prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What do dendritic spines contain?

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Context 1: JoVE | Peer Reviewed Scientific Video Journal - Methods and Protocols
A role for thrombospondin-1 deficits in astrocyte-mediated spine and synaptic pathology in Downs syndrome  Octavio Garcia, Maria Torres, Pablo Helguera, Pinar Coskun, Jorge Busciglio 
PUBLISHED: 07-02-2010	Downs syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation  Reduced number and aberrant architecture of dendritic spines are common features of DS neuropathology  However, the mechanisms involved in DS spine alterations are not known  In addition to a relevant role in synapse formation and maintenance, astrocytes can regulate spine dynamics by releasing soluble factors or by physical contact with neurons  We have previously shown impaired mitochondrial function in DS astrocytes leading to metabolic alterations in protein processing and secretion  In this study, we investigated whether deficits in astrocyte function contribute to DS spine pathology 
Analysis of Dendritic Spine Morphology in Cultured CNS Neurons Authors: Deepak P  Srivastava, Kevin M  Woolfrey, Peter Penzes  Published: 07-13-2011 JoVE Neuroscience
Dendritic spines are the sites of the majority of excitatory connections within the brain, and form the post-synaptic compartment of synapses  These structures are rich in actin and have been shown to be highly dynamic  In response to classical Hebbian plasticity as well as neuromodulatory signals, dendritic spines can change shape and number, which is thought to be critical for the refinement of neural circuits and the processing and storage of information within the brain  Within dendritic spines, a complex network of proteins link extracellular signals with the actin cyctoskeleton allowing for control of dendritic spine morphology and number  Neuropathological studies have demonstrated that a number of disease states, ranging from schizophrenia to autism spectrum disorders, display abnormal dendritic spine morphology or numbers  Moreover, recent genetic studies have identified mutations in numerous genes that encode synaptic proteins, leading to suggestions that these proteins may contribute to aberrant spine plasticity that, in part, underlie the pathophysiology of these disorders  In order to study the potential role of these proteins in controlling dendritic spine morphologies/number, the use of cultured cortical neurons offers several advantages  Firstly, this system allows for high-resolution imaging of dendritic spines in fixed cells as well as time-lapse imaging of live cells  Secondly, this in vitro system allows for easy manipulation of protein function by expression of mutant proteins, knockdown by shRNA constructs, or pharmacological treatments  These techniques allow researchers to begin to dissect the role of disease-associated proteins and to predict how mutations of these proteins may function in vivo 
Play ButtonIsolation and Culture of Mouse Cortical AstrocytesAuthors: Sebastian Schildge, Christian Bohrer, Kristina Beck, Christian Schachtrup  Institutions: University of Freiburg , University of Freiburg  Astrocytes are an abundant cell type in the mammalian brain, yet much remains to be learned about their molecular and functional characteristics  In vitro astrocyte cell culture systems can be used to study the biological functions of these glial cells in detail  This video protocol shows how to obtain pure astrocytes by isolation and culture of mixed cortical cells of mouse pups  The method is based on the absence of viable neurons and the separation of astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia, the three main glial cell populations of the central nervous system, in culture  Representative images during the first days of culture demonstrate the presence of a mixed cell population and indicate the timepoint, when astrocytes become confluent and should be separated from microglia and oligodendrocytes  Moreover, we demonstrate purity and astrocytic morphology of cultured astrocytes using immunocytochemical stainings for well established and newly described astrocyte markers  This culture system can be easily used to obtain pure mouse astrocytes and astrocyte-conditioned medium for studying various aspects of astrocyte biology Neuroscience, Issue 71, Neurobiology, Cellular Biology, Medicine, Molecular Biology, Anatomy, Physiology, brain, mouse, astrocyte culture, astrocyte, fibroblast, fibrinogen, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, neuronal regeneration, cell culture, animal model50079Play ButtonImaging Dendritic Spines of Rat Primary Hippocampal Neurons using Structured Illumination MicroscopyAuthors: Marijn Schouten, Giulia M  R  De Luca, Diana K  Alatriste González, Babette E  de Jong, Wendy Timmermans, Hui Xiong, Harm Krugers, Erik M  M  Manders, Carlos P  Fitzsimons  Institutions: University of Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam Dendritic spines are protrusions emerging from the dendrite of a neuron and represent the primary postsynaptic targets of excitatory inputs in the brain  Technological advances have identified these structures as key elements in neuron connectivity and synaptic plasticity  The quantitative analysis of spine morphology using light microscopy remains an essential problem due to technical limitations associated with light's intrinsic refraction limit  Dendritic spines can be readily identified by confocal laser-scanning fluorescence microscopy  However, measuring subtle changes in the shape and size of spines is difficult because spine dimensions other than length are usually smaller than conventional optical resolution fixed by light microscopy's theoretical resolution limit of 200 nm 
Several recently developed super resolution techniques have been used to image cellular structures smaller than the 200 nm, including dendritic spines  These techniques are based on classical far-field operations and therefore allow the use of existing sample preparation methods and to image beyond the surface of a specimen  Described here is a working protocol to apply super resolution structured illumination microscopy (SIM) to the imaging of dendritic spines in primary hippocampal neuron cultures  Possible applications of SIM overlap with those of confocal microscopy  However, the two techniques present different applicability  SIM offers higher effective lateral resolution, while confocal microscopy, due to the usage of a physical pinhole, achieves resolution improvement at the expense of removal of out of focus light  In this protocol, primary neurons are cultured on glass coverslips using a standard protocol, transfected with DNA plasmids encoding fluorescent proteins and imaged using SIM  The whole protocol described herein takes approximately 2 weeks, because dendritic spines are imaged after 16-17 days in vitro, when dendritic development is optimal  After completion of the protocol, dendritic spines can be reconstructed in 3D from series of SIM image stacks using specialized software Neuroscience, Issue 87, Dendritic Spine, Microscopy, Confocal, Fluorescence, Neurosciences, hippocampus, primary neuron, super resolution microscopy, structured illumination microscopy (SIM), neuroscience, dendrite51276Play ButtonSetting-up an In Vitro Model of Rat Blood-brain Barrier (BBB): A Focus on BBB Impermeability and Receptor-mediated TransportAuthors: Yves Molino, Françoise Jabès, Emmanuelle Lacassagne, Nicolas Gaudin, Michel Khrestchatisky  Institutions: VECT-HORUS SAS, CNRS, NICN UMR 7259 The blood brain barrier (BBB) specifically regulates molecular and cellular flux between the blood and the nervous tissue  Our aim was to develop and characterize a highly reproducible rat syngeneic in vitro model of the BBB using co-cultures of primary rat brain endothelial cells (RBEC) and astrocytes to study receptors involved in transcytosis across the endothelial cell monolayer  Astrocytes were isolated by mechanical dissection following trypsin digestion and were frozen for later co-culture  RBEC were isolated from 5-week-old rat cortices  The brains were cleaned of meninges and white matter, and mechanically dissociated following enzymatic digestion  Thereafter, the tissue homogenate was centrifuged in bovine serum albumin to separate vessel fragments from nervous tissue  The vessel fragments underwent a second enzymatic digestion to free endothelial cells from their extracellular matrix  The remaining contaminating cells such as pericytes were further eliminated by plating the microvessel fragments in puromycin-containing medium  They were then passaged onto filters for co-culture with astrocytes grown on the bottom of the wells  RBEC expressed high levels of tight junction (TJ) proteins such as occludin, claudin-5 and ZO-1 with a typical localization at the cell borders  The transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) of brain endothelial monolayers, indicating the tightness of TJs reached 300 ohm·cm2 on average  The endothelial permeability coefficients (Pe) for lucifer yellow (LY) was highly reproducible with an average of 0 26 ± 0 11 x 10-3 cm/min  Brain endothelial cells organized in monolayers expressed the efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp), showed a polarized transport of rhodamine 123, a ligand for P-gp, and showed specific transport of transferrin-Cy3 and DiILDL across the endothelial cell monolayer  In conclusion, we provide a protocol for setting up an in vitro BBB model that is highly reproducible due to the quality assurance methods, and that is suitable for research on BBB transporters and receptors Medicine, Issue 88, rat brain endothelial cells (RBEC), mouse, spinal cord, tight junction (TJ), receptor-mediated transport (RMT), low density lipoprotein (LDL), LDLR, transferrin, TfR, P-glycoprotein (P-gp), transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER),51278Play ButtonInducing Plasticity of Astrocytic Receptors by Manipulation of Neuronal Firing RatesAuthors: Alison X  Xie, Kelli Lauderdale, Thomas Murphy, Timothy L  Myers, Todd A  Fiacco  Institutions: University of California Riverside, University of California Riverside, University of California Riverside Close to two decades of research has established that astrocytes in situ and in vivo express numerous G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that can be stimulated by neuronally-released transmitter  However, the ability of astrocytic receptors to exhibit plasticity in response to changes in neuronal activity has received little attention  Here we describe a model system that can be used to globally scale up or down astrocytic group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in acute brain slices  Included are methods on how to prepare parasagittal hippocampal slices, construct chambers suitable for long-term slice incubation, bidirectionally manipulate neuronal action potential frequency, load astrocytes and astrocyte processes with fluorescent Ca2+ indicator, and measure changes in astrocytic Gq GPCR activity by recording spontaneous and evoked astrocyte Ca2+ events using confocal microscopy  In essence, a “calcium roadmap” is provided for how to measure plasticity of astrocytic Gq GPCRs  Applications of the technique for study of astrocytes are discussed  Having an understanding of how astrocytic receptor signaling is affected by changes in neuronal activity has important implications for both normal synaptic function as well as processes underlying neurological disorders and neurodegenerative disease Neuroscience, Issue 85, astrocyte, plasticity, mGluRs, neuronal Firing, electrophysiology, Gq GPCRs, Bolus-loading, calcium, microdomains, acute slices, Hippocampus, mouse51458Play ButtonInhibitory Synapse Formation in a Co-culture Model Incorporating GABAergic Medium Spiny Neurons and HEK293 Cells Stably Expressing GABAA ReceptorsAuthors: Laura E  Brown, Celine Fuchs, Martin W  Nicholson, F  Anne Stephenson, Alex M  Thomson, Jasmina N  Jovanovic  Institutions: University College London Inhibitory neurons act in the central nervous system to regulate the dynamics and spatio-temporal co-ordination of neuronal networks  GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) is the predominant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain  It is released from the presynaptic terminals of inhibitory neurons within highly specialized intercellular junctions known as synapses, where it binds to GABAA receptors (GABAARs) present at the plasma membrane of the synapse-receiving, postsynaptic neurons  Activation of these GABA-gated ion channels leads to influx of chloride resulting in postsynaptic potential changes that decrease the probability that these neurons will generate action potentials  During development, diverse types of inhibitory neurons with distinct morphological, electrophysiological and neurochemical characteristics have the ability to recognize their target neurons and form synapses which incorporate specific GABAARs subtypes  This principle of selective innervation of neuronal targets raises the question as to how the appropriate synaptic partners identify each other  To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms, a novel in vitro co-culture model system was established, in which medium spiny GABAergic neurons, a highly homogenous population of neurons isolated from the embryonic striatum, were cultured with stably transfected HEK293 cell lines that express different GABAAR subtypes  Synapses form rapidly, efficiently and selectively in this system, and are easily accessible for quantification  Our results indicate that various GABAAR subtypes differ in their ability to promote synapse formation, suggesting that this reduced in vitro model system can be used to reproduce, at least in part, the in vivo conditions required for the recognition of the appropriate synaptic partners and formation of specific synapses  Here the protocols for culturing the medium spiny neurons and generating HEK293 cells lines expressing GABAARs are first described, followed by detailed instructions on how to combine these two cell types in co-culture and analyze the formation of synaptic contacts  Neuroscience, Issue 93, Developmental neuroscience, synaptogenesis, synaptic inhibition, co-culture, stable cell lines, GABAergic, medium spiny neurons, HEK 293 cell line52115Play ButtonTwo-Photon in vivo Imaging of Dendritic Spines in the Mouse Cortex Using a Thinned-skull PreparationAuthors: Xinzhu Yu, Yi Zuo  Institutions: University of California, Santa Cruz In the mammalian cortex, neurons form extremely complicated networks and exchange information at synapses  Changes in synaptic strength, as well as addition/removal of synapses, occur in an experience-dependent manner, providing the structural foundation of neuronal plasticity  As postsynaptic components of the most excitatory synapses in the cortex, dendritic spines are considered to be a good proxy of synapses  Taking advantages of mouse genetics and fluorescent labeling techniques, individual neurons and their synaptic structures can be labeled in the intact brain  Here we introduce a transcranial imaging protocol using two-photon laser scanning microscopy to follow fluorescently labeled postsynaptic dendritic spines over time in vivo  This protocol utilizes a thinned-skull preparation, which keeps the skull intact and avoids inflammatory effects caused by exposure of the meninges and the cortex  Therefore, images can be acquired immediately after surgery is performed  The experimental procedure can be performed repetitively over various time intervals ranging from hours to years  The application of this preparation can also be expanded to investigate different cortical regions and layers, as well as other cell types, under physiological and pathological conditions Neuroscience, Issue 87, dendritic spine, mouse cortex, in vivo, two-photon microscopy, thinned-skull, imaging51520Play ButtonModeling Astrocytoma Pathogenesis In Vitro and In Vivo Using Cortical Astrocytes or Neural Stem Cells from Conditional, Genetically Engineered MiceAuthors: Robert S  McNeill, Ralf S  Schmid, Ryan E  Bash, Mark Vitucci, Kristen K  White, Andrea M  Werneke, Brian H  Constance, Byron Huff, C  Ryan Miller  Institutions: University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine Current astrocytoma models are limited in their ability to define the roles of oncogenic mutations in specific brain cell types during disease pathogenesis and their utility for preclinical drug development  In order to design a better model system for these applications, phenotypically wild-type cortical astrocytes and neural stem cells (NSC) from conditional, genetically engineered mice (GEM) that harbor various combinations of floxed oncogenic alleles were harvested and grown in culture  Genetic recombination was induced in vitro using adenoviral Cre-mediated recombination, resulting in expression of mutated oncogenes and deletion of tumor suppressor genes  The phenotypic consequences of these mutations were defined by measuring proliferation, transformation, and drug response in vitro  Orthotopic allograft models, whereby transformed cells are stereotactically injected into the brains of immune-competent, syngeneic littermates, were developed to define the role of oncogenic mutations and cell type on tumorigenesis in vivo  Unlike most established human glioblastoma cell line xenografts, injection of transformed GEM-derived cortical astrocytes into the brains of immune-competent littermates produced astrocytomas, including the most aggressive subtype, glioblastoma, that recapitulated the histopathological hallmarks of human astrocytomas, including diffuse invasion of normal brain parenchyma  Bioluminescence imaging of orthotopic allografts from transformed astrocytes engineered to express luciferase was utilized to monitor in vivo tumor growth over time  Thus, astrocytoma models using astrocytes and NSC harvested from GEM with conditional oncogenic alleles provide an integrated system to study the genetics and cell biology of astrocytoma pathogenesis in vitro and in vivo and may be useful in preclinical drug development for these devastating diseases Neuroscience, Issue 90, astrocytoma, cortical astrocytes, genetically engineered mice, glioblastoma, neural stem cells, orthotopic allograft51763Play ButtonPaired Whole Cell Recordings in Organotypic Hippocampal SlicesAuthors: Chantelle Fourie, Marianna Kiraly, Daniel V  Madison, Johanna M  Montgomery  Institutions: University of Auckland, Stanford University Pair recordings involve simultaneous whole cell patch clamp recordings from two synaptically connected neurons, enabling not only direct electrophysiological characterization of the synaptic connections between individual neurons, but also pharmacological manipulation of either the presynaptic or the postsynaptic neuron  When carried out in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures, the probability that two neurons are synaptically connected is significantly increased  This preparation readily enables identification of cell types, and the neurons maintain their morphology and properties of synaptic function similar to that in native brain tissue  A major advantage of paired whole cell recordings is the highly precise information it can provide on the properties of synaptic transmission and plasticity that are not possible with other more crude techniques utilizing extracellular axonal stimulation  Paired whole cell recordings are often perceived as too challenging to perform  While there are challenging aspects to this technique, paired recordings can be performed by anyone trained in whole cell patch clamping provided specific hardware and methodological criteria are followed  The probability of attaining synaptically connected paired recordings significantly increases with healthy organotypic slices and stable micromanipulation allowing independent attainment of pre- and postsynaptic whole cell recordings  While CA3-CA3 pyramidal cell pairs are most widely used in the organotypic slice hippocampal preparation, this technique has also been successful in CA3-CA1 pairs and can be adapted to any neurons that are synaptically connected in the same slice preparation  In this manuscript we provide the detailed methodology and requirements for establishing this technique in any laboratory equipped for electrophysiology Neuroscience, Issue 91, hippocampus, paired recording, whole cell recording, organotypic slice, synapse, synaptic transmission, synaptic plasticity51958Play ButtonImaging Intracellular Ca2+ Signals in Striatal Astrocytes from Adult Mice Using Genetically-encoded Calcium IndicatorsAuthors: Ruotian Jiang, Martin D  Haustein, Michael V  Sofroniew, Baljit S  Khakh  Institutions: University of California Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles Astrocytes display spontaneous intracellular Ca2+ concentration fluctuations ([Ca2+]i) and in several settings respond to neuronal excitation with enhanced [Ca2+]i signals  It has been proposed that astrocytes in turn regulate neurons and blood vessels through calcium-dependent mechanisms, such as the release of signaling molecules  However, [Ca2+]i imaging in entire astrocytes has only recently become feasible with genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) such as the GCaMP series  The use of GECIs in astrocytes now provides opportunities to study astrocyte [Ca2+]i signals in detail within model microcircuits such as the striatum, which is the largest nucleus of the basal ganglia  In the present report, detailed surgical methods to express GECIs in astrocytes in vivo, and confocal imaging approaches to record [Ca2+]i signals in striatal astrocytes in situ, are described  We highlight precautions, necessary controls and tests to determine if GECI expression is selective for astrocytes and to evaluate signs of overt astrocyte reactivity  We also describe brain slice and imaging conditions in detail that permit reliable [Ca2+]i imaging in striatal astrocytes in situ  The use of these approaches revealed the entire territories of single striatal astrocytes and spontaneous [Ca2+]i signals within their somata, branches and branchlets  The further use and expansion of these approaches in the striatum will allow for the detailed study of astrocyte [Ca2+]i signals in the striatal microcircuitry Neuroscience, Issue 93, astrocyte, calcium, striatum, GECI, GCaMP3, AAV2/5, stereotaxic injection, brain slice, imaging51972Play ButtonMethods to Assess Subcellular Compartments of Muscle in C  elegansAuthors: Christopher J  Gaffney, Joseph J  Bass, Thomas F  Barratt, Nathaniel J  Szewczyk  Institutions: University of Nottingham Muscle is a dynamic tissue that responds to changes in nutrition, exercise, and disease state  The loss of muscle mass and function with disease and age are significant public health burdens  We currently understand little about the genetic regulation of muscle health with disease or age  The nematode C  elegans is an established model for understanding the genomic regulation of biological processes of interest  This worm’s body wall muscles display a large degree of homology with the muscles of higher metazoan species  Since C  elegans is a transparent organism, the localization of GFP to mitochondria and sarcomeres allows visualization of these structures in vivo  Similarly, feeding animals cationic dyes, which accumulate based on the existence of a mitochondrial membrane potential, allows the assessment of mitochondrial function in vivo  These methods, as well as assessment of muscle protein homeostasis, are combined with assessment of whole animal muscle function, in the form of movement assays, to allow correlation of sub-cellular defects with functional measures of muscle performance  Thus, C  elegans provides a powerful platform with which to assess the impact of mutations, gene knockdown, and/or chemical compounds upon muscle structure and function  Lastly, as GFP, cationic dyes, and movement assays are assessed non-invasively, prospective studies of muscle structure and function can be conducted across the whole life course and this at present cannot be easily investigated in vivo in any other organism Developmental Biology, Issue 93, Physiology, C  elegans, muscle, mitochondria, sarcomeres, ageing52043Play ButtonImproved Preparation and Preservation of Hippocampal Mouse Slices for a Very Stable and Reproducible Recording of Long-term PotentiationAuthors: Agnès Villers, Laurence Ris  Institutions: University of Mons Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a type of synaptic plasticity characterized by an increase in synaptic strength and believed to be involved in memory encoding  LTP elicited in the CA1 region of acute hippocampal slices has been extensively studied  However the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance phase of this phenomenon are still poorly understood  This could be partly due to the various experimental conditions used by different laboratories  Indeed, the maintenance phase of LTP is strongly dependent on external parameters like oxygenation, temperature and humidity  It is also dependent on internal parameters like orientation of the slicing plane and slice viability after dissection 
The optimization of all these parameters enables the induction of a very reproducible and very stable long-term potentiation  This methodology offers the possibility to further explore the molecular mechanisms involved in the stable increase in synaptic strength in hippocampal slices  It also highlights the importance of experimental conditions in in vitro investigation of neurophysiological phenomena Neuroscience, Issue 76, Neurobiology, Anatomy, Physiology, Biomedical Engineering, Surgery, Memory Disorders, Learning, Memory, Neurosciences, Neurophysiology, hippocampus, long-term potentiation, mice, acute slices, synaptic plasticity, in vitro, electrophysiology, animal model50483Play ButtonIn Vivo Modeling of the Morbid Human Genome using Danio rerioAuthors: Adrienne R  Niederriter, Erica E  Davis, Christelle Golzio, Edwin C  Oh, I-Chun Tsai, Nicholas Katsanis  Institutions: Duke University Medical Center, Duke University, Duke University Medical Center Here, we present methods for the development of assays to query potentially clinically significant nonsynonymous changes using in vivo complementation in zebrafish  Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a useful animal system due to their experimental tractability; embryos are transparent to enable facile viewing, undergo rapid development ex vivo, and can be genetically manipulated 1 These aspects have allowed for significant advances in the analysis of embryogenesis, molecular processes, and morphogenetic signaling  Taken together, the advantages of this vertebrate model make zebrafish highly amenable to modeling the developmental defects in pediatric disease, and in some cases, adult-onset disorders  Because the zebrafish genome is highly conserved with that of humans (~70% orthologous), it is possible to recapitulate human disease states in zebrafish  This is accomplished either through the injection of mutant human mRNA to induce dominant negative or gain of function alleles, or utilization of morpholino (MO) antisense oligonucleotides to suppress genes to mimic loss of function variants  Through complementation of MO-induced phenotypes with capped human mRNA, our approach enables the interpretation of the deleterious effect of mutations on human protein sequence based on the ability of mutant mRNA to rescue a measurable, physiologically relevant phenotype  Modeling of the human disease alleles occurs through microinjection of zebrafish embryos with MO and/or human mRNA at the 1-4 cell stage, and phenotyping up to seven days post fertilization (dpf)  This general strategy can be extended to a wide range of disease phenotypes, as demonstrated in the following protocol  We present our established models for morphogenetic signaling, craniofacial, cardiac, vascular integrity, renal function, and skeletal muscle disorder phenotypes, as well as others  Molecular Biology, Issue 78, Genetics, Biomedical Engineering, Medicine, Developmental Biology, Biochemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, Bioengineering, Genomics, Medical, zebrafish, in vivo, morpholino, human disease modeling, transcription, PCR, mRNA, DNA, Danio rerio, animal model50338Play ButtonDirect Imaging of ER Calcium with Targeted-Esterase Induced Dye Loading (TED)Authors: Samira Samtleben, Juliane Jaepel, Caroline Fecher, Thomas Andreska, Markus Rehberg, Robert Blum  Institutions: University of Wuerzburg, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich Visualization of calcium dynamics is important to understand the role of calcium in cell physiology  To examine calcium dynamics, synthetic fluorescent Ca2+ indictors have become popular  Here we demonstrate TED (= targeted-esterase induced dye loading), a method to improve the release of Ca2+ indicator dyes in the ER lumen of different cell types  To date, TED was used in cell lines, glial cells, and neurons in vitro  TED bases on efficient, recombinant targeting of a high carboxylesterase activity to the ER lumen using vector-constructs that express Carboxylesterases (CES)  The latest TED vectors contain a core element of CES2 fused to a red fluorescent protein, thus enabling simultaneous two-color imaging  The dynamics of free calcium in the ER are imaged in one color, while the corresponding ER structure appears in red  At the beginning of the procedure, cells are transduced with a lentivirus  Subsequently, the infected cells are seeded on coverslips to finally enable live cell imaging  Then, living cells are incubated with the acetoxymethyl ester (AM-ester) form of low-affinity Ca2+ indicators, for instance Fluo5N-AM, Mag-Fluo4-AM, or Mag-Fura2-AM  The esterase activity in the ER cleaves off hydrophobic side chains from the AM form of the Ca2+ indicator and a hydrophilic fluorescent dye/Ca2+ complex is formed and trapped in the ER lumen  After dye loading, the cells are analyzed at an inverted confocal laser scanning microscope  Cells are continuously perfused with Ringer-like solutions and the ER calcium dynamics are directly visualized by time-lapse imaging  Calcium release from the ER is identified by a decrease in fluorescence intensity in regions of interest, whereas the refilling of the ER calcium store produces an increase in fluorescence intensity  Finally, the change in fluorescent intensity over time is determined by calculation of ΔF/F0 Cellular Biology, Issue 75, Neurobiology, Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering, Virology, Medicine, Anatomy, Physiology, Surgery, Endoplasmic Reticulum, ER, Calcium Signaling, calcium store, calcium imaging, calcium indicator, metabotropic signaling, Ca2+, neurons, cells, mouse, animal model, cell culture, targeted esterase induced dye loading, imaging50317Play ButtonPreparation of Dissociated Mouse Cortical Neuron CulturesAuthors: Lutz G  W  Hilgenberg, Martin A  Smith  Institutions: University of California, Irvine (UCI) This video will guide you through the process for generating cortical neuronal cultures from late embryo and early postnatal mouse brain  These cultures can be used for a variety of applications including immunocytochemistry, biochemistry, electrophysiology, calcium and sodium imaging, protein and/or RNA isolation  These cultures also provide a platform to study the neuronal development of transgenic animals that carry a late embryonic or postnatal lethal gene mutation  The procedure is relatively straight forward, requires some experience in tissue culture technique and should not take longer than two to three hours if you are properly prepared  Careful separation of the cortical rind from the thalamo-cortical fiber tract will reduce the number of unwanted non-neuronal cells  To increase yields of neuronal cells triturate the pieces of the cortical tissue gently after the enzyme incubation step  This is imperative as it prevents unnecessary injury to cells and premature neuronal cell death  Since these cultures are maintained in the absence of glia feeder cells, they also offer an added advantage of growing cultures enriched in neurons Neuroscience, Issue 10, cellular, molecular, neurobiology, neuron, calcium/sodium imaging, primary cultures, mouse562Play ButtonAnalysis of Schwann-astrocyte Interactions Using In Vitro AssaysAuthors: Fardad T  Afshari, Jessica C  Kwok, James W  Fawcett  Institutions: University of Cambridge Schwann cells are one of the commonly used cells in repair strategies following spinal cord injuries  Schwann cells are capable of supporting axonal regeneration and sprouting by secreting growth factors 1,2 and providing growth promoting adhesion molecules 3 and extracellular matrix molecules 4  In addition they myelinate the demyelinated axons at the site of injury 5 
However following transplantation, Schwann cells do not migrate from the site of implant and do not intermingle with the host astrocytes 6,7  This results in formation of a sharp boundary between the Schwann cells and astrocytes, creating an obstacle for growing axons trying to exit the graft back into the host tissue proximally and distally  Astrocytes in contact with Schwann cells also undergo hypertrophy and up-regulate the inhibitory molecules 8-13 
In vitro assays have been used to model Schwann cell-astrocyte interactions and have been important in understanding the mechanism underlying the cellular behaviour 
These in vitro assays include boundary assay, where a co-culture is made using two different cells with each cell type occupying different territories with only a small gap separating the two cell fronts  As the cells divide and migrate, the two cellular fronts get closer to each other and finally collide  This allows the behaviour of the two cellular populations to be analyzed at the boundary  Another variation of the same technique is to mix the two cellular populations in culture and over time the two cell types segregate with Schwann cells clumped together as islands in between astrocytes together creating multiple Schwann-astrocyte boundaries 
The second assay used in studying the interaction of two cell types is the migration assay where cellular movement can be tracked on the surface of the other cell type monolayer 14,15  This assay is commonly known as inverted coverslip assay  Schwann cells are cultured on small glass fragments and they are inverted face down onto the surface of astrocyte monolayers and migration is assessed from the edge of coverslip 
Both assays have been instrumental in studying the underlying mechanisms involved in the cellular exclusion and boundary formation  Some of the molecules identified using these techniques include N-Cadherins 15, Chondroitin Sulphate proteoglycans(CSPGs) 16,17, FGF/Heparin 18, Eph/Ephrins19 
This article intends to describe boundary assay and migration assay in stepwise fashion and elucidate the possible technical problems that might occur Cellular Biology, Issue 47, Schwann cell, astrocyte, boundary, migration, repulsion2214Play ButtonQuantifying Synapses: an Immunocytochemistry-based Assay to Quantify Synapse NumberAuthors: Dominic M  Ippolito, Cagla Eroglu  Institutions: Duke University, Duke University One of the most important goals in neuroscience is to understand the molecular cues that instruct early stages of synapse formation  As such it has become imperative to develop objective approaches to quantify changes in synaptic connectivity  Starting from sample fixation, this protocol details how to quantify synapse number both in dissociated neuronal culture and in brain sections using immunocytochemistry  Using compartment-specific antibodies, we label presynaptic terminals as well as sites of postsynaptic specialization  We define synapses as points of colocalization between the signals generated by these markers  The number of these colocalizations is quantified using a plug in Puncta Analyzer (written by Bary Wark, available upon request, c eroglu@cellbio duke edu) under the ImageJ analysis software platform  The synapse assay described in this protocol can be applied to any neural tissue or culture preparation for which you have selective pre- and postsynaptic markers  This synapse assay is a valuable tool that can be widely utilized in the study of synaptic development Neuroscience, Issue 45, synapse, immunocytochemistry, brain, neuron, astrocyte2270Play ButtonPreparation of Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rats and Transgenic Mice for the Study of Synaptic Alterations during Aging and Amyloid PathologyAuthors: Diana M  Mathis, Jennifer L  Furman, Christopher M  Norris  Institutions: University of Kentucky College of Public Health, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, University of Kentucky College of Medicine The rodent hippocampal slice preparation is perhaps the most broadly used tool for investigating mammalian synaptic function and plasticity  The hippocampus can be extracted quickly and easily from rats and mice and slices remain viable for hours in oxygenated artificial cerebrospinal fluid  Moreover, basic electrophysisologic techniques are easily applied to the investigation of synaptic function in hippocampal slices and have provided some of the best biomarkers for cognitive impairments  The hippocampal slice is especially popular for the study of synaptic plasticity mechanisms involved in learning and memory  Changes in the induction of long-term potentiation and depression (LTP and LTD) of synaptic efficacy in hippocampal slices (or lack thereof) are frequently used to describe the neurologic phenotype of cognitively-impaired animals and/or to evaluate the mechanism of action of nootropic compounds  This article outlines the procedures we use for preparing hippocampal slices from rats and transgenic mice for the study of synaptic alterations associated with brain aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD)1-3  Use of aged rats and AD model mice can present a unique set of challenges to researchers accustomed to using younger rats and/or mice in their research  Aged rats have thicker skulls and tougher connective tissue than younger rats and mice, which can delay brain extraction and/or dissection and consequently negate or exaggerate real age-differences in synaptic function and plasticity  Aging and amyloid pathology may also exacerbate hippocampal damage sustained during the dissection procedure, again complicating any inferences drawn from physiologic assessment  Here, we discuss the steps taken during the dissection procedure to minimize these problems  Examples of synaptic responses acquired in "healthy" and "unhealthy" slices from rats and mice are provided, as well as representative synaptic plasticity experiments  The possible impact of other methodological factors on synaptic function in these animal models (e g  recording solution components, stimulation parameters) are also discussed  While the focus of this article is on the use of aged rats and transgenic mice, novices to slice physiology should find enough detail here to get started on their own studies, using a variety of rodent models Neuroscience, Issue 49, aging, amyloid, hippocampal slice, synaptic plasticity, Ca2+, CA1, electrophysiology2330Play ButtonMesenteric Artery Contraction and Relaxation Studies Using Automated Wire MyographyAuthors: Lakeesha E  Bridges, Cicely L  Williams, Mildred A  Pointer, Emmanuel M  Awumey  Institutions: North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina Central University, Durham, Wake Forest University School of Medicine Proximal resistance vessels, such as the mesenteric arteries, contribute substantially to the peripheral resistance  These small vessels of between 100-400 μm in diameter function primarily in directing blood flow to various organs according to the overall requirements of the body  The rat mesenteric artery has a diameter greater than 100 μm  The myography technique, first described by Mulvay and Halpern1, was based on the method proposed by Bevan and Osher2  The technique provides information about small vessels under isometric conditions, where substantial shortening of the muscle preparation is prevented  Since force production and sensitivity of vessels to different agonists is dependent on the extent of stretch, according to active tension-length relation, it is essential to conduct contraction studies under isometric conditions to prevent compliance of the mounting wires  Stainless steel wires are preferred to tungsten wires because of oxidation of the latter, which affects recorded responses3 The technique allows for the comparison of agonist-induced contractions of mounted vessels to obtain evidence for normal function of vascular smooth muscle cell receptors 
Medicine, Issue 55, cardiovascular, resistant arteries, contraction, relaxation, myography3119Play ButtonVisualization and Genetic Manipulation of Dendrites and Spines in the Mouse Cerebral Cortex and Hippocampus using In utero ElectroporationAuthors: Emilie Pacary, Matilda A  Haas, Hendrik Wildner, Roberta Azzarelli, Donald M  Bell, Djoher Nora Abrous, François Guillemot  Institutions: MRC National Institute for Medical Research, National Institute for Medical Research, Université de Bordeaux In utero electroporation (IUE) has become a powerful technique to study the development of different regions of the embryonic nervous system 1-5  To date this tool has been widely used to study the regulation of cellular proliferation, differentiation and neuronal migration especially in the developing cerebral cortex 6-8  Here we detail our protocol to electroporate in utero the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus and provide evidence that this approach can be used to study dendrites and spines in these two cerebral regions 
Finally, IUE provides a useful tool to identify functional interactions between genes involved in dendrite, spine and/or synapse development  Indeed, in contrast to other gene transfer methods such as virus, it is straightforward to combine multiple RNAi or transgenes in the same population of cells  In summary, IUE is a powerful method that has already contributed to the characterization of molecular mechanisms underlying brain function and disease and it should also be useful in the study of dendrites and spines Neuroscience, Issue 65, Developmental Biology, Molecular Biology, Neuronal development, In utero electroporation, dendrite, spines, hippocampus, cerebral cortex, gain and loss of function4163Play ButtonImaging Analysis of Neuron to Glia Interaction in Microfluidic Culture Platform (MCP)-based Neuronal Axon and Glia Co-culture SystemAuthors: Haruki Higashimori, Yongjie Yang  Institutions: Tufts University, Tufts Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences Proper neuron to glia interaction is critical to physiological function of the central nervous system (CNS)  This bidirectional communication is sophisticatedly mediated by specific signaling pathways between neuron and glia1,2   Identification and characterization of these signaling pathways is essential to the understanding of how neuron to glia interaction shapes CNS physiology  Previously, neuron and glia mixed cultures have been widely utilized for testing and characterizing signaling pathways between neuron and glia  What we have learned from these preparations and other in vivo tools, however, has suggested that mutual signaling between neuron and glia often occurred in specific compartments within neurons (i e , axon, dendrite, or soma)3  This makes it important to develop a new culture system that allows separation of neuronal compartments and specifically examines the interaction between glia and neuronal axons/dendrites  In addition, the conventional mixed culture system is not capable of differentiating the soluble factors and direct membrane contact signals between neuron and glia  Furthermore, the large quantity of neurons and glial cells in the conventional co-culture system lacks the resolution necessary to observe the interaction between a single axon and a glial cell 
In this study, we describe a novel axon and glia co-culture system with the use of a microfluidic culture platform (MCP)  In this co-culture system, neurons and glial cells are cultured in two separate chambers that are connected through multiple central channels  In this microfluidic culture platform, only neuronal processes (especially axons) can enter the glial side through the central channels  In combination with powerful fluorescent protein labeling, this system allows direct examination of signaling pathways between axonal/dendritic and glial interactions, such as axon-mediated transcriptional regulation in glia, glia-mediated receptor trafficking in neuronal terminals, and glia-mediated axon growth  The narrow diameter of the chamber also significantly prohibits the flow of the neuron-enriched medium into the glial chamber, facilitating probing of the direct membrane-protein interaction between axons/dendrites and glial surfaces Neuroscience, Issue 68, Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology, Biophysics, Microfluidics, Microfluidic culture platform, Compartmented culture, Neuron to glia signaling, neurons, glia, cell culture4448Play ButtonFluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) of Fluorescence Tagged Proteins in Dendritic Spines of Cultured Hippocampal NeuronsAuthors: Chan-Ying Zheng, Ronald S  Petralia, Ya-Xian Wang, Bechara Kachar  Institutions: National Institutes of Health, Bethesda FRAP has been used to quantify the mobility of GFP-tagged proteins  Using a strong excitation laser, the fluorescence of a GFP-tagged protein is bleached in the region of interest  The fluorescence of the region recovers when the unbleached GFP-tagged protein from outside of the region diffuses into the region of interest  The mobility of the protein is then analyzed by measuring the fluorescence recovery rate  This technique could be used to characterize protein mobility and turnover rate 
This FRAP protocol shows how to perform a basic FRAP experiment as well as how to analyze the data Neuroscience, Issue 50, Spine, FRAP, hippocampal neurons, live cell imaging, protein mobility2568Play ButtonPrimary Neuronal Cultures from the Brains of Late Stage Drosophila PupaeAuthors: Beatriz Sicaeros, Jorge M  Campusano, Diane K  O'Dowd  Institutions: University of California, Irvine (UCI) In this video, we demonstrate the preparation of primary neuronal cultures from the brains of late stage Drosophila pupae  The procedure begins with the removal of brains from animals at 70-78 hrs after puparium formation  The isolated brains are shown after brief incubation in papain followed by several washes in serum-free growth medium  The process of mechanical dissociation of each brain in a 5 ul drop of media on a coverslip is illustrated  The axons and dendrites of the post-mitotic neurons are sheered off near the soma during dissociation but the neurons begin to regenerate processes within a few hours of plating  Images show live cultures at 2 days  Neurons continue to elaborate processes during the first week in culture  Specific neuronal populations can be identified in culture using GAL4 lines to drive tissue specific expression of fluorescent markers such as GFP or RFP  Whole cell recordings have demonstrated the cultured neurons form functional, spontaneously active cholinergic and GABAergic synapses  A short video segment illustrates calcium dynamics in the cultured neurons using Fura-2 as a calcium indicator dye to monitor spontaneous calcium transients and nicotine evoked calcium responses in a dish of cultured neurons  These pupal brain cultures are a useful model system in which genetic and pharmacological tools can be used to identify intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence formation and function of central synapses 
Context 2: Eagle in Atlanta -- atleagle com: July 2012
Why Spaz's recruiting doesn't matter anymore
After BC picked up another below the radar recruit, Spaz's most vocal critics were out again disparaging his recruiting class  I don't trust the recruiting rankings, but it does concern me that our commitments aren't drawing more interest from BCS teams  There is a similar concern on the Penn State front  There's plenty of speculation, but BC is not a factor among the rumored PSU transfers  But really none of it matters  Spaz is going to wrap up most of the recruiting this summer and then focus on the games come fall  While not inspiring, the plan is practical  There are two outcomes:
1  Spaz has a losing season and gets fired  If this happens, our 2013 recruiting class will be a hodgepodge of current commits, a transfer or two and whatever our new coach can uncover  For a new guy Spaz's lower profile recruits might be an advantage  If they aren't valued, they are less likely to be poached by other programs  A new Head Coach can then exert a little effort in getting the Spaz commits to stay committed and spend more time on filling out the class 
2  Spaz has a winning season and keeps his job  In this scenario Spaz stays off the hot seat and has to finish filling out the 2013 recruiting class  With a little more job security he can use his last few scholarships on bigger names  He may even luck into a decent prospect who suddenly becomes available due to another school's coaching change (like he did with Rutgers last year)  In this case Spaz doesn't waste time recruiting during the season and then picks up some low-hanging fruit 
Spaz is never going to recruit an elite class  There are many contributing factors as to why, but mostly it is because Spaz is not a salesmen  And we shouldn't care  He's not going to change  It is just a matter of who will finish out this class four months from now 
Labels: fire Spaz, Recruiting, Recruiting Rankings, Speculating with Spaz
Key Players for 2012: Chase Rettig
Junior Quarterback, Chase Rettig
What he's been: We all hoped Rettig would be a phenom  That he would some how save the Spaz era from its offensive funk and lead BC to unexpected glory  Instead, he's been mediocre  He completed just over half of his passes last year and never put together back-to-back great games nor enough sustained drives  Apologists for Rettig like me blame the system, the talent around him and of course the way his Spaz has screwed up the offense  But even the biggest Rettig cheerleaders have to admit he's yet to have a memorable BC moment or done anything to get on an NFL radar 
What he needs to be: Someone who can put the team on his back  I know the offensive line has been terrible, leaving Chase running for his life  I know plenty of passes have been dropped and no one is making big plays  But a truly great QB would show more by now  He's started 21 games  He's finally is a simplified offense that will get the ball out of his hands  If Chase does have an accurate arm, if he is as cerebral as people say, if he can get off throws in a collapsing pocket, now is his chance to show it 
Why I like his chances to shine: I don't know if Doug Martin is going to be a miracle worker, but QB's can make huge leaps with a new offense  Just look at Dominique Davis  He went to East Carolina and became one of the most accurate passers in the country 
Last year I thought Rettig would be great  I thought his toughness and preparation would overcome the offensive limitations  Here I am a year late thinking the same thing  But the difference is Doug Martin  We finally have an experienced OC running a current, simple offense  Rettig will be asked to make quick decisions and get the ball out fast  I think he can do it  I also think that throwing 400+ passes will give him a rhythm and a confidence that he's never had at BC 
Labels: 2012 Preview, Chase Rettig, Doug Martin, Key Players, Season Previews
Rich Thompson will cover BC football this Fall for the Herald
There is some news on the BC media front  The Herald assigned Rich Thompson to the BC beat for this Fall's football season  Rich has covered BC on occasion over the years, but mostly on the basketball side  Thompson is a welcome addition, as the Herald's focus has been spotty since Steve Conroy started splitting his time on hockey  Hopefully a new voice on the BC scene will also spark Blauds to improve his work 
For many years, BC fans' main source of news was Mike (Vega at the Globe) and Mike (Shalin at the Herald)  We complained about their identical features and soft touch on the BC coaches  Little did we know how good things were  Since Vega's move in 2007, we've been left with a beat writer who seems to loathe his job and also makes excuses for our Head Coach  Blauds also rarely writes or tweets during the college offseason  That sort of editorial decision may have been fine 20 years ago, but now college sports is a year round news cycle  When you look at all the work produced by college beat writers around the country, it makes the Boston media look lazy or oblivious 
Thompson also plans to tweet regularly once the season starts  I hope he makes the most of this opportunity  It is a shame to see the beat neglected like it is across town 
Labels: blauds, Boston Herald, Boston media, Media Criticism, Rich Thompson
Revisiting a Boston (BC) Olympics using London as an example
During the 2010 Winter Olympics I tossed around the idea of Boston hosting a summer or winter games  My point then remains that the same: Boston is ideal because the local universities could already supply many of the venues  The big obstacle would always be the main stadium for Track & Field and the opening and closing ceremonies  Nearly every city that hosts is left with a White Elephant that costs hundreds of millions of dollars  But London may provide a solution  They built their Olympic Stadium as a temporary venue  It looked great on TV, holds enough for the games and can be shrunk as soon as it all wraps up  Londoners haven't decided what they will do with the space  There are a few different bidders looking to take over the remains of the stadium  Boston would probably have similar suitors depending on the location  I would guess that UMasss Boston would want a small stadium or maybe the Revolution would want to convert it to a soccer only facility  The possibilities are endless 
I would still love to see Boston host the games and wish our partner Fenway Sports Group would get behind it  I am practical too  This wouldn't just be a vanity project for BC  It would be a backdoor way to get the IOC to fix the air conditioning in Conte!
Labels: Alumni Stadium renovations, Boston Olympics, Conte Forum renovations, Fenway Sports Group, renovations
New soccer Eagles and other links
BCeagles com released the bios of the six new freshmen and two transfers for the men's soccer team  Four of the newbies hail from New York 
It feels like every ACC team returns a starting QB  While the depth gives the conference advantages that other conferences don't have, I think some of the talent is overrated  In fact, I can't believe that Rettig is considered the 10th best  I would rank him 5th and think he could be even better by the end of the year 
Despite shoulder surgery, Alex Albright is healthy heading into his second NFL season  He's also ready to move to inside linebacker 
In case you missed it, BC will play Baylor in the Charleston Classic this Fall  That gives all the Boston media, the college basketball writers and the BC bloggers a chance to rehash the Donahue-Heslip situation again 
Labels: Alex Albright, Brady Heslip, Chase Rettig, Links, Steve Donahue
Can BC sell a faceless program?
As the team prepared for the poster photo shoot, I started to think about some of the current challenges BC faces marketing the program  Who will be the focus of the poster? Can a casual BC fan name our best players? With the team coming off its worst season in over a decade, it would be nice to have a focal point  A person who fans could rally around  With Kuechly gone, BC doesn't have that player or coach 
Spaz is not a compelling public speaker  BC uses coordinators in their Youtube videos  No BC player made the ACC's preseason all conference team  They have two likeable but rather unknown Seniors on the cover of the media guide 
Perception matters in college football  Obviously tickets sales are part of that, but lacking a star player hurts when TV networks are selecting our games  Even if some of our players have breakout years, they will have a hard time winning national awards 
BC created some new and unique ticket packages to help attendance for the less attractive games  If we are play well, TV networks might pay attention during the last month of the season  But if the team struggles, it will be hard to sell anything  You can't force players to be great or be dynamic personalities  Even if players aren't well known, I am consistently proud of how they handle themselves  But BC can ask its coach to sell the program  Spaz doesn't and won't  But I hope that when we hire a new coach that sales and marketing aspect are not ignored  Coaching is primary, but representing BC should always be a factor 
Labels: BC marketing, emmett cleary, Fenway Sports Group, Kaleb Ramsey, Spaziani
Phil Steele talks ACC and other links
Here is Phil Steele previewing the Big East and the ACC 
Former Eagle Tim Bulman signed with New England His teammate Ricky Brown is hanging on too and is now with the Ravens 
Did anyone else hear this comment from Spaz?
"We've tied Chase's hands behind his back his first two years  He's at the point now where he's ready to cross the line "
I know this sort of thing is off the cuff, but why is he saying that he's held a QB back? Am I the only one who gets frustrated by this stuff?
VCU hired BC grad Ed McLaughlin as their new AD  If and when Gene retires McLaughlin will be one of top targets to replace him 
This is from earlier in the week, but I am glad Kimble is confident  I think he could have a big season 
Emmett Cleary provides some insights into how the offense will change 
Labels: BC women's soccer, fire Spaz, Links, Ricky Brown, Spaz, tim bulman
Viva Espana: what you need to know about the basketball team's trip to Spain
NCAA rules allow a basketball team to take an overseas summer tour once every four years  These trips are a huge advantage as they allow the team to play together and at a high level during a dead period  In addition to improving skills, the trips also bond teams together and help the coaches experiment with different rotations and lineups  In the past BC has traveled to France, Switzerland and Australia  In a little less than a month, BC will take its first trip to Spain  This is our first tour under Donahue and a critical chance for this team to get better  Below are some of the facts, figures, schedules and nuggets about the trip 
All players can and will attend, including new freshmen Joe Rahon, Olivier Hanlan and incoming Senior Andrew Van Nest  Transfer Alex Dragicevich cannot go 
Aside from the players, the rest of the travel party includes the coaching staff, a trainer, a sports information director, and two managers 
Some of the schedule is still being finalized, but here are BC's current plans for games:
August 27 Madrid - Game 1
August 29 Valencia – Game 2 (ACB Team - Valencia Basket)
August 31 Barcelona - Game 3 (ACB Team - Penya or Manresa)
September 1 Barcelona - Game 4 (LEB Team)
The team leaves Boston on August 25  In each city they will practice and see some of the local sights  They also have community service time scheduled  The team returns on September 3  Classes begin back in Boston the next day 
The games will be played with international rules, courts and FIBA balls 
BC doesn't know if the referees will speak any English (but they're hoping) 
For any Eagle fans in Spain, try to catch a game or two  It should be fun  For those of us stateside, there are presently no official broadcasts but I imagine an internet feed will pop up for some of the action 
Labels: BC basketball, spain trip, Steve Donahue
Key Players for 2012: Dominic Appiah
Sophomore Defensive Tackle, Dominic Appiah
What he's been: Appiah surprised many last year  Playing for the first time after redshirting his freshman year, Appiah ended up starting most of the games  He made his presence known quickly with the ability to get an inside push and make plays in the backfield  Appiah was new to the inside but he showed natural ability and moved very well considering he played nearly 30 pounds lighter in high school 
What he needs to be: We need Appiah to be like B J  Raji or Ron Brace  We don't have as many difference makers in other areas of the defense  If Appiah and Ramsey partner to become a dominant force -- like Brace and Raji -- it will create all sorts of opportunities for the rest of the defense  If the two of them can control the line of scrimmage we can become one of the elite DLines in the ACC 
Why I like his chances to shine: It feels like I am head of the Appiah fan club  Spaz doesn't even have him at the top of the preseason depth chart  Of all the guys I have profiled, he would probably be viewed as the least likely to make an impact  He's still young  He's still learning the position and he's still getting used to moving with his added bulk  But I saw enough moments that I believe Appiah can be a great DT  He has the push, the leverage and surprising speed for big guy  Other teams had trouble handling him last year  If Appiah remains focused and works hard, he is going to dominate every interior lineman in the conference  And if Ramsey and Appiah both play well, BC will be a bowl team again 
Labels: 2012 Preview, Dominic Appiah, Kaleb Ramsey, Key Players, Season Previews
ACC Media roundup and other links
The ACC Media voted BC 5th overall in the Atlantic Division  That's not particularly surprising since the majority of the reporters are from Carolina and still view us as a secondary program  Although I teased him on twitter, even Meter avoided his usual "BC: 1st" vote 
The recurring question for Spaz was regarding Kuechly  He handles it well and points to Ramsey as the type of player who can fill the void  Not too many asked Spaz about the "Hot Seat " (I didn't embed that video due to the auto play issues )
It will be interesting to see if BC benefits from the looming exodus at Penn State  We are positioned well since we have scholarship space and recruited many of their kids  But I wonder if Spaz will have any hesitation in taking advantage of his alma mater 
Virginia Athlete Atem Ntantang committed to BC 
The ACC Digital Network is running a countdown of great moments  Of course they included BC comeback against Virginia Tech  It doesn't have Chris Fowler yelling "Lane Stadium goes silent" but it does have Meter losing it 
BC is one of the schools to leverage the transfer up phenomenon in college football 
Labels: ACC Media Day, basketball transfers, Links, Meterparel, Recruiting, Spaz, Video
ACC Kickoff, Day 1 -- UPDATE
UPDATE: I took down the video since it was auto playing for people  You can listen to Ramsey and Cleary here 
I hoped that Spaz would address the Penn State situation  Knowing that those types of questions were coming, the ACC coaches released a joint statement on Penn State and Paterno  Someone should still ask Spaz on Monday since he does know Sandusky and played under Paterno 
This is a shot of Kaleb Ramsey talking to the media  And here is all the players together  Cleary also fielded questions, including those about biology and chemistry 
I expect more on Monday when Spaz talks  I also think all the newspaper guys (including Blauds) will write up their interviews from Sunday into Monday posts 
Labels: ACC Media Day, emmett cleary, Kaleb Ramsey, Video
The field is finished
Reader Doug took these pictures yesterday  I think the field and wall look great  The next step will be hearing how the players like the look and feel 
Labels: Alumni Stadium renovations, Astro Turf, pics
Questions I want asked at the ACC Media Days
The ACC convenes this weekend in Greensboro for the annual ACC Media Days  I am not going  But I do have questions I would ask 
Questions for Frank Spaziani
-- Is he aware of the "hot seat" talk? Does he feel the pressure  How does he get the team and staff to focus? Is it impacting recruiting?
-- What are his expectations for the season? Does he see the team competing for a division title?
-- What attracted him to Doug Martin's offense? What are his expectations for the offense? Does he think the increased tempo will impact the defensive side of the ball?
-- What will Bollman's role be as "running game coordinator"? Is Bollman using different techniques and or approaches to the offensive line play?
-- What traits was he looking for as he hired new coaches to replace the departed?
-- As a Penn State alum and former player, what are his thoughts on the Freeh report? Are the former players talking among themselves about what they can do to help rebuild the Penn State football reputation? What does he want done with the Paterno statue?
-- When did the staff approach him about moving to the left side? How is he preparing for the new position?
--Who is leading the OL drills in the offseason?
-- How are things different with a new position coach? What will fans see?
-- What aspects of his game is he focusing on this year?
-- How is Chase Rettig adjusting to the new offense?
-- Which offensive player will surprise BC fans this year? Who is going to make a big leap?
-- What are his expectations for the season? How important is it to the Seniors to get back to a winning record and a bowl game?
-- How is his health?
-- What was it like to sit out a season?
-- Earlier in his career there was speculation that he might transfer from BC  How does it feel to be a 5th year senior at BC now?
-- Last year BC played more three man fronts than ever before  Will we see more of that this year?
-- Does the talk of an NFL career add any extra motivation?
We know Blauds and HD will be in Greensboro  Hopefully they or others will slip in one or two of these questions  I don't expect anything particularly revealing, but I would like to hear Spaz talk about the pressure of the season 
Labels: ACC Media Day, emmett cleary, fire Spaz, Kaleb Ramsey, Speculating with Spaz
Willis commits, decommits and then commits, and other links
It was a strange night if you follow BC recruiting on Twitter  First Rivals reported Georgia running back Myles Willis' commitment  Then Willis himself took to twitter to say that he didn't commit  Later in the night he clarified that he did commit  Regardless, it seems like it is over and he seems like a good pickup  He plays for local Atlanta power Marist  I will try to check out one of his games this fall 
One of the great under-appreciated aspects of BC sports is "For Boston " However, the bloggers at Atlantic Coast Convos have great taste as they listed our fight song as the best in the ACC  (Am I the only one singing "For Boston" to himself right now?)
BCeagles com put out another player Q&A, this time with basketball transfer Alex Dragicevich  Dennis Clifford is one of the players who has made an early impression on Alex 
Labels: Alex Dragicevich, BC Marching Band, For Boston, Myles Willis
Wey Q&A and other links
BCeagles com posted a Q & A with Patrick Wey  He talks about his summer training and trying to win another National Championship 
BC basketball fans will enjoy this pic of the early '90s stars 
Although she still has two more years of High School volleyball player Brittany Pavich committed to BC 
From earlier in the week, here is an article on new commitment Matt Milano 
Baseball player John Nicklas is ready to make an impact 
Labels: BC Hockey, Bill Curley, Links, malcolm huckaby, Matt Milano, Patrick Wey
Key Players for 2012: Ian White
Junior Center, Ian White
What he's been: The redshirt JR has played a lot and almost all of it at guard  What's been frustrating is that White would be very, very good in some games and then off in others  Because he is playing primarily inside, the issues usually involve getting overpowered by bigger DTs  Like most of the olinemen the past few years, White's flashed moments of greatness but lacked consistency 
What he needs to be: In my opinion the offensive line play really started falling apart after Matt Tennant left  I think Centers are underappreciated   at times even by their own coaches  It seems like the Spaz/Devine MO was to put the best five on the field regardless of positional fit and not to worry about rejiggering the lineup  The way the staff yo-yo'd Mark Spinney and others at Center the past two years hurt our consistency  And it impacts the QB position too  White's new to the role, so this could lead to more chaos  I hope not  We need him to be good from Day 1  He needs to set the tone for the OL and communicate with Rettig  Other players are important, but White -- or whoever starts at Center -- will be the keystone to the offense 
Why I like his chances to shine: Like Cleary, I think White is one of those guys who would have thrived under old BC regimes  He's been smart and tough from the minute he was eligible to play  He might not be as powerful as needed, but now as a redshirt JR, he should be fully matured  Plus playing Center doesn't require as much power and is more reliant on smarts and quickness 
I don't know if White will be our starting Center for Miami or even later into the season  Under Devine positions and the depth chart were constantly being tweaked  I pray things are different with Bollman  Let White learned to be a Center  He has a chance to be a great one 
Labels: 2012 Preview, Ian White, Jim Bollman, Key Players, Preseason, Sean Devine
How I talk myself into thinking we are going to be good   
You can see it on the BC message boards  You can see it on twitter and on the blogs  Optimism is rising  People are looking forward to the BC Football season  On Eagle Outsider they sarcastically call this "10-2 season " It is that time of year when every aspect of the team and season still has hope and promise  Despite my best judgement and spending half of my posts speculating on Spaz's future, I am falling into this same trap  The closer we get to kickoff and the more I read, the more I think BC might surprise people this year  I am not ready to post my predictions for the season, but here are a few reasons why I do think this team should be bowl bound 
It looks tougher on paper than it really is  Our toughest opponents come to us  We play three of our first four at home  Playing FSU and Georgia Tech on back-to-back weeks is a bit rough, but playing Georgia Tech any time forces a team to regroup  If you have to play a gimmick offense, you might as well do it after facing a top 10 team  Maybe it will serve as a rally point after playing the 'Noles 
Underrated talent
Look at that depth chart again  It is not an all star lineup, but I think our front seven will be better than last year  I love some of the young DBs (Keyes, Asprilla) and think with a healthy Noel and improved ALJ, we can be solid defensively  I still think Chase Rettig can be great  I have real hope for Doug Martin and think our WR and TE talent is good enough  The biggest question is the offensive line  But as someone who has preached for a OL coaching change, I keep telling myself that Bollman will make a difference 
Emotion and Pride
Football is an emotional game and emotional sport  Point fingers at whomever you like, but BC had awful team and coaching chemistry last season  When I see Al Washington posting on Facebook about his excitement, when I hear about the 5th year Seniors wanting to end their careers on a high note, when I look at the new field, I think that positive energy and emotion will carry us to an extra win or two 
As long as these two (see pic below) stay out of the way and Spaz coaches to win, I think this might be a fun season  Is anyone else talking themselves into a big year?
Labels: 2012, 2012 Preview, 2012 Schedule, Chase Rettig, Doug Martin, fire Spaz, Speculating with Spaz
Key Players for 2012: Jim Noel
Senior Safety, Jim Noel
What he's been: A contributor since day one, Noel has grown from back up to fill in starter, to a full time starter over three years  While primarily a safety, BC has also used him at corner  He missed a good portion of 2011, leaving our already depleted secondary without an impact player  Noel has never been a big hitter or ballhawk, but he's been good in coverage and done what's been asked 
What he needs to be: Noel needs to take over  Our defense is at its best when we have safeties with great anticipation  If you design your defense to exploit QB mistakes, you need a smart and athletic Safety to be in the right place at the right time  One of the reasons we struggled ending drives last year and giving up big plays to teams like Central Florida was because our safeties just couldn't make plays  Noel was doing his best filling in at Corner, while Syvlia, Hughes and Rositano kept getting burned  Hopefully Noel can focus on one area this year, stay healthy and have a big season 
Why I like his chances to shine: Look back on the interceptions Noel has made  They are often really great athletic plays  Few are gimmes that just landed in his hand  If he can be that great for 12 games and get even a little help from his other safeties, he will have a big year 
Last season BC only had 13 interceptions  It was our lowest output since the TOB years  If Noel can help end a few drives with big takeaways, BC could be a strong defensive team again 
Labels: Jim Noel, Key Players, Preseason
Precamp Depth Chart and other links
BC updated the depth chart in time for preseason camps to begin  This should be viewed as temporary and not who will start Labor Day weekend  There will be injuries and position switches that will alter things a bit  Hopefully no one is kicked off the team between now and the start of the season 
Florida DB Matt Milano committed to BC over the weekend  Milano also had offers from Arizona and Air Force 
Andy Katz listed BC among the possible destinations for BU transfer Jake O'Brien  Rumor is Providence is his most likely destination  I hope he gives BC a long look  He'd be another no risk big man for Donahue and give us some nice depth 
Labels: Jake O'Brien, Links, Matt Milano
Coaches to Watch this fall Part 4: Current Offensive Coordinators
Since everyone has Spaz on the Hotseat List, now is as good a time as any to look at future BC head coaching candidates  Unlike our past profile series, the timing and style on these posts will be a little different  Instead of being weeks or days away from a potential change, we have the benefit of a whole season to evaluate these guys  Some stocks will rise, while others will fall and it will make our usual scoreboard watching that much more interesting 
The natural inclination would be for BC to replace Spaz with an offensive guy  Unfortunately there is not a great pool of candidates among current college offensive coordinators  There are plenty of good coordinators, but I don't know how many are ready to be head coaches or coach at a place like BC  These are some of the more prominent names  After the 2012 season, we'll have a better idea of if they are ready to take on an FBS head coaching job 
Chad Morris
Offensive Coordinator, Clemson
Chad Morris was coaching high school football three years ago  His meteoric rise to Clemson's playcaller is another example of how much college football has changed  Gus Malzahn and guys like Chip Kelly and Art Briles before him shot from relative obscurity to changing college football within a few season  Pedigree and climbing the ladders doesn't mean as much anymore  All that matters is how you score and Morris showed that he could give new life to Clemson's attack  Like the others mentioned Morris emphasized tempo and a no huddle  His track record is impressive, as is his reputation for teaching and implementing this offense 
What to Watch for in 2012: Can Clemson keep it up? The ACC now has a chance to adjust to his scheme  It will also be interested to know what Morris wants to do  All these guys want to be head coaches, but is he willing to roll the dice on a job like BC? Would he even fit in? BC's very different from coaching high school in west Texas 
Offensive Coordinator, Wisconsin
The Badgers have been a good proving ground for coordinators  I like the fit for BC since Wisconsin tends to develop and recruit like we do  They also have run "pro style" offenses with an emphasis on OL and the running attacks  Canada will be new there this fall, but he's got BCS experience and led explosive offenses in the MAC too  If Canada became a candidate for BC, I would have hesitation about his time at Indiana  They threw it a ton while he was calling plays but didn't win much 
What to Watch in 2012: Will Canada keep throwing it at the more conservative Wisconsin? If Wisconsin keeps up their recent success will he emerge as a candidate elsewhere?
Bill Lazor
Offensive Coordinator, Virginia
Lazor's been a good coordinator at Virginia  He's not changing the game but they've been better than they were before he got there and they've been consistent  Lazor's ACC experience -- especially at a school like UVA -- translates well to BC (as it did for TOB years ago)  He can also sell his NFL ties to recruits  He played at Cornell and is from Scranton, so geography and academics wouldn't be an issue 
What to Watch for in 2012: How will UVA handle their pending QB controversy  Will they also move up within the ACC or stay middle of the pack offensively?
Offensive Coordinator, Alabama
Nussmeier moves from Washington to being the playcaller at the Defending National Champions  He's got a good profile for a rising coach in that he played professionally, coached in college, the NFL and Canada, and is now at an elite program  He runs a pro-style west coast offense, so the transition to BC would be relatively easy  Nussmeier lacks any obvious ties to BC or the northeast 
What to Watch in 2012: How will Nussmeier adjust to the pressure cooker of Saban and Alabama? Saban's offensives have been bland but effective  I expect more of the same this year  It doesn't make for compelling football but working for Saban can be good training for future head coaches 
Labels: Bill Lazor, Chad Morris, Coaches to Watch, fire Spaz, Matt Canada
ICYMI: Links from the past week
Phil Steele thinks we will score more points this season 
Kevin Pierre-Louis was named to the Nagurski watch list 
Pennsylvania Tight End strongly considered BC but verballed to UConn instead  BC's interest seemed to fade as other Tight Ends/Defensive Ends committed
Context 3: July | 2012 | Chico Taxpayers Association
Keep a Knockin’ but you can’t come in! Come back next Tuesday night and try it again! And be sure to bring plenty of your friends 
Toby Schindelbeck has finally been rewarded for his persistence – he’s been going before Chico City Council, asking that Finance MisDirector Jennifer Hennessy comply with city code and give a budget report at every meeting  City clerk Debbie Presson has informed him that this subject will be “discussed” at the August 7 council meeting 
But we know, it won’t be a very good “discussion” unless a bunch of people come in and demand some action  Toby has observed that issues like Corporate Personhood and the “single-use” plastic bag ban have drawn fairly small crowds – he estimates 25 – 30 people, and I’d say he’s being generous  The city has acted on these issues, with only that small fraction of the population in support  So, Toby believes there needs to be an even stronger presence to get a decent discussion on this matter, and I agree 
Like Toby and Stephanie Taber and others have been saying, the city code calls for a monthly budget report, with sticky details like receipts, etc, and Jennifer Hennessy admits she has not made such a report in the seven years she’s been with the city of Chico  Try not paying your taxes for seven years – you’ll get the same treatment as the man from Touch of Class Florist – 68 years old, and he’s being sent to PRISON  But Jennifer Hennessy and her boss Dave Burkland, and their overseer, Mayor Ann Schwab, get to flog the law right in front of everybody, and Ann just steps right into that little red convertible and drives off to her palatial estate in Forest Ranch 
The law is a piece of paper  It takes people to demand law enforcement  We’ve got a serious law enforcement problem in our town  The police say they aren’t paid enough to enforce the laws in the streets, and now Dave Burkland says, he just doesn’t have to 
And your mayor won’t make him either  He’s retiring, on more than $150,000 a year, for the rest of his life, but she’s up for election in November – time to take out the trash 
That meeting is scheduled for August 7, the usual time, the usual place  I’ll keep you posted 
Tags: Ann Schwab Chico CA, Ann Schwab for city council, Dave Burkand Chico Ca, Friends of Ann Schwab, Jennifer Hennessy Chico Ca
Stephanie Taber answers Quentin Colgan’s letter to the News and Review
I get complaints from friends and strangers, and it has also been my own experience, that the editor of the Chico News and Review is not always objective in deciding which letters received from the public will be printed in the paper and which ones won’t  Robert Speer has offered me excuses, but I have always found him to be disingenuous  For example – he told me he would only run letters that referenced an article or letter recently printed in the paper – untrue a million times over  He also told me he wouldn’t print letters that had already run in the Enterprise Record – also untrue a million times over  The man has his own reasons for running or not running letters 
David Little is more objective, but he’s got his faults too – once he threw out a letter from my husband and later admitted he had thought I’d written it and used my old man’s name  He just threw it out without even calling the phone number or e-mailing, just assumed I’d do something like that when I’d never done anything like that before, because he was mad at me over a snit we were having at the time 
I think Little gets his nose out at people personally, and Hell hath no fury, know what I mean? With Speer it can personal but I think it’s most often political  Suffice to say, they both carry what my dad used to call a “Shit List,” and if you’re on it, you don’t get ink in their rag 
Of course either paper is equally likely to print a total wad of lies or misinformation without so much as a google fact check  I will never forget the time Dave Little printed a letter saying the cops had been called to my house on a dog complaint  The letter writer insinuated that this was why I often wrote letters complaining about the cop contracts  I called Little and told him the letter was false, nothing like that had ever happened – but he wouldn’t retract it  I had to look the old man up in the phone book and call him myself, tell him he had been misinformed, and ask him to write a retraction  He apologized profusely and the apology was in the paper within three days  He wouldn’t tell me where he got the information, but later I found out he was a member of VIPS, and he still is  I think that’s something Dave Little could have looked into before he printed a story like that about me and my family, not to mention my dogs, but he didn’t see it that way  Poor journalism, is how I see it, and that’s what I’ve come to expect out of both the daily and the weekly 
So, pardon me if I was not surprised when my friend Stephanie mentioned to me that she didn’t think Speer would run her response to a letter from Quentin Colgan, regarding our current fiscal morass  QC made an argument he has been swinging around town lately – that Fire Station 5 had to be closed recently because the Tea Party forced the city to have a $150,000 election over Measure A 
The first problem I have with this argument is, the city is out a heck of a lot more than $150,000  The second problem I have is, I happen to know that over 8,000 Chicoans signed that petition, and there’s not more than 600 active members of the Tea Party  I also know the Tea Party didn’t sponsor the petition drive, nor were they the only people that marched out with those petitions  Colgan’s argument doesn’t make sense to me, but it’s amazing what kind of “facts” the general populace will believe if you just keep repeating them 
Some folks are trying to use the Tea Party as a target to rile up their peanut gallery, using Measure A as their rally call  They keep banging the same old drum  They refuse to have a rational discussion about the situation we’re facing, because it’s going to mean some sour beans for them and their trough-dwelling friends 
So, it’s up to a rational person like Stephanie Taber to lay it out straight for those who like facts  Stephanie attends the meetings, she reads the reports, she goes to the trouble of putting questions in writing for $taff, and then waiting persistently for an answer that practically has to be deciphered by a lawyer  She has followed this budget conversation since the day then-city-manager and first rat to jump, Greg Jones, expressed his grave concerns that we were headed straight for bankruptcy  She has followed the figures and checked the facts until she has forced these rats right to the wall – they have lately begun to dig their feet in and refuse to obey the sunshine laws, refusing to give the fiscal reports demanded by the city charter  Some people can try to run their little smokescreen of repetitive nonsense, but more rational people are finding out the truth  Thanks to Stephanie Taber for writing this letter below, which may or may not run in the Chico News and Review:
I’d like to take this opportunity to respond to Quentin Colgan’s letter of July 12th; primarily because the costs surrounding the Special Election held regarding Measure A have been distorted  Yes, it did cost $150,000, but why? That’s the elephant in the room  The progressives on the City Council chose the method by which the election would be held  Per the City Charter (which is the City’s Constitution) Section 501 clearly states “The City Council may determine that any Special Election shall be held by mailed ballot” etc  That would have cut the cost by half, at least  But the Council chose the most expensive means possible, voting at the precinct  They were afraid that just telling the students they were being disenfranchised, which was an obvious lie, would not be sufficient to defeat it 
As to “it’s all the Tea Party’s fault”; I was the only signature to the Measure  I felt no need to consult the Tea Party before I took that action; but did enlist the help of many concerned citizens to gather the more than 8,000 signature required to put it on the ballot 
Toby Schindelbeck has called upon our Finance Director to adhere to Section 908 of the City’s Charter which states “(the) Finance Director shall submit to the Council through the City Manager monthly statements of receipts, disbursements and balances in such form as to show the exact financial condition of the City”  It does not state when you may want to or if you have time to; it says “shall”  No one on the Council or otherwise can remember when that may have happened last  If it was being done as the Charter states it would have been recognize that the City was facing a financial Armageddon and steps could have been taken much earlier in the fiscal year to avoid the closing of Fire Station 5 
Tags: Ann Sc hwab Chico Ca, Ann Schwab for city council, Chico Enterprise Record, Chico News and Review, Chico Tea Party Patriots, City of Chico, David Little, Friends of Ann Schwab, Quentin Colgan, Robert Speer, Stephanie Taber
City Art Director Mary Gardner is foisting a new “Art Tax” on us to pay her own salary
To mgardner@ci chico ca us, gerimahood@yahoo com, mcbergarts@gmail com
(Mary Gardner, city of Chico public arts director, city of Chico, Geraldine Mahood and Monica Berg of the Arts Commission)
I recently read your memo here
Chico-Arts-Building-Tax pdf
I think it’s despicable Ms  Gardner that you are trying raise revenues for your own salary by foisting a new “Art Tax” on new development 
Ms  Mahood, Ms  Berg, nobody wants eggsuckers like you telling them how to spend their money or what’s “art”  You people make me sick 
The Chico Taxpayers Association will fight this grab, as will other civic groups through the area  That’s why you’ve kept your efforts “under the radar” I assume – you don’t want people to know about this, because you don’t want to hear what they think about it  Or YOU!
You people need to get real jobs and quit sucking off the public teat 
http://www norcalblogs com/adhoc/
Sincerely, Juanita Sumner, Chico CA
Tags: Ann Schwab Chico CA, Ann Schwab for city council, Chico Arts Commission, City of Chico "Art Tax", City of Chico Arts Policy Manual, Friends of Ann Schwab, Geraldine Mahood, Mary Gardner, Monica Berg
Jennifer Hennessy is incompetent – she can’t do her job and Burkland says she doesn’t have to
I’ll never forget my first real job – a clerical position at a manufacturing plant  I would compare it to the story of the miller’s daughter  On the first day, I was told that the employee I was to be replacing would stick around for a week to train me  At noon that day, having shown me where everything was and how to use the coffee maker, she got up from her chair, smiled, and told me she thought I could “handle it,” then left  At one o’clock, the plant manager came over to my desk followed by several “production” workers  They brought cart loads of microfilm, on rolls, in little white boxes  I was to label all of those boxes, three carts, piled high  This job had gotten held up, he explained, it would be “great!” if it could go out today  Did I think I could get them done by 4 o’clock? I wanted to make everybody happy, so said I yes without thinking, and set to work loading the labels into the typewriter 
It was a disaster  I had never typed anything like those labels before – typing class had been all about letters and envelopes, columns and reports  The labels skittered all over the platen, getting glue all over the inside of the typewriter  About every 50 or so labels, the platen had to be taken out and cleaned with alcohol  I typed and typed  By 3 o’clock I knew I was in trouble  The production workers had come over to my desk to help me affix the sticky labels  We were nervous, labels were getting screwed up  At 3:30 the office manager and receptionist came back to my desk to help with the labels  I typed and typed, and tried not to cry 
We didn’t make it  The plant manager was flustered  The salesman who’d promised the job was really pissed off, he said mean things  I apologized again and again, they told me it wasn’t all my fault, but could I please be more careful what I committed myself to in future  I could tell they also expected me to get a hell of a lot faster, but they were just trying to be nice 
So, I got faster  I came in early in the morning and worked through lunch until I got better at my job  I had signed up for a typing job, nobody had described all the weird stuff they expected me to type  It started with typing and labeling, not only sticky labels, but microfiche jackets  They have a little quarter inch tall label strip across the top that chips and peels if you aren’t careful loading them into the typewriter, and strips or frames of 35 and 16 mm film that falls out in your typewriter  Then there were the three-part work orders, with carbon paper, and the three-part shipping labels, also with carbon paper  There were the mistakes – whole orders that had been indexed incorrectly, and therefore typed incorrectly, and therefore had to be corrected and typed all over again  I won’t describe what I had to go through to correct microfiche labels, it was too stupid  I hated doing that, so I asked for my own little “eye-loup” – a little magnifier that you hold up to a light to look at the tiny little page numbers on the film – to make sure the cards had been indexed correctly before I typed them 
I’m not perfect, but I know I’m competent, cause I kept that job for five years while I watched others get fired, for everything from showing up late to breaking expensive equipment to stealing  I was given new jobs and increased responsibility as time went by  I got good job reviews from my supervisors, and good raises  Morale was high, we liked our co-workers and our managers, we felt like a team  Our customers were nice to us too  We worked for cities and counties, hospitals, banks – anybody who needed to keep records  We were trusted to handle confidential records, like people’s medical records  As we handled these confidential files we were simply told, “Don’t look at them,” so we didn’t 
I left in 1984 in finish school  Over the next decade computers killed the microfilm industry, and the company went out of business 
Excuse me if I compare my experiences in the private sector with stuff I’ve seen coming out of our city $taff  I keep waiting for some professional behavior, some professional accountability out of the people who run our town, and I start to wonder if I will ever get it  For a couple of months now, Toby Schindelbeck and Stephanie Taber, among others, have been asking council and Finance MisDirector Jennifer Hennessy to provide a simple accounting of city finances, as is required by the city charter, and she just plain refuses to give it  City Mangler Dave Burkland won’t make her 
Last month she actually admitted, she is UNABLE to do it  At the June 5 meeting she admitted that she is incompetent to follow the city charter  She said that when she came to her position seven years ago, she “struggled” with doing such a report – something every house wife does – and went whining to then-city-manager Tom Lando, who apparently patted her on the head and told her she didn’t have to do it anymore 
I don’t know about you guys, but I go over my check book every month, just to make sure everything is straight  I’ve found big, dumb mistakes, in the 100’s column even, that could have caused big, dumb problems down the road  I’m no math instructor, like Mary Goloff, but it’s not exactly rocket science – you just add your deposits and subtract your checks and withdrawals  I’ll admit, when my kids were little, I felt like I never had time to do that, and stuff would get screwed up  So now that I’ve got time, I make it a regularly scheduled event, and it’s amazing how much easier it is  And, I can keep the figures in my head, I know essentially how much I can afford to spend when I’m at the grocery store, or what kind of activities we can plan  My husband and son are enjoying a weekend trip right now that is already paid for, thankyouverymuch 
But Jennifer Hennessy is unable to do that? And she has expectable stuff – over 80 percent of her budget is payroll  She doesn’t have that many emergencies  The biggest emergency she’s had lately, is that the state has taken back the fund she’s been mis-using – the RDA  She was paying salaries and benefits out of a fund that’s supposed to be reserved for emergency public works projects  In other words, she’s been dipping into the till to pay her own salary!
The mayor is to blame here, she’s the captain of our ship  Unfortunately, like the captain of the Costa Concordia, she’s abandoned ship for a party onshore  While she and her college chums bully their bag ban down our throats, our ship is sinking  We have less than $200,000 in our reserve fund, we have un-secured pension obligations totaling in the millions and growing every day, and we have $taff who are using blackmail to get their way – they are just refusing to do their jobs  Hennessy won’t give the report she’s required to give because it’s BAD  I think the mayor is completely behind her on this – Ann Schwab doesn’t want us to hear that report either  Would you?
Please write a letter to council demanding that Hennessy do her job, or get out 
Tags: Ann Schwab Chico CA, Ann Schwab for city council, bankruptcy, City of Chico, Dave Burkland, embezzlement, Friends of Ann Schwab, Jennifer Hennessy, malfeasance
Scranton, Pennsylvania cuts workers to minimum wage – only $130,000 in their cash reserves
I finally got a chance to watch the video of last Tuesday’s council meeting  It cut on me during the meeting, just after Walker and Goloff were mopping up their attack on Sorensen, and I didn’t get it back til yesterday  I have watched the video in bits and snatches  I made it to the noise ordinance conversation last night, but had to turn it off after Jessica Allen and a couple of her friends got up to demand their rights to be bad neighbors 
One thing I learned is that the city of Chico has less than $200,000 in the reserve fund  No, I did not forget a zero on that figure, that’s it – less than $200,000  Read it and weep – and then call them to ask what they did with that property tax check you just sent in 
You can look at the budget report here: http://www chico ca us/finance/budget asp
You see the millions the city takes in, in sales tax (over $17 million) property tax (over $11 million), even taxes on your PG&E, phone and water (almost $7 million), and your visitors’ motel rooms (over $2 million)  To me that seems petty – “bed tax”? Some people think it’s a good idea to shake down the visitors of your town, as if it’s not enough that they spend money on your motels, restaurants and shopping centers  It’s a common grab all over California, every city does it  A lot of distasteful things become “common” when no decent person stands up to say “enough is enough ”
In Chico, as has been oft repeated, over 80 percent of our budget is in salaries and benefits  That’s the elephant in the room, and everybody’s getting pretty hip deep in elephant shit around here  It’s a simple concept, no matter how convoluted $taff and council try to make it: if they spend all the money on salaries, benefits, and the Great Pension Stock Market Disaster, there’s no money left to pay for supplies to say, clean up leaks in the sewer and water lines that are causing the state to fine us by the day, widen the roads that we are required to widen because of the permitting of Meriam Park, etc  And you can just get used to those pot holes in the street out front of your house  Got bad neighbors? Get a lawyer 
What’s really frustrating are the reactions of the cops and fire – they act like they don’t get paid at all  Those guys take most of the 80 percent  They get overtime written into their schedules  According to Hennessy, both fire and the cops are over budget on their workman’s comp claims for at least the third year in a row  The city just slammed another cop contract past us without public review, and signed the new chief’s contract three days before it was made available to the public, and then only by request and a direct visit to the clerk’s office Downtown 
So, we will get another year of poor response times, bitching and moaning from cops and fire  Get ready for your homeowners and your car insurance to go up – the insurance companies know when your local police and fire departments are a pile of shit 
And don’t think I’m not wondering about all those suspicious house fires 
You can just forget about any of the services a city is supposed to offer  Try to get something out of the city clerk these days – if you can catch her in the office!
Well, here’s the story of Scranton, Pennsylvania – home of Michael Scott!
http://bottomline msnbc msn com/_news/2012/07/10/12659748-scranton-pa-slashes-workers-pay-to-minimum-wage?lite
The mayor of Scranton, when faced with a situation similar to Chico’s mess, did what needed to be done  Unfortunately, he waited until it was too late to do something rational  I’m afraid it’s come to that with our city council – if you think that scene between Goloff and Sorensen was rational, well, you deserve to live here 
Tags: Ann Schwab for city council, Bob Evans for city council, Chico City council eletions 2012, cities declare bankruptcy, Friends of Ann Schwab, pensions, phone tax, salaries, sales tax increase
Marysville council rejects sales tax ploy by retiring city administrator – where’s Chico’s knight in shining armor?
I am not a member of the Chico Chamber of Commerce, but I check in to their website regularly to see what they’re up to  Sometimes I believe, they are the real Chico City Council  While our elected leaders frolic and cavort in their stupid committee meetings, the Chamber is working on a “Top 10 Economic Development Action List” 
Yeah, sounds great, until you consider, one of their “Top 10” is a proposal to raise the local sales tax 
One prominent member of the Chamber who might be able to fill us in on the discussion is Bob Evans  I’ve asked Bob where he stands on this tax increase, but he just keeps saying he hasn’t seen a proposal yet  Lately I have asked him if he would require Lando and the other sales tax increase proponents to get the legal number of signatures on a petition before he votes to put this proposal on the ballot, but he won’t answer me  His downright refusal to discuss the tax increase is frustrating to me – I want to believe Bob is a “fiscal conservative ” After all, he had some high and mighty things to say about his opposition to the phone tax  But, he knew the phone tax didn’t need his support to get on the ballot  It’s easy to posture as the good guy when you know others will achieve the end result you really want  Evans’ resistance to making a pledge against a sales tax increase is screaming in my ear like a fire alarm 
In Marysville, Mayor Bill Harris had no trouble making himself clear when his city mangler proposed a half-cent sales tax increase: “This will be viewed as the City Council coming to them wanting more money again ”
Well, the article mentioned, the city mangler is retiring, so I would also see it as his way of securing his f-ing pension, but nobody mentions that 
City councilwoman Christina Billeci echoed a sentiment I’ve been hearing increasingly in Chico – “We need to balance the budget with the revenues we have,” she said 
Other council members cited lack of support from citizens, including one councillor who claimed to have got “angry reactions” to the proposal  One council member said he might have supported the move before the June election, “But the cigarette tax was voted down, and that should have been a slam dunk,” he said  “I would see this as a waste of effort and money ”
The only council member who supported the notion, Head Start administrator Ricky Samayoa, made some pretty disparaging remarks about the town 
“There’s a lot of people that know there’s a lack of resources here for us to have a proper city and manage it,” he said  Oooo! A “proper city”! What a bitch! Does he have letters from constituents to support this statement, or is he just using “a lot of people” to describe himself and his co-workers? Not enough drive through coffee stands for you Ricky? Not enough 5 Star restaurants or pink boutiques? Sorry, we’ve never been ones for putting on the Ritz here in the North State, better get in your zip car and drive back to the Bay Area 
In the Enterprise Record story, Samoyoa further claimed that “continued cuts to maintenance and other aspects of the city’s budget hurt chances for an economic recovery ” I imagine Marysville has the same problem Chico has – too many $100,000+ salaries and not enough $20,000 – $50,000 workers  While he’s sitting down there under the air conditioner vent at Head Start in a fresh shirt and manicure, the streets are going unmaintained, the classrooms overcrowded, the police and fire departments underfunded – is that the problem Mr  Samayoa?
“The way we’re continuing to go, it’s just going to be a dying city, even if the economy picks up,” he said  Now, that statement doesn’t even make sense  This is a typical example of scare tactics  “The way we’re continuing to go…” You mean, paying $100,000+ salaries to fat bureaucrats, while cutting services to the public? Somehow I don’t think that’s what he’s talking about  ” …it’s just going to be a dying city…” Wow, what an idiot – obviously no knowledge of local history  Marysville has been through so many booms and busts, it ought to be called “Bouncyville ” If you get to know Marysville, you see it has everything needed to be a wonderful place to live, in good times and bad, regardless of carpetbaggers like Samayoa 
“Give folks the opportunity to have this debate,” Mr  Samayoa suggests  Sounds like the rhetoric coming from Andy Holcombe and the rest of the sales tax increase proponents  Hey, that’s a swell idea! People should talk about these things, hash them out  And then, if enough of them sign a petition to put such a proposal on a legal ballot, well, they can VOTE on it! But that costs alot of money – best for those who really believe in this cockamamie idea to get the petition first, show the need to spend all that money on an election  That’s what rational people would do, anyway 
But if you ask Holcombe to discuss the pending proposal, he denies there is any such thing  The only member of Chico City Council who is willing to discuss this proposal at all has been Mark Sorensen – thanks Mark  At least Mark has been good enough to answer our questions about the mechanics of such a proposal and getting it onto the ballot  Evans and Holcombe have both denied knowing anything about it, although Holcombe has made it good and clear he’d support raising the sales tax and Evans has been seen at Chamber discussions on the matter  The others have been mum to the public, but I’m guessing they will support it  Holcombe, Schwab, Goloff, Walker, Gruendl – and Evans? – are all banking on more revenues to rescue the city from the Shit Creek they’ve floated us up  Evans, while he will admit we’re in deep shit, will not offer so much as a suggestion of a paddle  He seems to be holding back until after he gets himself safely re-elected in November  Then he’s got a year to get that sales tax voted in and three years to make the public forget he had anything to do with it 
Well Bob, is that what you’re up to?
I’ll say, if he were at least honest, I might be able to hold my nose and support him, but this game he’s playing is a real turn-off 
Tags: Ann Schwab Chico CA, Ann Schwab for city council, Bob Evans Chico Ca, Bob Evans for city council, chico city council race 2012, city of Chico bankruptcy, city of Chico sales tax increase, Friends of Ann Schwab, Ricky Samayoa Marysville Ca
Council video feed still not available – $taff seems to have taken the Summer off!
I know, there’s probably a perfectly legitimate explanation for this  Debbie Presson isn’t sure why the feed is off, but she’s got somebody working on it  Not yesterday though, cause she was out of her office 
I’ll tell you what else is interesting – there haven’t been any of those morning meetings lately – in fact, it looks like all the committee meetings for July are CANCELLED  In fact, there hasn’t been an “Economic Development” committee meeting for months that I’m aware  For all intents and purposes, the city of Chico seems to be on Summer Vacation! How nice for them!
But, as you see, the town runs along without them  In fact, I’m wishing the public works department would also take a hike – they’re TOO BUSY right now, tearing up the streets Downtown  Oh well, the college students have “gone home” – what do we need Downtown for when the college students have gone home?
That seems to be the gist of if – the city of Chico is here to serve the college students  The rest of us can just get along – as long as we keep paying our taxes, nobody will bother us!
I just have to wonder, what are these $85,000, $95,000, $134,000 $taffers doing right now, and why do we need to keep paying them?
Tags: Ann Schwab Chico CA, Ann Schwab for city council, City of Chico, embezzlers, Friends of Ann Schwab, malfeasance
New police chief’s contract signed last Tuesday, made available to the public Friday – gotta love that “sunshine”!
Last Tuesday night we got a new police chief – Kirk Trostle  Only a month ago city manager Dave Burkland issued a statement – “police chief candidates not knockouts” according to the Enterprise Record  Trostle is a refugee from the Oroville police department, where, as chief, he certainly had his critics  He came to Chico only about a year and a half ago, from a department that was not without it’s problems  The council made their appointment without any elaboration – he was essentially the best thing they could come up with on short notice 
But shouldn’t we be able to negotiate a better contract with this man? Retiring Chief Porky Mike Maloney is getting over $165,000 a year, just in salary  He will be getting over $100,000 to retire, for the rest of his life, plus medical benefits  Frankly, I predict he’s carrying a colostomy bag within five years 
Have you seen Trostle’s contract? They signed it at council last Tuesday  But when we asked for it, they said we wouldn’t be able to look at it until Friday  I was invited to go down to the clerk’s office, at her convenience, 9 – 5, during MY WORK DAY, to look at a contract that had already been signed  Why in the hell would I want to do that? They don’t even offer you a decent cup of coffee 
So no, I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m guessing, it’s worse than Maloney’s contract  A fellow taxpayer went down Friday and reports he has the contracts, but has not given me any details  I don’t know if he had to pay for paper copies or what, but you can view it for free if you want to go down there  I’ll get back to you when I got something 
Tags: Ann Schwab Chico CA, Ann Schwab for city council, Chico Police Department, Chico Police Officers Association, City of Chico, Friends of Ann Schwab, Kirk Trostle chief of police chico ca, mike maloney retires at 50 what a pig
Mary Goloff and Jim Walker gang jump Mark Sorensen on the dais – just another lovely Chico city council meeting!
I’m sitting here in disbelief of the attack I just watched Mary Goloff and Jim Walker wage on Mark Sorensen at city council tonight  I couldn’t make the meeting, so I have been watching it via computer 
Sorensen had been challenged by a smarmy Jim Walker to list what changes he would make to balance the budget  Sorensen carefully began to explain that city funds had been depleted by millions over the last few years, with escalating costs leaving revenues in the dirt  He also explained that the lion’s share of our expenses are “operating costs,” meaning, salaries  He also carefully explained that there were programs we simply could not afford anymore, meaning, salaries 
Mary Goloff could be heard heckling him off microphone  If you or I did what she was doing we’d be asked to leave the room, possibly with police escort  But Mayor Schwab just sat there looking at Goloff, saying nothing  Goloff finally got on mike, interrupted Sorensen, and asked him to be specific  So, Sorensen offered housing, saying it had been a mistake to undertake so many housing projects, and he also specified the arts programs – such as the requirement that any capital project include one percent of the total cost of that project be added for art 
At this point Goloff began to interrupt Sorensen  She started heckling him about how “we all agree” that the arts are important, yadda, yadda  She just kept at Sorensen, not allowing him to answer any of her out-there questions, until Sorensen asked her to stop interrupting him 
After a quick exchange Walker butted in to attack Sorensen  Out of nowhere, Walker bashed Sorensen about wanting to spend more money on the police department, asking Sorensen where he would get the money to hire more police  This question was off base, Sorensen hadn’t even gotten that far before Goloff had completely derailed him 
Jim Walker is just sitting out his time, he seems to be enjoying himself at all of our expense  He, like so many “public servants,” seems to think he is elected to do what he wants, what seems like “the right thing” in his fairy tale mind, instead of carry out the law 
Mary Goloff seems to think she has been anointed Queen in some farcical aquatic ceremony to lead us all in the light of her cough syrup-induced wisdom  She seems to love the sound of her own voice, while here at my house, it sets off the hounds for blocks 
My computer started failing at this point, and I was unable to watch the rest of the meeting  I am going on vacation tomorrow, I’ll see you folks on the flip flop 
Tags: Ann Schwab Chico CA, Ann Schwab for city council, Friends of Ann Schwab
Turn that S*** UP!
We had a lively discussion down at the library yesterday about how we are going to fight the phone tax increase in November 
The key here is to inform the public  $taff has already done their best to make this measure confusing and deceptive, actually writing into the measure that it will lower taxes  They mean, they are lowering the rate half a cent, but of course, this half-cent will be an ice cube in hell when they apply the tax to all the new stuff this measure allows – starting with cell phones, texting, paging, and adding whatever new technology comes along  All the voter needs to know is, this measure will raise his/her taxes, noticeably 
Even people on welfare will pay this tax, even though they qualify for the rate-assistance plans offered by the phone companies – utility tax is based on the total bill, before the adjustment for the rate assistance  And, this tax includes those prepaid phone cards 
The hardest hit will be commercial customers  A friend of mine who owns a little manufacturing business in town tells me the city of Chico thinks all business owners are “rich sugar daddies” 
My friend always tells me, that while I am in these meetings Downtown, he is in Oroville or Redding or Modesto or some other town, dealing with his business  He says these towns have better, more workable $taff  He is among the business owners who have used the word “hostile” to describe Dave Burkland, and the city business climate in general 
We have to get the word out to people like my friend that NOW IS THE TIME to get involved  I like that band, Rage Against the Machine – they say, “it has to start somewhere, it has to start sometime  What better place than here, what better time than NOW!”
We’re fighting the city, which will use public money to fund this tax increase initiative  For example, they have already used $taff time to research and write the measure, and now council members and $taff will create the “for” argument to be placed on the ballot  Our city attorney makes over $190,000 a year in salary alone – Mark Sorensen figured the cost of an hour of her time, but I forget the figure  More than most people make in a day, is all I remember 
The city will turn over their arguments in favor in August – at that point we can take this dog and pony show on the road  Until then, let’s keep working  Thanks all!




ground_truth: They are rich in actin and have been shown to be highly dynamic.

prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: When will BC leave Boston?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 2: 
Temple closed on Jersey prospect Jarred Alwan  That's a big coup considering how hard BC went after him 
Former Eagle Steve Hailey now coaches on the Boston AAU circuit  Maybe that will help us with local talent 
BC still has interest in Ohio RB Keith Watkins 
Labels: Kevin Pierre-Louis, Links, Phil Steele, Steve Hailey
No King at BC may be a good thing
Nearly everything that needs to be said about Penn State and Joe Paterno has been said  But one point that Bruce Feldman made regarding College Football's King culture reminded me of how different BC is from most FBS schools  We don't and never have had a "King " I've often longed for that iconic winner that could serve as the face of the program, but maybe it is better that we don't  For whatever we miss by not having a "Woody" or a "JoePa" or "Bear" we also avoid the power struggles and corruption that often comes with an all-powerful Head Coach 
What does a King really provide anyway? Branding   a little nostalgia   someone to embrace  But it doesn't really win you football games or make you a better school  Florida State's losing in the final Bowden years proved that and Penn State has a permanent stain on their whole community because of their Kingdom 
BC's had some dynamic leaders, but none have ever stayed long enough to reach statue status  Our winningest coach and longest tenured even left and no one put up a fight to keep him  TOB could have been our icon  A little more fire and one or two more critical wins and we would have celebrated him like other schools have done with their biggest winners  But it wasn't to be and that's probably a good thing 
When I've profiled coaching candidates in the past, I've hoped that one would stay for a long time  That's changed  I don't want a guy who want to be bigger than the University  Things are better that way 
Labels: Bruce Feldman, college football, penn state, TOB
Key Players for 2012: Emmett Cleary
This is a series on the key players for the 2012 season  Big things are expected for some, while others will need to improve over their previous performances  If 2012 is a good year, it will be in part to the key players overachieving 
Senior Offensive Tackle, Emmett Cleary
What he's been: A long-time starter and one of the leaders on offense  Cleary has played on both sides of the line and at both guard and tackle  When he first arrived, Jags said that he could be the next Costanzo  Tall and lean (for a lineman) Cleary's been a consistent contributor like Costanzo (playing in 36 games and starting 26) yet he's never been the consistently great like Costanzo  How much of Cleary's occasional mistakes or setback are due to talent, coaching or the offense? I think it's been a bit of everything 
What he needs to be: Good isn't good enough anymore  Cleary takes on the big responsibility of left tackle this year  Rettig has been running for his life the past three years  If the offense is ever going to take off, they need to improve pass protection  That will start with Cleary  And in the ACC, he'll be facing some of the top defensive linemen in the country on a weekly basis  Cleary's always been good with speed guys on the edge  He'll also need to improve on run blocking  If Martin uses more stretches and zones like Logan, that will leave Cleary often sealing off edges on run plays 
Why I like his chances to shine: We've seen offensive lineman make huge leaps from season to season before  Part of it is maturing into their bodies and understanding the position  But a lot is coaching  I think Cleary has been underserved in that department  Even if Bollman is not some OL guru, I think Cleary playing in a more pass happy, up tempo offense will play to his strengths  I think his leadership position and the coaching staff's confidence in him will make him shine at LT  I think he will live up to his potential and have multiple games where he dominates and plays mistake free football  Plus he still has the NFL on his horizon  If he can perform at an elite level, he can jump up from a late round afterthought to a high-round pick 
I think if Cleary stays healthy, he shoot up draft boards  If BC's offense breaks out of its doldrums he'll be named an all conference player 
Labels: 2012 Preview, emmett cleary, Jim Bollman, Key Players
BC using coordinators as face(s) of the program?
BC posted this "thank you" video as an invite to a special practice for season ticket holders  Notice anyone missing? It is just a silly Youtbue video but I find it very telling that the school left out the Head Coach  This is college football  Your head coach is the face of the program  Ours isn't even mentioned in a direct marketing message to our most loyal customers 
There are many likely explanations for Spaz's absence  He's not particularly good on camera  He's never really shown any sort of enthusiasm for this sort of thing  And I think BC has heard enough to know that Spaz is not very popular with our fan base  No reason to trot him out when it will just dampen excitement about the upcoming season 
I like Bill McGovern and Doug Martin  Both are capable coordinators and leaders  Martin's been a head coach and I know McGovern wants to be one, so giving them face time is not a bad idea  Let's hope they are also given autonomy this year (which hasn't been Spaz's strong suit with coordinators)  If these two are given real power, season ticket holders will probably be happy they renewed 
Labels: BC marketing, Bill McGovern, Doug Martin, fire Spaz, Speculating with Spaz, Video
Optimism from Football Outsiders and other links
I am a sucker for football analytics and I also really respect CBS's Matt Hinton  So when his ACC preview piece on Football Outsiders listed BC with a  500 record and a 3rd place finish in the division, I was pleasantly surprised  FO is betting on our returning players and the positive trends of the last few games of 2011  I still don't know what to think about the upcoming season, but my love for BC and articles like this have me looking on the bright side 
BC is sending Emmett Cleary and Kaleb Ramsey to Greensboro to represent the school during ACC media days  I think this is actually a great sign for BC and for both players  I expected Cleary to have a break out season last year  He was good, but not all conference  Maybe this year is his chance to shine and get on NFL radars  Ramsey has always had the talent  His health and attitude have been bigger issues  If he is healthy and focused this year, he will be a game changer on D 
Here is more on our newest recruit out of Cincinnati Truman Gutapfel 
Chris Pantale is on the Mackey watch list  The award is given annually to the country's best Tight End 
Beaver Country Day big man Jacquil Taylor is generating local interest  BC has yet to offer, but is following him 
BCeagles com posted a Q&A with Bobby Swiggert yesterday  I found his talk about paring down the offense encouraging  We need to work on execution not diversity of plays 
HD put out this offseason filler piece ranking coaching jobs in the ACC  I don't really care where she perceives us  When the job changes we will be very attractive to the right guy for us 
Labels: Bobby Swigert, Chris Pantale, emmett cleary, Heather Dinich, Kaleb Ramsey, Links, Recruiting, Truman Gutapfel
Where is the one that got away?
While we've struggled recruiting Massachusetts players this year, we've cleaned up in Connecticut and in Ohio  Those local kids (or other lay-up recruits) we miss generate plenty of frustration but they happen every year  What's fortunate about our misses though, is that very few have come back to haunt us  When was the last time a great recruit spurned BC and became a star? I can think of a few over the years, but most of the recruits that "got away" had middling careers elsewhere 
Some recent examples of guys who spurned us include Graham Stewart, Arthur Lynch and Joe Boisture  All three committed to BC at one point only to rethink their decisions and go to bigger programs  Stewart washed out at Florida and is now sitting out a transfer year at UConn  Boisture is out of football altogether  Lynch has been a backup at Georgia  He has a chance for a bigger role this season, but so far has not lived up to the hype that surrounded his recruitment  Even with our terrible offense, Chris Pantale has had a much more productive Tight End career 
The closest thing I can think of to a recent recruit who had success elsewhere is Virginia OT Oday Aboushi  But should he even count? He didn't spurn BC  Our admissions office turned him down after he verbaled to BC  Prior to that, you would have to go back to Dorian Bryant  But like Aboushi, his case was less about being seduced by a bigger, flashier program and more about not meeting BC's minimum standards for admissions at one point in time 
Where these guys all over-hyped by the recruiting services? Where they wrong fits at their post-BC choices? I don't know  I do think a program like BC is probably more patient with players than some of the bigger programs  We won't rush a guy out of the program to free up a scholarship  We prefer to redshirt  And I think the nature of a program -- with good academic support and less of a big school mentality -- keeps kids from falling through the cracks  Every recruit thinks they are going to be a star, so selling them on development and a safety net doesn't sway many, but it should  If anything BC should use a guy like Marcus Grant -- a local kid who left a Big Ten program to come "home" as an example to Massachusetts recruits  Massachusetts kids keep leaving to play at the "highest level " Our counter should be that we will develop them for life and the NFL (the real highest level) and not chew them up and spit them out like a football factory 
I am sure that there will be a guy in the near future who decommits from BC and becomes a star  Or a guy we should have had who leads another team to glory  Right now I am just glad that we have very few regrets when it comes to old recruits  Our recruiting still has major challenges, but that's one area where things have broken our way 
[Note to commentors: let me know if you think I missed any recruits who "got away "]
Labels: Graham Stewart, Joe Boisture, mike siravo, Recruiting, Spaz recruiting
Key Players for 2012: Kevin Pierre-Louis
Junior Linebacker, Kevin Pierre-Louis
What he's been: BC's second-leading tackler  On most teams KPL would already be a star  But he played next to college football's tackling machine  There wasn't much room for headlines or an extra tackle with Luke Kuechly doing so much  Pierre-Louis also missed three games last year and played through pain in others  When healthy, he showed great anticipation and was a very solid tackler  In a way, he's a lot like Kuechly 
What he needs to be: KPL needs to be more of a game changer  He's got the speed and instincts to do it  Also, his role won't be in the middle, so he can take chances that Kuechly could not  Ideally he'd have a season like Herzy's 2008  Where on one play he's blitzing the QB and on the next he's running a fumble back  While our scheme has defined much of the defensive success the past five years, we've also benefited from great individual performances  To be great again, we need someone with the tools like KPL to become elite 
Why I like his chances to shine: KPL played really well in the first half of 2011  If he had stayed healthy, he would've been all conference  There's no reason he can't be even better this year  We'll miss Kuechly, but the defensive line might be better this year -- that will create more opportunities for big plays from Pierre-Louis  I also like his stats  His tackles for loss and pass break ups in a shortened season give me hope that he'll do even more when playing in all games and playing at 100% 
I think KPL takes off this year  I think he'll be first team ACC, lead BC with over 110 tackles, and have at least two INTs and two fumble recoveries 
Labels: 2012 Preview, Kevin Pierre-Louis, Key Players
Montel Harris to Temple now officially official
Although it's been rumored and reported multiple times over the past few months, Montel Harris finally enrolled in Temple over the weekend  Supposedly the delay was due to Harris completing his academic commitments to BC  To be eligible at Temple, Montel must have completed his BC degree 
All the past comments hold true for me  I hope Montel has a great end to his career and gets his shot at the NFL  He was a pleasure to watch the past four years 
Labels: Kevin Rogers, Montel Harris, Ryan Day, Temple
What would Spaz need to do to hold on?
I've been speculating about new coaches all summer, but what if Spaz actually pulls through? Crystal Ball Run thinks it could happen  Ultimately it will come down to our record  In my opinion, this is how it would play out  Let me know your thoughts in the comments 
4-8 or worse   
Spaz is gone  Back to back 8 loss seasons would be too much  The diehards are already calling for his head  Another embarrassing and hard to watch season would kill goodwill among the casual BC fans 
8-4 or better   
Spaz is safe  We have the talent and the schedule to be this good  I don't think it will happen, but if it does we will see Year 5 of the Spaz era 
6 or 7 wins   
Spaz "retires " He gets his money  He gets to go out with a winning record  He saves face  This is probably the best outcome for everyone 
This is the unknown in my opinion  I could see the powers that be wanting to keep him one more year  Especially if we end on a high note 
Labels: Coach Flip is running the show, fire Spaz, Speculating with Spaz
Coaches to Watch this fall Part 3: Current Defensive Coordinators
BC has turned to college coordinators in the past to step up as Head Coach  While there is risk with any hire, the nice thing about a rising coordinator is that they've usually proven themselves adapt at one phase of the game and you have the chance to hire the next great football mind  Plus most coordinators come in hungry and hard working, looking to make the most of their first chance as a head coach  Because Spaz is a a defensive coach, I am sure BC fans will want a replacement with an offensive background, but that doesn't mean we should overlook these guys 
Pat Narduzzi
Defensive Coordinator, Michigan State
Until Bruce Feldman dropped his name as a Spaz replacement, I don't think many BC fans were even thinking about Narduzzi  On paper he's a very solid candidate  He's got BCS experience at Michigan State  The Spartans love him and recently gave him a huge raise  While they haven't been elite, I like what Michigan State has done under Dantonio (and Narduzzi)  They overachieve given their talent base and work hard on the recruting front  Because of his stops in Cincinnati and growing up in northeast Ohio, Narduzzi has ties to our important midwest recruiting territories  What I like most about him as a candidate is his time at Rhode Island  I don't think our new head coach needs ties to BC, but I do think it helps if he comes in with an understanding of what BC is and can be  If you've coached at URI, you know what New England football is like  You know about the difference in fan interest and the space crunch BC is under  And you'll know that BC can be successful with the right coaching 
What to Watch for in 2012: How high Narduzzi's profile rises  He interviewed for head coaching jobs last year  If Michigan State continues to improve and Narduzzi earns more accolades, other schools will have interest 
Mark Stoops
Defensive Coordinator, Florida State
Normally I would worry about the fit of a guy like Stoops  He's coming from a football factory  His last name brings some good and bad baggage  But I do think there are some strong pluses in his candidacy at BC  Like Narduzzi, Stoops has deep ties to the Ohio Catholic high school circuit  He also has a good understanding of the ACC landscape after stops in Miami and Florida State  His FSU defenses still begin with the 4-3, so he could take our current roster and install his own system  Although the Stoops name isn't a household name in Boston, his track record, name and personality would be an easy sell to the BC faithful 
What to Watch for in 2012: How Florida State handles their expectations  If this is the year they finally return to being "Florida State" Stoops will get much of the credit and be a hot name  Even if they are good, not great, he's still viable at BC 
Defensive Coordinator, Texas
Due to his unusual path into coaching and his sudden rise, Diaz is a very hot name among coordinators  Aside from his time coaching at other ACC schools, there's not much tying him to BC  But I think his ability to recruit, his Xs and Os and the ability to be the face of the program deserve consideration  Diaz is young, but serving as a coordinator at Texas is a good proving ground  Mack Brown is in CEO mode, so his coordinators do much of the heavy lifting  It's great preparation for making the jump to head coach 
What to Watch for in 2012: TOB's potential retirement  Diaz is one of the names on many NC State wish lists  If TOB steps down, some in their fan base will make a big push for Diaz to return to Raleigh 
Defensive Coordinator, Notre Dame
Diaco is one of the most relentless recruiters in college football  If he took over at BC, I think we could upgrade our talent quickly  The New Jersey native has plenty of ACC experience and has recruited at schools with academic restrictions  I don't love his scheme (3-4) and have a few concerns about his defenses being good but never dominant  But he would be a very good fit at BC and worth the risk 
What to Watch for in 2012: An Irish implosion  Although his seat is not as hot as Spaz's, Kelly needs to win this year  If he's fired, we can't hire his fired defensive coordinator  The perception would be terrible among fans and recruits 
Labels: Bob Diaco, Coach Flip is running the show, Coaches to Watch, fire Spaz, Manny Diaz, Mark Stoops, Pat Narduzzi, Speculating with Spaz
More people to follow
A little over a month ago, I posted a few BC related names that you should follow  Now, I have a few more   
BC Hockey Blog: twitter and blog  The diehard hockey fans already follow, but for those more casual BC hockey fans, this is a good place to keep up with our best team 
Warren K  Zola: twitter  BC's Assistant Dean of Graduate programs is pretty plugged into the student athlete scene at BC  He contributes to the Huffington Post on Sports Law, sports news and College Sports 
Lou Imbriano: twitter  The former Patriots executive and current BC professor tweets about a variety of sports and sports marketing news  In my opinion, BC should be leaning on him more with regards to how we market our programs 
BC Che Chi's: twitter  A parody account that only a BC alum would understand  Parody accounts are tough to sustain, but I look forward to Che Chi's contributions come football season 
Justin Rowland: twitter  The Rivals recruiting writer is breaking more and more BC news lately  If you follow recruiting, you should probably follow Rowland 
Labels: BC Hockey, BC voices, follow, twitter, Warren Zola
Pass the Van Nest koolaid and other links
The Globe's feature on 5th year basketball transfer Andrew Van Nest has me fired up  Aside from being a good story, what if this kid can actually play? I know he didn't see the court much at Harvard, but do you trust Tommy Amaker when it comes to managing a roster? The best part of the Van Nest situation is that there is no risk to BC  If he doesn't pan out, he is gone within a year  But who knows, maybe he can give us 10 minutes a game  We need another big body and 6'11 with shooting touch translates into most leagues 
Earlier in the week, the ACC locked in a deal with the Orange Bowl  There is still plenty of conjecture about what it means but there are some strong points in the deal  First the ACC will be able to sell the media rights  That gives us the chance to earn similar dollars to the Big Four conferences  Second, the Orange Bowl will be a New Year's Day game  That's huge as it should help travel and ticket sales  Finally Notre Dame will have an affiliation to the game  One more tie to the Irish is a good thing from a TV standpoint 
Connecticut WR Dave Coggins supposedly verbaled to BC the other day  Rivals says it is not a sure thing yet  BC offered a scholarship to Ohio Dlineman Truman Gutapfel  BC is hoping to get two Florida targets as a packaged deal 
Another Cincinnati-area BC target Evan Jansen committed to Indiana  BC also lost out to California offensive lineman Alex Redmond  Florida LB Nick Internicola seemed like a solid BC target, but he committed to Rutgers earlier this week 
Matt Humphrey is adjusting to his third college team 
Parker Milner has impressed the Bruins at their developmental camp 
Labels: Andrew Van Nest, Dave Coggins, Links, Matt Humphrey, Orange Bowl, Parker Milner, Truman Gutapfel
History Lesson: the Eagle
In honor of the 4th of July, I thought it might be a good time to revisit one of the symbols BC shares with our great nation: the eagle 
Although the Eagle is now synonymous with BC through statues and other references on campus, we were without an official mascot during our first few decades  In 1920 the Heights published a cartoon showing a cat licking a plate of its sports rivals  Yes, we could have been the "Cats " While that would have inspired plenty of nicknames and unique imagery, Father McLaughlin didn't think a cat was the proper representative for our university  He suggested the eagle due to its majesty, power and freedom  We officially became the "Eagles" that same year 
Contrary to millions of sports writers' work, we are not the "golden eagles " And despite Baldwin's looks and name we are not the "bald eagles" either 
Two other FBS programs also use the eagle as their mascot  Like us Eastern Michigan is just the Eagles  Southern Mississippi uses Golden Eagles 
I can't find any evidence that McLaughlin wanted to tie BC's symbols to those of the United States, but it is a nice connection 
Labels: Angry Chicken Logo, Baldwin, bc history, BC logo, U-S-A, We are BC
More Turf news
This is bordering on overkill, but I am going all in   
The good people at AstroTurf have premiered a live video feed of the Alumni Stadium turf installation  Now instead of spending your holiday week outdoors with family and friends, you can watch as synthetic grass is laid down in Chestnut Hill 
Labels: Alumni Stadium renovations, Astro Turf, grass, Turf
Keep fighting the good fight Lax diehards!
AJ's tweet brought the following comments on BC's Facebook page to my attention  After BC posted an update on the new field, Gene and Spaz's critics took to Facebook to vent  The usual complaints about both guys, tailgating and the state of the program filled the discussion  But what stood out to me was one simple comment from Connor Wilson: "bring back lacrosse " I don't share the BC Lax community's mission, but I respect their passion  Lacrosse is never coming back, but that doesn't mean BC shouldn't hear about it every day 
Labels: bring back lacrosse, Coach Flip is running the show, Gene D, Lacrosse
Anderson interview and other links
BCeagles com posted a Q&A with Ryan Anderson  He talked about his summer break and his new teammates  Hopefully the new guys are as far along as Anderson feels they are 
HD is banking on our experience as a reason we could surprise people this year 
BC keeps hitting Ohio prospects hard  The latest target is Cinci LB Marcus Oliver 
Here is more on future Eagle Dan Monteroso  Monteroso also generated some interest from basketball schools  Maybe Spaz will let him play basketball in the Spring 
This matrix took a different look at the Hot Seat issue  With regards to losing and underachieving, Spaz is not as bad as some of the bigger names on the list 
Former eagles Carolyn Swords and Molly Schaus discussed how Title IX impacted their sporting careers 
Labels: Carolyn Swords, Dan Monteroso, fire Spaz, HD, Hot Seat, Links, Marcus Oliver, Ryan Anderson
NFL attendance problems a lesson for BC
BC's faced some attendance issues the past few years  We like to blame the tailgating or Spaz or the schedule, but the reality is there are multiple factors  Just look at the attendance issues facing the most popular league in American sports -- the NFL  If they can't get butts in the seats, how can BC? The NFL has a few different solutions in play  Perhaps, BC can learn from them 
Fewer Seats
The NFL is lowering the bar, so that blackout rules don't require sellouts  Blackouts are not an issue in college, but perhaps few seats will help demand and make Alumni seem full  I don't want to tear out seats, but maybe we can replace the bleachers with actual seats  That would take up more space, eliminate seats and improve the watching experience 
The internet has added fluidity to the ticket market  It used to be BC fans would buy season ticket packages to assure themselves Notre Dame tickets or some other desirable game  Now most know that they can buy the game they want without committing to others they don't  One way to win them back is to lower the investment  BC will miss out on the mark up of the premium games, but at least they will have more people invest in a whole season  BC is indirectly doing this already with their discounts of the less desirable games  If the NFL is lowering prices on parking and concessions, BC should also explore it  Like the NFL we are getting more and more money from TV  Why not make the ingame experience more affordable 
In-game experience
This has been discussed ad nauseum, but needs to be looked at again  I don't think it is as simple as the NFL's push for wireless  We need the game day experience to be inviting from the moment the gates open to the moment the last fan is leaving  It is about the music, the ushers, the video boards, the halftime, the activities during commercial breaks  I don't want BC to turn into a barrage of nonsense, but we can do more 
I don't go to many BC games  That's mostly because of my location  But I also like the watching the game in my home  The convenience, the visuals, and the costs all factor into my decision  But live sports is still a great experience   especially college football  I just hope BC doesn't wait around until the Alumni is empty 



ground_truth: August 25.

prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: According to the text, what is Toby Schindelbeck's observation about the police?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 4: 338\,GHz with an angular resolution of $2 9''\times 1 4''$
(corresponding to an average linear resolution of 7700\,AU at the
given distance of 3 6\,kpc)  Figure \ref{18089} presents the
integrated C$_2$H emission with a contour overlay of the 860\,$\mu$m
continuum source outlining the position of the massive protostar  In
contrast to almost all other molecular lines that peak along with the
dust continuum \citep{beuther2005c}, the C$_2$H emission surrounds the
continuum peak in a shell-like fashion 

\section{Discussion and Conclusions}

To understand the observations, we conducted a simple chemical
modeling of massive star-forming regions  A 1D cloud model with a mass
of 1200\,M$_\sun$, an outer radius of 0 36\,pc and a power-law density
profile ($\rho\propto r^p$ with $p=-1 5$) is the initially assumed
configuration  Three cases are studied: (1) a cold isothermal cloud
with $T=10$\,K, (2) $T=50$\,K, and (3) a warm model with a temperature
profile $T\propto r^q$ with $q=-0 4$ and a temperature at the outer
radius of 44\,K  The cloud is illuminated by the interstellar UV
radiation field (IRSF, \citealt{draine1978}) and by cosmic ray
particles (CRP)  The ISRF attenuation by single-sized $0 1\mu$m
silicate grains at a given radius is calculated in a plane-parallel
geometry following \citet{vandishoeck1988}  The CRP ionization rate is
assumed to be $1 3\times 10^{-17}$~s$^{-1}$ \citep{spitzer1968}  The
gas-grain chemical model by \citet{vasyunin2008} with the desorption
energies and surface reactions from \citet{garrod2006} is used 
Gas-phase reaction rates are taken from RATE\,06 \citep{woodall2007},
initial abundances, were adopted from the ``low metal'' set of
\citet{lee1998} 

Figure \ref{model} presents the C$_2$H abundances for the three models
at two different time steps: (a) 100\,yr, and (b) in a more evolved
stage after $5\times10^4$\,yr  The C$_2$H abundance is high toward the
core center right from the beginning of the evolution, similar to
previous models (e g , \citealt{millar1985,herbst1986,turner1999}) 
During the evolution, the C$_2$H abundance stays approximately
constant at the outer core edges, whereas it decreases by more than
three orders of magnitude in the center, except for the cold $T=10$~K
model   The C$_2$H abundance profiles for all three models show
similar behavior 

The chemical evolution of ethynyl is determined by relative removal
rates of carbon and oxygen atoms or ions into molecules like CO, OH,
H$_2$O  Light ionized hydrocarbons CH$^+_{\rm n}$ (n=2  5) are quickly
formed by radiative association of C$^+$ with H$_2$ and hydrogen
addition reactions: C$^+$ $\rightarrow$ CH$_2^+$ $\rightarrow$
CH$_3^+$ $\rightarrow$ CH$_5^+$   The protonated methane reacts with
electrons, CO, C, OH, and more complex species at later stage and
forms methane   The CH$_4$ molecules undergo reactive collisions with
C$^+$, producing C$_2$H$_2^+$ and C$_2$H$_3^+$  An alternative way to
produce C$_2$H$_2^+$ is the dissociative recombination of CH$_5^+$
into CH$_3$ followed by reactions with C$^+$   Finally, C$_2$H$_2^+$
and C$_2$H$_3^+$ dissociatively recombine into CH, C$_2$H, and
C$_2$H$_2$  The major removal for C$_2$H is either the direct
neutral-neutral reaction with O that forms CO, or the same reaction
but with heavier carbon chain ions that are formed from C$_2$H by
subsequent insertion of carbon  At later times, depletion and
gas-phase reactions with more complex species may enter into this
cycle   At the cloud edge the interstellar UV radiation
instantaneously dissociates CO despite its self-shielding,
re-enriching the gas with elemental carbon 

The transformation of C$_2$H into CO and other species proceeds
efficiently in dense regions, in particular in the ``warm'' model
where endothermic reactions result in rich molecular complexity of the
gas (see Fig ~\ref{model})   In contrast, in the ``cold'' 10\,K model
gas-grain interactions and surface reactions become important   As a
result, a large fraction of oxygen is locked in water ice that is hard
to desorb ($E_{\rm des} \sim 5500$~K), while half of the elemental
carbon goes to volatile methane ice ($E_{\rm des} \sim 1300$~K)  Upon
CRP heating of dust grains, this leads to much higher gas-phase
abundance of C$_2$H in the cloud core for the cold model compared to
the warm model  The effect is not that strong for less dense regions
at larger radii from the center 

Since the C$_2$H emission is anti-correlated with the dust continuum
emission in the case of IRAS\,18089-1732 (Fig \,\ref{18089}), we do
not have the H$_2$ column densities to quantitatively compare the
abundance profiles of IRAS\,18089-1732 with our model  However, data
and model allow a qualitative comparison of the spatial structures 
Estimating an exact evolutionary time for IRAS\,18089-1732 is hardly
possible, but based on the strong molecular line emission, its high
central gas temperatures and the observed outflow-disk system
\citep{beuther2004a,beuther2004b,beuther2005c}, an approximate age of
$5\times10^4$\,yr appears reasonable   Although dynamical and chemical
times are not necessarily exactly the same, in high-mass star
formation they should not differ to much: Following the models by
\citet{mckee2003} or \citet{krumholz2006b}, the luminosity rises
strongly right from the onset of collapse which can be considered as a
starting point for the chemical evolution  At the same time disks and
outflows evolve, which should hence have similar time-scales   The
diameter of the shell-like C$_2$H structure in IRAS\,18089-1732 is
$\sim 5''$ (Fig \,\ref{18089}), or $\sim$9000\,AU in radius at the
given distance of 3 6\,kpc   This value is well matched by the modeled
region with decreased C$_2$H abundance (Fig \,\ref{model})   Although
in principle optical depths and/or excitation effects could mimic the
C$_2$H morphology, we consider this as unlikely because the other
observed molecules with many different transitions all peak toward the
central submm continuum emission in IRAS\,18089-1732
\citep{beuther2005c}  Since C$_2$H is the only exception in that rich
dataset, chemical effects appear the more plausible explanation 

The fact that we see C$_2$H at the earliest and the later evolutionary
stages can be explained by the reactive nature of C$_2$H: it is
produced quickly early on and gets replenished at the core edges by
the UV photodissociation of CO  The inner ``chemical'' hole observed
toward IRAS\,18089-1732 can be explained by C$_2$H being consumed in
the chemical network forming CO and more complex molecules like larger
carbon-hydrogen complexes and/or depletion 

The data show that C$_2$H is not suited to investigate the central gas
cores in more evolved sources, however, our analysis indicates that
C$_2$H may be a suitable tracer of the earliest stages of (massive)
star formation, like N$_2$H$^+$ or NH$_3$ (e g ,
\citealt{bergin2002,tafalla2004,beuther2005a,pillai2006})  While a
spatial analysis of the line emission will give insights into the
kinematics of the gas and also the evolutionary stage from chemical
models, multiple C$_2$H lines will even allow a temperature
characterization  With its lowest $J=1-0$ transitions around 87\,GHz,
C$_2$H has easily accessible spectral lines in several bands between
the 3\,mm and 850\,$\mu$m   Furthermore, even the 349\,GHz lines
presented here have still relatively low upper level excitation
energies ($E_u/k\sim42$\,K), hence allowing to study cold cores even
at sub-millimeter wavelengths   This prediction can further be proved
via high spectral and spatial resolution observations of different
C$_2$H lines toward young IRDCs 

\acknowledgments{H B  acknowledges financial support
  by the Emmy-Noether-Programm of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  (DFG, grant BE2578)  }






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