/L ratios in the Set1 experiment were very close to the H/L ratios in the Set3 experiment in spite of the interference by the medium-labeled peptides.
Std1 and Std3 were labeled with light and heavy mTRAQ labels, respectively, in Set1 Experiment and vice-versa in Set2 Experiment. The calculated H/L ratios were lower than the estimated values in both cases, which exclude the possibility of under-digestion of some of the standard mixtures compared to the others. If then, we would expect reversed H/L ratios between the two experimental sets. It becomes even more evident if we consider the MS/MS search results in which only one out of 168 validated peptides was identified as partially labeled.
The most probable explanation at this point is low labeling efficiency of the heavy reagent. If we assume that the M/L ratios are correct, we can approximate the H/L ratios in Set1 experiment using M/L ratios in Set2 experiment. Similarly, we can approximate the H/L ratios in Set2 experiment using M/L ratios in Set1 experiment. We compared them with the computed H/L ratios and observed that the computed H/L ratios are consistently 50~70% of the approximated H/L ratios except for the cases of CYCS in Set1 experiment (Table 3). This result shows the possibility that the heavy reagent had low labeling efficiency.
The origin can also be explained, though in part, by isotope impurity of heavy label. Upon closer inspection of MS spectra of the identified peptides, a peak 1 Da smaller than the monoisotopic peak of heavy label was frequently found (Supplementary Figure S2 in Additional file 1). It was reported that iTRAQ reagents contain trace levels of isotopic impurities . Since mTRAQ shares the same chemical structure with iTRAQ, we expect that the same problem will happen in mTRAQ data analysis.
In real experiments where quantification of complex proteome is needed, one can add a known standard at the ratio of 1:1:1, and use the calculated ratio of the standard as a correction factor. For example, if the calculated ratio of LALBA in the current study is used as a correction factor, the ratios of other proteins become closer to the expected ratios.
We have developed a new data analysis algorithm for peptide quantification in triplex mTRAQ experiments. It can calculate the ratios of peptides accurately by separating overlapping triplex isotopic clusters based on the arithmetic models of isotope overlap and an automatic determination for the elution area of peptides. When used within the TPP pipeline, it can easily analyze high-throughput proteomics data.
This work was supported by 21C Frontier Functional Proteomics Project from Korean Ministry of Education, Science & Technology (FPR08-A1-020, FPR08-A1-021, FPR08-A1-090).
JYY, KP, EP and CL conceived the research. JYY and HL implemented the program. JY and KK prepared experimental datasets. SN identified the sequence of peptides by database searching. JYY and HL analyzed the result of the program. JYY, KP, EP, JY and CL wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


text:
2020 Alabama Kids Count
National Kids Count
Kids Count Geo
VOICES for Alabama's Children was founded in 1992 in response to the need for a statewide, multi-issue child advocacy group to call attention to the needs of Alabama's children.
A four-year Kids Count grant was awarded to the Alabama Power Foundation with VOICES for Alabama's Children as a supporting organization. The Children's Hospital of Alabama provided space for the new organization and Lynn Sampson became the organization's first Executive Director.
The first Alabama Kids Count Data Book was published by the Alabama Power Foundation and distributed by VOICES for Alabama's Children. Connie Wagnon also became the new Executive Director.
Linda Tilly became VOICES for Alabama's Children's third Executive Director and the organization moved to the state's capital, Montgomery.
With a grant from the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, VOICES for Alabama's Children began tracking legislation affecting children and families and holding bi-weekly United VOICES meetings to discuss legislative strategies.
Played a key role in the establishment of the Statewide Child Death Review Process, resulting in a 22 percent decline in preventable child deaths after two years. The creation of and funding for ALL Kids was established, which provided access to health care for an average of 63,800 children a year.
With support from the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation, VOICES for Alabama's Children was able to launch its long held concentration on early childhood.
As VOICES for Alabama's Children celebrated its 10th Anniversary, the Graduated Teen Driver's Licensing law passed and contributed to a 29 percent decrease in teen deaths following implementation
Played a key role in passage of The Foster Parents Bill of Rights, which provides rights to foster parents in order to help them more effectively care for the children they bring into their homes.
VOICES for Alabama's Children celebrates the passage of the Child Passenger Safety law which helped reduce preventable child deaths by 23 percent. Additionally, VOICES for Alabama's Children founded the Alabama School Readiness Alliance (ASRA) along with several partners including A+ Education, Alabama Giving and Alabama Partnership for Children.
On January 23, 2007, Dr. Jim Dearth was honored by VOICES for Alabama's Children with the Champion for Children Award for his strong commitment to children in Alabama. Dr. Dearth and the Alabama Power Foundation played key roles in the establishment of VOICES for Alabama's Children.
Played a key role in the Juvenile Justice Act of 2008 passage, which reduced the number of incarcerated youth for low-risk, non-violent offenses by 64 percent.
VOICES for Alabama's Children honored Governor Bob Riley and First Lady Patsy Riley, with the 2011 Champion for Children Award for their contributions to the well-being of children in Alabama.
Melanie Bridgeforth appointed as new Executive Director of VOICES for Alabama's Children.
VOICES for Alabama's Children launched the First Annual Child Advocacy Day, bringing together hundreds of advocates from across the state!
VOICES redesigned the Alabama Kids Count Data Book and created the County Data Profile in an effort to help users connect policy and data.
In 2015, VOICES for Alabama's Children led a 100-plus member coalition of state and local advocates in a successful advocacy campaign, resulting in Governor Robert Bentley signing the state's Healthy Food Financing Act. The Act moves us one step closer to improving access to fresh, healthy food options for the 1.8 million Alabama residents – including nearly half a million children – with limited access to grocers and other fresh food retailers.
VOICES for Alabama's Children fought alongside business and philanthropic partners to secure an additional $16 million in funding for Alabama's First Class Pre-K Program, which provided access to 2,800 more four-year-olds.
VOICES for Alabama's Children launched an historic legislative campaign in an attempt to regulate child care in Alabama.
VOICES once again launched a legislative campaign to remove the exemption from child care centers. A version of this legislation, known as HB 76 – The Child Care Safety Act, passed and was a first step towards regulating the child care industry in Alabama and ensuring the safety of all children when in the care of a provider. In September 2018, Stephen Woerner was appointed as VOICES' new executive director.
VOICES hosted one of the largest events in our history with over 1000 kids gathering together at the state Capitol. Through coordinated efforts and hard work, a $1M line item was included in the Alabama Education Trust Fund for grassroots and community-based work ahead of the 2020 Census.
For more than 20 years, VOICES has provided publications that serve as a roadmap for how children are faring across the state. It is our goal for this information to be used to raise visibility of children's issues, identify areas of need, set priorities in child well-being and inform decision-making at the state and local levels.
Tweets by AlaVoices
The Bailey Building
400 South Union Street, Suite 230
© 2019-2020, Voices for Alabama's Children
Site Design by Typiconica, LLC


text:
package com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.impl;

import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.LocalDateTime;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.Column;
import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.Cursor;
import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.DataType;
import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.Database;
import static com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.DatabaseBuilder.*;
import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.Index;
import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.Row;
import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.Table;
import static com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.TestUtil.*;
import static com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.impl.JetFormatTest.*;
import junit.framework.TestCase;
import org.junit.Assert;

/**
 *
 * @author James Ahlborn
 */
public class ExtendedDateTest extends TestCase
{

  public ExtendedDateTest(String name) throws Exception {
    super(name);
  }

  public void testReadExtendedDate() throws Exception {

    DateTimeFormatter dtfNoTime = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("M/d/yyy");
    DateTimeFormatter dtfFull = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("M/d/yyy h:mm:ss.SSSSSSS a");

    for (final TestDB testDB : TestDB.getSupportedForBasename(Basename.EXT_DATE)) {

      Database db = openMem(testDB);

      Table t = db.getTable("Table1");
      for(Row r : t) {
        LocalDateTime ldt = r.getLocalDateTime("DateExt");
        String str = r.getString("DateExtStr");

        if(ldt != null) {
          String str1 = dtfNoTime.format(ldt);
          String str2 = dtfFull.format(ldt);

          Assert.assertTrue(str1.equals(str) || str2.equals(str));
        } else {
          Assert.assertNull(str);
        }

      }

      Index idx = t.getIndex("DateExtAsc");
      IndexCodesTest.checkIndexEntries(testDB, t, idx);
      idx = t.getIndex("DateExtDesc");
      IndexCodesTest.checkIndexEntries(testDB, t, idx);

      db.close();
    }
  }

  public void testWriteExtendedDate() throws Exception {

    for (final Database.FileFormat fileFormat : SUPPORTED_FILEFORMATS) {
      JetFormat format = DatabaseImpl.getFileFormatDetails(fileFormat)
        .getFormat();

      if(!format.isSupportedDataType(DataType.EXT_DATE_TIME)) {
        continue;
      }

      Database db = create(fileFormat);

      Table t = newTable("Test")
        .addColumn(newColumn("id", DataType.LONG)
                   .setAutoNumber(true))
        .addColumn(newColumn("data1", DataType.TEXT))
        .addColumn(newColumn("extDate", DataType.EXT_DATE_TIME))
        .addIndex(newIndex("idxAsc").addColumns("extDate"))
        .addIndex(newIndex("idxDesc").addColumns(false, "extDate"))
        .toTable(db);

      Object[] ldts = {
        LocalDate.of(2020,6,17),
        LocalDate.of(2021,6,14),
        LocalDateTime.of(2021,6,14,12,45),
        LocalDateTime.of(2021,6,14,1,45),
        LocalDateTime.of(2021,6,14,22,45,12,345678900),
        LocalDateTime.of(1765,6,14,12,45),
        LocalDateTime.of(100,6,14,12,45,00,123456700),
        LocalDateTime.of(1265,6,14,12,45)
      };

      List<Map<String, Object>> expectedTable =
        new ArrayList<Map<String, Object>>();

      int idx = 1;
      for(Object ldt : ldts) {
        t.addRow(Column.AUTO_NUMBER, "" + ldt, ldt);

        LocalDateTime realLdt = (LocalDateTime)ColumnImpl.toInternalValue(
            DataType.EXT_DATE_TIME, ldt, (DatabaseImpl)db);

        expectedTable.add(createExpectedRow(
                              "id", idx++,
                              "data1", "" + ldt,
                              "extDate", realLdt));
      }

      Comparator<Map<String, Object>> comp = (r1, r2) -> {
          LocalDateTime l1 = (LocalDateTime)r1.get("extDate");
          LocalDateTime l2 = (LocalDateTime)r2.get("extDate");
          return l1.compareTo(l2);
      };
      Collections.sort(expectedTable, comp);

      Cursor c = t.newCursor().setIndexByName("idxAsc").toIndexCursor();

      assertCursor(expectedTable, c);

      Collections.sort(expectedTable, comp.reversed());

      c = t.newCursor().setIndexByName("idxDesc").toIndexCursor();

      assertCursor(expectedTable, c);

      db.close();
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Mark Grandison (b 1965) studied composition with Richard Meale in Adelaide before moving to Sydney in 1994 to become Director of Music at Kambala. Music education became a passion equal to his compositional pursuits, as he continued to write in equal measure works for youth and professional groups. Commissions have reflected this diversity, such as his Sinfonietta for Sydney Youth Orchestra and his Violin Concerto for Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Grandison's orchestral and chamber works have won numerous national composition contests, whilst his works for wind orchestra have made the finals in several European composition contests and received many performances there. His works have also received performances in New Zealand, South-East Asia, and the United States.
Grandison's compositions will often limit the initial compositional resources, such as employing a motif of a few pitches as a movement's entire basis. A childhood and youth absorbed in popular and jazz music will often filter its way into his rhythmic language. His music aspires to create an experience that integrates a core of developmental rigour with a surface that is sensual and dramatic.
Burn : for violin and piano (2015) Commissioned by Janusz Wawrowski.
Tessellations : overture for youth orchestra (2009) Commissioned for the 2009 Sydney International Music Festival.
Violin concerto : violin with orchestra (2008) Commissioned by Rev. Dr Arthur Bridge for performance by Ars Musica Australis.
Cognatus : three movements for youth orchestra (2005) Commissioned by Youth Orchestras Australia Network.


Parent's nights out can be pleasant, but sometimes less than memorable affairs. A little dinner, some cocktails, some chats; then home and on with your life. Thank goodness my son landed in a class where some of the parents have taken it upon themselves to elevate these evenings from a pleasant night out to A BOLD EVENING OUT. I love these evenings so, so much and hope they continue long after our sons graduate from their current school.
What is a BOLD evening out? It is interactive. It is cultural. It is an experience. It is MEMORABLE. It is AWESOME! The innovators started the tradition with Russian night. I was not able to join that night, but laughter ensues every time the evening is brought up… it has something to do with a long bus ride to Brighton Beach. I believe there was vodka involved. The next year we travelled to a Korean BBQ restaurant where dinner was followed with some seriously spirited singing in the adjacent Karaoke Bar. The third year we went Cuban and sipped mojitos and were just generally festive. And on this our fourth year, we went to Puglia's.
Not having had a hand in the planning, my assumption was this was just a night out in Little Italy. In other words: some pasta and some red wine. While, yes, we had all of this in our private room for 48, it was SO, SO much more fun than that. A night at Puglia's is like a schmalzy big fat Italian wedding condensed into a 3 hour period. And at this particular condensed wedding everyone knows all of the guests!
There was a woman – "Debbie Broadway"- in a flowery red dress singing with a man in a ruffled shirt – Jorge – playing music. Obviously she had to start her set with "When the Moon hits the Sky…" immediately transforming us to the set of Moonlight. This woman had some serious energy and some appealing charisma and later in the evening she will ask you for tips. She lead us in a conga line and generously shared the mic with some of our more outgoing guests. Later, Debbie Broadway returned in a sparkly new outfit and got everyone busy doing the macarena, of all things, which was followed up a limbo contest – but of course. An interesting exercise for us not young, but not old parental set. Of course Jorge's signature Napkin song was played and napkins were waved wildly in the air in appreciation. It was a blast!
I wouldn't go to Puglia's because of the food – it was fine and abundant, but it was not Felidia's nor should it be. The focus here is on the fun that you're having with your friends. The family style food being served and the decent wine being poured is a nice bonus. The spontaneous dancing – the revival of the pretzel dance move (thanks Matt!) – the singing – the laughing – the limboing – the napkin waving – and more laughing – so much merriment – these are the reasons to go to Puglia. And then it was over.
I think my friends and I were still humming some of the songs as we made our way back home on the Q – happy to have been part of such a big, bold night. Bravo to the Bold evening out planners! Thanks for grabbing our group and bringing us to Puglia's – it was an awesome and memorable night out. We parents can't ask for more than that! I highly recommend you grab your fun group and go too! Salute!
Photos and video cred goes to: Christine Squeri.
I haven't been to Puglia's in ages! Thank you for reminding me!


Traditionally, wallpaper is applied to walls, and ceilings are painted a boring shade of white. Why not reverse the trend and apply wallpaper directly to the ceiling? Think of the ceiling as a fifth wall; turn it into a focal point, and you'll end up with a dynamic and energetic space. When buying wallpaper for ceilings, look for random patterns – think swirling lines and paisley prints. Geometric prints like stripes and checks will only highlight crooked walls and lopsided ceilings. Make sure the ceiling is completely smooth, since wallpaper won't stick to textured surfaces. And if you have a hard time applying wallpaper to walls, you'll find it downright impossible to apply wallpaper to a ceiling; consider hiring a professional for the job.
Plain white bookshelves don't add much interest to a space. If you want to make a design statement, install wallpaper on the back panel of a bookcase. A wallpapered bookcase will draw attention, in turn becoming the focal point of a living room or den. If your bookshelves are piled high with books, choose a wallpaper with a bold print; the books will cover most of the wallpaper, so you want what little wallpaper shows to make an impact. If, on the other hand, mismatched accessories crowd your bookshelves, use wallpaper to calm the clashing colors. You can unite your disparate collections by choosing a wallpaper pattern in the same color scheme as your accessories.
Original artwork can set you back thousands of dollars. Store-bought replications of original artwork can cost hundreds of dollars. If your artwork budget is in the tens-of-dollars range, consider framing wallpaper. Many modern wallpaper designs are intricate, complex, and downright busy. The patterns might seem overwhelming in large doses. But when used sparingly, installed in a simple white or silver frame, these wallpaper designs are beautiful and elegant. To stick to your budget, find out if your local paint or hardware store sells wallpaper by the foot; if not, ask if you can purchase a wallpaper sample in the same dimensions as your frame.
Wallpaper is versatile; it looks good no matter how you use it. So when you find a print you like, look beyond your four walls to find new uses for it. Whether you apply it to your ceiling, bookshelves, or picture frames, wallpaper will add interest and beauty to your home. This is one design trend you won't want to strip from your home.


House (80 m²) not far from the owners' house in an enclosed piece of land. Kitchenette (mashing machine, microwave) living-room (TV, Tel., sofa-bed 130 cm) opening onto a sheltered terrace, shower room and toilet. Upstairs, 2 bedrooms 1 double bed 140 cm, 2 single beds 90 cm. Baby cot. Car park, swimming-pool. Near all amenities. 10 km from the lakes and 20 km from the ocean. Small dogs accepted.