Boston Red Sox Players Turning Heads Early at Spring Training

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Let's preface this by stating the obvious: It's really early. This isn't going to be a piece making outlandish declarations from a handful of spring training games. Instead, we'll simply look at which Boston Red Sox players are making notable impressions in the early stages of baseball's return.

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With a down-to-earth attitude and eye-popping stuff, Matt Barnes has been the biggest winner in Fort Myers so far.

It's generally not a good sign when a player approaching his age-25 season remains stuck in prospect status for the fourth year in a row. Barnes, a 2011 first-round pick, just hasn't popped the way one-time peersJose Fernandez, Yasiel Puig or Anthony Rendonhave.

His advanced numbers have always been better than his traditional counting stats. That could indicate Barnes has been unlucky, but how accurate is that assumption if we're spanning three years and 354.1 professional innings?

Perhaps he's an outlier from the norms of what the advanced stats indicate should happen. In a sense, he would be the opposite version of someone like Matt Cain, who has outpitched his unimpressive Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) and Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP) numbers in six of the past eight seasons.

To begin 2015, Barnes seems intent on shedding the bust label so many have been quick to slap on him. His first outing was a two-inning effort where he struck out three and allowed just one baserunner. He replicated that success almost to a tee Monday, again fanning three across two scoreless frames while notching a save.

John Farrell told Bill Ballou of Worcester'sTelegram and Gazette'sthat Barnes has been a "different guy" than who he saw in limited action last season. It was an improved fastball, one that touched 97 miles per hour, and a refined breaking ball that really caught the Red Sox manager's eye.

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Boston Red Sox Players Turning Heads Early at Spring Training

War of the (dozen red) roses: Discount supermarkets gear up for Valentine's Day by selling bunches of blooms for as …

Lidl is offering 12 'Sweetheart' red roses with smaller blooms for just 3 Budget German rival Aldi has gone head to head with a bunch for a fiver Tesco, Morrisons and Asda also have a bunch of a dozen red roses for 5 Most red roses sold around Valentine's Day come into country from Africa Price variation reflects varieties with cheaper blooms and smaller heads

By Sean Poulter, Consumer Affairs Editor For The Daily Mail

Published: 12:15 EST, 11 February 2015 | Updated: 20:49 EST, 11 February 2015

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For thrifty suitors who believe it is the thought not the expense that matters, it could be a godsend.

With Valentine's Day looming, a supermarket price war has broken out over the traditional favourite statement of love: a dozen red roses.

Instead of the 70 that it could easily cost for a hand-tied bouquet of top-quality long-stemmed Grand Prix red roses, a chap can nip to Lidl and snap up a bunch for just 3.

That offer even undercuts its rival Aldi, which is charging 5 for its cheapest bunch.

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War of the (dozen red) roses: Discount supermarkets gear up for Valentine's Day by selling bunches of blooms for as ...

Miles Teller Gushes Over Supportive Girlfriend Keleigh Sperry, Admits She Has a "Very Active" Instagram

They turn heads on red carpets and get fans buzzing with their PDA-filled Instagram posts.

But for admirers of Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry, so much about this Hollywood couple is a secret, until now.

While promoting Insurgent this weekend in Los Angeles, the actor shared new details about his leading lady and how he makes a relationship last in such a demanding business. Get ready for some awww moments.

"She's lovely," he gushed to E! News. "It's been pretty easy because right now, her full-time gig is kind of being with me and before her, I would never invite a girl into that world because I didn't think I could have both."

PHOTOS: More hot couples at the 2015 Oscars

He continued, "She's allowed me to be able to really focus on acting and do what I want to do. She can come to set and visit me and hang out and doesn't really distract me from it."

What could get fans distracted are all the beautiful pics of the pair often seen on Sperry's Instagram. Whether at the Oscars' after party or lounging by the beach, the blond beauty can't help herself but post more than a few cute shots online.

"She does have a very active Instagram account so people can see where I'm at. Probably too much," he joked. "What are you going to do? I'm not going to stop traveling because she likes Instagram."

CLICK: Insurgent is going 3D with interactive movie posters

Or maybe happy girlfriend equals happy life?

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Miles Teller Gushes Over Supportive Girlfriend Keleigh Sperry, Admits She Has a "Very Active" Instagram

Astronomy – Ch. 7: The Solar Sys – Comparative Planetology (26 of 33) Atmosphere 1 – Video


Astronomy - Ch. 7: The Solar Sys - Comparative Planetology (26 of 33) Atmosphere 1
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will discuss what determines whether a planet or moon has an atmosphere. ...

By: Michel van Biezen

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Astronomy - Ch. 7: The Solar Sys - Comparative Planetology (26 of 33) Atmosphere 1 - Video

Astronomy – Ch. 7: The Solar Sys – Comparative Planetology (27 of 33) Atmosphere 2 – Video


Astronomy - Ch. 7: The Solar Sys - Comparative Planetology (27 of 33) Atmosphere 2
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will take a closer look at the Earth #39;s atmosphere. Next video in this ser...

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Astronomy - Ch. 7: The Solar Sys - Comparative Planetology (27 of 33) Atmosphere 2 - Video

The next frontier in planet science: exo-rings

Saturn is, of course, famous for its rings, but in our solar system there are actually four planets with ring systems of one size or another. Every gas giant in our solar system has a ring that is to say, right now the evidence suggests that everygas giant could have a ring. As mankind begins to look directly at the planets of the universe outside our own solar system, any universal rule of that sort will be vitally important. Now, astronomers are gearing up to start countinggas giants outside our solar system, as a new technique allows identification ofplanetary rings from light-years away.

The technique is as simple as could be, and could even be applied to existing readings to get new information outofold studies. Right now, planets are identified mostly by looking at the change in luminosity of their parent star when the planet moves between that star and the Earth; these readings are called transits. The silhouette is recorded as a rather abstract graph, and if the graph shows thata planet blocks more light from itsstar than it ought to, given predictions for its size, there are two basic possibilities: Either your predictions were wrong in some way, or the objects apparent size is expanded somehow say, withrings.

The researchers want to go back at look at numerous results that earlier studies discarded as false positives tosee whether they might have been planets encircled by rings. If they find that their work can explain historical results more accurately than current theory (or at all), astronomers might end up buildinga list of previously abandoned celestial bodiesto revisit.

Ringed exoplanets came to prominence recently, as a so-called super-Saturn was found with rings many times the size and mass of Saturns (artists rendition at top of page). The actual identity of J1407b is not quite known, however; it could be a dwarf star, and the rings still-forming planets. Additionally, while this method can provethe existence of rings, it cant prove the non-existence of them. In other words, just because this technique doesnt see an expansion in the transit readings, doesnt mean there arent rings. All it really means is that if there are rings, they must be quite thin.

The light-blocking effect changes based on the angle of the rings to the Earth.

Thus, this techniquecant be used in any case where astronomers cant get a second size reading by adifferentmethodof measurement than transit. Without that second measurement, theres no way to tell if the planets transit is blocking more light than it ought to.

Why should astronomers care about rings, specifically? Firstly, because they couldprovide a window into the past of whicheversolar system we end up finding them within. Rings can be very diverse in their makeup and, more importantly, often let a fair amount of light through. Astronomers are great at working with partially blocked light just recently, insight into planetary atmospheres and ever weather patterns was gleaned from light leaking around the edges of a distant planet.

Rings are also often associated with moons. Ancient moon-planet collisions are one possible source of planetary rings, but moons also sometimes enforce the edges and details of a planetaryring. By orbiting in asimilarplane tothe ringsthemselves, a large body like a moon can sweep up any small particulate matter simply by running into it. So far there have been no exo-moons found, but perhaps a ringed system could alert astronomers to a good potential candidate.

Exo-planetologyis undoubtedly the fastest-growing area of astronomy. The Kepler planet-hunter was NASAs very first attempt at finding planets by their transit signatures, and it found thousands. Now, the next generation transit finder, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS, is preparing to launch in 2017 and continue that quest. If exo-rings do end up being a major source of interest for astronomers, TESS is specifically the satellite that will be used tocapture them.

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The next frontier in planet science: exo-rings

BT: Nasa 4,000 Pinoy, nananatuli sa Libya sa kabila ng kaguluhan – Video


BT: Nasa 4,000 Pinoy, nananatuli sa Libya sa kabila ng kaguluhan
Balitanghali is the daily noontime newscast of GMA News TV anchored by Raffy Tima and Pia Arcangel. It airs Mondays to Fridays at 11:30 AM (PHL Time). For more videos from Balitanghali, visit...

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NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Reaches Dwarf Planet Ceres

NASAs Dawn spacecraft has just made history by becoming the first mission to orbit a dwarf planet.

The probe went into orbit around the icy world of Ceres Ceres at around 7.39am EST today, when it was around 38,000 miles from the planet.

Dawn then signalled its mission controllers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) to let them know that it was on track and thrusting with its ion engine. The message took around an hour to get through to JPL and indicated that the spacecraft was in orbit around Ceres as planned.

Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet, said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL, in a statement. Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres home.

The successful orbit is a double milestone for Dawn, since it also makes the craft the first mission to orbit two different extraterrestrial targets. Dawn has already spent time from 2011 to 2012 exploring the giant asteroid Vesta. Both Vesta and Ceres are the two most massive space rocks in our Solar Systems main asteroid belt between Mars Mars and Jupiter.

Ceres is seen from NASAs Dawn spacecraft on March 1, just a few days before the mission achieved orbit around the previously unexplored dwarf planet. The image was taken at a distance of about 30,000 miles. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)

The latest pictures phoned home by Dawn show Ceres as a crescent thats mostly in shadow because its trajectory has put it on the dark side of the dwarf planet. From mid-April, when Dawn comes out into the sun, it will be sending back nearer and nearer close-ups as it lowers its orbit around the planet.

We feel exhilarated, said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). We have much to do over the next year and a half, but we are now on station with ample reserves, and a robust plan to obtain our science objectives.

NASA didnt just choose Ceres and Vesta for study because of their massive size, theyre also interesting because despite growing up in the same part of the early Solar System, they developed into two different kinds of bodies.

Vesta is a dry space rock with a surface that shows signs of resurfacing, much like Earth and other rocky bodies in the inner Solar System. Ceres has a much more primitive surface that contains water-bearing minerals and may have a weak atmosphere. Its more like Titan Titan and the large icy moons of the outer Solar System.

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NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Reaches Dwarf Planet Ceres

NASA's Dawn Reaches Historic Orbit Around Icy Dwarf Planet Ceres

NASAs Dawn spacecraft has just made history by becoming the first mission to orbit a dwarf planet.

The probe went into orbit around the icy world of Ceres Ceres at around 7.39am EST today, when it was around 38,000 miles from the planet.

Dawn then signalled its mission controllers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) to let them know that it was on track and thrusting with its ion engine. The message took around an hour to get through to JPL and indicated that the spacecraft was in orbit around Ceres as planned.

Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was known as a planet, then an asteroid and later a dwarf planet, said Marc Rayman, Dawn chief engineer and mission director at JPL, in a statement. Now, after a journey of 3.1 billion miles and 7.5 years, Dawn calls Ceres home.

The successful orbit is a double milestone for Dawn, since it also makes the craft the first mission to orbit two different extraterrestrial targets. Dawn has already spent time from 2011 to 2012 exploring the giant asteroid Vesta. Both Vesta and Ceres are the two most massive space rocks in our Solar Systems main asteroid belt between Mars Mars and Jupiter.

Ceres is seen from NASAs Dawn spacecraft on March 1, just a few days before the mission achieved orbit around the previously unexplored dwarf planet. The image was taken at a distance of about 30,000 miles. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)

The latest pictures phoned home by Dawn show Ceres as a crescent thats mostly in shadow because its trajectory has put it on the dark side of the dwarf planet. From mid-April, when Dawn comes out into the sun, it will be sending back nearer and nearer close-ups as it lowers its orbit around the planet.

We feel exhilarated, said Chris Russell, principal investigator of the Dawn mission at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). We have much to do over the next year and a half, but we are now on station with ample reserves, and a robust plan to obtain our science objectives.

NASA didnt just choose Ceres and Vesta for study because of their massive size, theyre also interesting because despite growing up in the same part of the early Solar System, they developed into two different kinds of bodies.

Vesta is a dry space rock with a surface that shows signs of resurfacing, much like Earth and other rocky bodies in the inner Solar System. Ceres has a much more primitive surface that contains water-bearing minerals and may have a weak atmosphere. Its more like Titan Titan and the large icy moons of the outer Solar System.

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NASA's Dawn Reaches Historic Orbit Around Icy Dwarf Planet Ceres