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Capstead Mortgage Corp. (NYSE:CMO)
Q4 2007 Earnings Call
February 11, 2008 10:00 am ET
Bethany Siggins - VP, IR
Andy Jacobs - President and CEO
Phil Reinsch - CFO
Robert Spears - Director of Residential Mortgage Investments
Steve Delaney - JMP Securities
David Hochstim - Bear Stearns
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
George Bose - KBW
Dan Weldon - Diamondback Capital
Matthew Howlett - Fox-Pitt Kelton
Greetings and welcome to the Capstead Mortgage Corporation's fourth quarter 2007 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
It's now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ms. Bethany Siggins, Vice President, of Investor Relations. Thank you, Ms. Siggins, you may begin.
Bethany Siggins
Thanks Anthony. Good morning and thank you to everyone for joining us for Capstead's fourth quarter 2007 earnings conference call. Today's speakers are Andy Jacobs, our President and CEO; Phil Reinsch, our CFO; and Robert Spears, our Director of Residential Mortgage Investments.
We issued our fourth-quarter 2007 earnings press release Thursday afternoon, February 7, after market hours. The press release is on our website at www.capstead.com. The link to this webcast is in the Investor Relations section of our website, and an archive of the webcast will be available for 60 days. A replay of this call will be available through the end of the day on Monday, February 25. The investor presentation referred in today's call is currently posted to our website.
Before we begin, I would like to remind you of our standard disclaimer about forward-looking statements. The remarks made today will contain forward-looking-statements and information based on management's current expectations, and these statements are being made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Information about the potential risk factors that could affect the company's financial results, is available in the press release we issued on February 7th, and are also in the risk factors section and the forward-looking statements section of the company's filings with the SEC.
The information contained in this call is current only as of the date of this call, February 11th, 2008. The company assumes no obligation to update any statements, including forward-looking statements, made during this call.
Now, I will turn the call over to Andy.
Andy Jacobs
Thank you, Bethany. Well, the fourth quarter was a much better quarter from where we were in the third quarter of 2007, pretty much as expected. For the year, I think as everybody knows, being an agency securities REIT as we are, 99% of our portfolio is in Fannie, Freddie, Ginnie mortgage-backed securities. At the end of the year our portfolio was about $7.1 billion.
If you go to slide 4, and just a little definition here, the current-reset security and the longer-to-reset securities that you're seeing on this particular page, our portfolio, we invested in just eight loans. These are loans that are going to reset annually, or after a fixed period of five years or less. And, if the current-reset securities that we have are going to be reset over the next 18 months, we will be fine with the current-resets. If it is over 18 months, it will be longer to reset.
I think, looking at this particular page, the key features here are, up to a blend of about 50% of our portfolio comprising the longer-to-reset securities today. That's up from about 35% at the end of the third quarter. And the reason why we are up at this level is. as people here know. We did have the opportunity to enter the capital market a couple of times here in the fourth quarter. Most of the proceeds from those offerings were in the longer-to-reset securities, and so about 70% on a blend of the new capital we got in the fourth quarter went into the longer-reset securities, which moved the mix up to the 50-50 level.
The way we finance this portfolio is one of the key things that you need to understand. The current-reset security is financed with 30 day borrowings, and those are going to be borrowings that adjust within the next 30 days. So that portfolio will benefit from further rate cuts accordingly.
The longer-to-reset securities are financed with a combination of longer dated repo, and a portion of 30 day repo. But on the 30 day repo, we will enter into swap agreements today, to help mitigate the interest rate risk so that they function fairly, much like the longer dated repo.
On a net-net basis, what we continue to try to do is to manage the duration, the net durations, and perhaps that the liability tends to keep it between three to six months. I think currently, we have some in the five month level. It helps to understand that if the Fed is going to continue to lower interest rates, the current reset portfolio that has not been funded with 30-day paper will continue to benefit from that, and a portion of a longer-to-reset securities will continue to benefit from reductions in the Fed funds rate.
With that I'll turn it over to Phil.
Phil Reinsch
Thanks, Andy. If you turn to page 5 of the webcast, we've highlighted for you some of the key takeaways from our fourth quarter financial performance.
Our net interest margins on operating earnings increased significantly quarter-over-quarter, as our financing spread more than doubled to 93 basis points, and we grew our portfolio by $2.3 billion to about $7.1 billion at year end. Financing spreads benefited in a large part, from lower borrowing rates, with the Fed reducing its Fed fund target rates beginning in mid-September, by 100 basis points through the end of the year.
With these rate cuts, and despite some liquidity issues still impacting our market through year end, our borrowing rates declined on average, 38 basis points quarter-over-quarter, with the full benefit of the rate cuts still to come in the first quarter of 2008.
Yields increased to a more modest 13 basis points quarter-over-quarter, due to several factors, including favorable mortgage prepayment, some of our bonds still pricing up in yields, higher yields on acquisitions, particularly early in the quarter, and the sale in the third quarter of faster-prepaying lower-yielding bonds in connection with reducing our balance sheet leverage from about 11.5 times to 10 times.
Portfolio runoff rose significantly during the fourth quarter with an annualized rate of 24%. This reflects seasonal factors, but also national trends toward declining housing values, and tighter mortgage loan underwriting standards.
The growth in our portfolio reflects investing the proceeds from equity offerings during the fourth quarter as Andy alluded to. We raised $199 million in our October and November follow-on public offerings. Another $7 million was raised primarily in December, through our continuous offerings program. These offerings added a $1.11 to common share to our year-end book value, which increased the $1.68 during the quarter to $9.25. The rest of the increase in book value was primarily the result of higher pricing on our residential mortgage securities portfolio at year-end.
Subsequently at year-end we closed on another follow-on offering of 8 million shares at $15.50 per share on February 1st, and just this past Friday we closed on another 600,000 shares, representing one-half of the greenshoe from this offering. Together, after underwriting fees and expenses, this offering provided us with an additional $127 million in common equity capital.
Of course, you are all aware that Fed has cut rates, another 125 basis points in January, and could cut rates further in the coming months. To jump to the cumulative effect on our borrowing cost; from the 225 basis points in rate cuts thus far, we are anticipating a significant increase in our financing spreads in the first quarter, on a substantially larger portfolio. We'll get more into that later in the call.
If you turn to slide 6, our comparative income statement, I wanted to mention a couple of items. We did realize a $593,000 gain during the fourth quarter, from selling about a half of our small non-agency security portfolio, and from the sale back to Fannie Mae of one of their bonds at their request. We currently do not anticipate further asset sales in the coming quarters of any significant amount.
Other revenue during the fourth quarter was relatively high, reflecting high overnight investment balances, due in part to the fourth quarter capital raises, and some other small non-recurring items.
Turning to slide 7, our comparative balance sheet, a couple of items are worth mentioning. As Andy mentioned earlier, the portfolio additions during the fourth quarter allowed our portfolio to migrate to roughly 50/50 mix of current reset, and longer to reset ARM securities by yearend. Robert will provide some additional color on that a little later in the presentation.
Also, I want to point out that the first quarter, it looks as if we made some commercial loan investments, but what actually happened, and it's described in the footnote on this page, we purchased our joint venture partner's 25% interest in the Redtail Capital joint venture that was previously reflected as an unconsolidated affiliate. Now, the JV sold loan, which is in runoff, is included in the gross on our balance sheet with the rest of our investment, and in some related financing, is included with our borrowings.
Turning to slide 8, this slide graphically depicts our long-term investment capital. Our long-term investment capital consists of $100 million of trust-preferred securities that are actually reflected as unsecured borrowings on our balance sheet. And $180 million of perpetual preferred equity and our common equity capital.
The trust preferred and perpetual preferred capital cost us roughly 10.3%, and provides us significant amount of leverage on our common equity that is very beneficial in the current interest-rate environment. And returns on our ARM securities portfolio are significantly north to the cost of preferred capital. This additional common equity leverages is an important differentiating point in comparing Capstead capital structure to those of our peers.
In the fourth quarter, with fourth quarter capital raises and improvements in the value of our portfolio, our investment capital increased, quarter-over-quarter by $231 million to $661 million by year-end. And after adjusting for these latest offerings that we just closed, our capital increased on pro forma basis, to $788 million today before consideration of other changes in portfolio valuation sequent to year-end.
Overtime, we may leverage our long-term investment capital anywhere from 8 to 12 times, depending upon a variety of factors. Although as you recall, we took our leverage down to about 10 times during the market disruption of the third quarter, and after deploying the fourth quarter capital raises, we ended the year at just over 9.8 to 1 leverage. We expect to maintain our leverage at approximately 10 to 1 in coming quarters, although we will temporarily lower as we deploy the recently raised capital.
Now I'll turn the discussion over to Robert.
Robert Spears
Thank you Phil. This slide covers our counterparties and sources of financing. As of year-end, we had repo position of about $6.5 billion on with 14 different counterparties. We still add $1.5 billion of longer-term repo, which had average maturity of 15 months. Our rate cuts in all of our shorter-term repo position doesn't maintain at 3 point.
We have excess capacity right now, and repo front, we have counterparties actively looking to increase their balance sheet with us right now. Our current reflective repo rate is around 3.15%, with [funds] at 3%, LIBOR roughly 3.13%. So, everything is very positive on the counterparties front right now, but as I mentioned earlier, we have a lot of excess capacity, and we will probably add a handful counterparties at the coming months.
If you go to the next slide, this was discussed earlier, what we did with the most recent capital in the fourth quarter, we bought approximately $2.7 billion of securities to lever up of the new capital to roughly 10 times. The mixture was 75% longer-reset, 25% shorter reset, which brought our aggregate book to just more the $7 billion with a 50-50 mix of shorter and longer reset securities.
Spreads went down in the fourth quarter, and we have some very attractive purchases, which ended up growing our spreads roughly 160 basis points. We are buying assets in the 560 yield area, and following them in the 4% area. We continue to maintain our duration gap of between three and six months, right now it's about five months.
If you think about it, from a mix of our liabilities, they are now about 40% longer-term. We are talking about a longer-term of 18 months and 60% shorter term. As our earnings release said, we had a $1.5 billion longer-dated repo, which roll off in 15 months and that starts coming along this year and as a matter of fact, that adds up to roughly 5%.
At year end we owned $900 million in swap at roughly 4%, and subsequently the year end, we put on another $600 million of interest rate swap at approximately 3%. So, we are going to maintain our leverage into the 10 times area, hedge our longer reset securities through a duration of about year and quarter, and keep our duration gap at between three and six months.
The most recent capital acted yields have obviously dropped as funds costs have come down, but the spread is still very attractive. We are looking at deploying the capital with interest spreads of around a 125 basis points.
Right now, yields on assets are between 4.25 and 4.5%. We are funding Fed funds at 3%, our repo is around 3.15%, and two years swaps are just south of 2.70 right now. So a combination of interest rates, swaps, and short-dated repo that should total off spreads were around 125 basis points. The goal is to maintain our portfolio in the 50-50 shorter to longer reset mix that we have now, and keep our duration gap between three and six months.
With that I'll turn it back over to Andy.
Andy Jacobs
Okay. On slide 11, replay on the fourth quarter, I think, Phil has already gone through that. For the quarter, we had net spreads on our interests, and on our assets and borrowings of 93 basis points. If you look over to the right, you'll see in the first quarter, our anticipation is that the yields on our portfolio will be slightly down to about 5.70. Our expectation is that our borrowing costs will be substantially lower at about 4.18. The net interest spreads should grow to 152 basis points in the first quarter of 2008.
I think one of the important things to realize here is, going forward with the 50-50 mix of our current reset to longer reset securities, I think one of the things to understand if I can use a technical term here, the yield on the portion of the portfolio that's the longer to reset, is going to be sticky on that. That's my technical view, because half of the portfolio isn't going to reset over the next 12 months, it's going to reset over the next three or four years or so. So the yields on those assets that we are putting on in the fourth quarter and to-date in the first quarter, those yields are going to be more stable in there on half of the portfolio.
The other half of the portfolio which you have to understand is they will be resetting over the next 12 to 18 months, and so depending on when they reset, and if we just assume a straight line over the next 12 months is reset, I think the realization is that the current indexes to which these type of portfolios reset, which are short indexes.
The yields will be coming down on the other half of the portfolio over time. It will take at least 12 months for the full impact of that to take effect. But in this environment we've also run into interest to the cap on the underlying mortgage loans. Ginnie's can move up to a 100 basis points within a year, and they're locked out of so many things before that.
So they could take two years to adjust to current levels, and Fannie and Freddie will typically have a 200 basis points cap as to how much they can move. So, understanding the characteristics that they have for the portfolio that will be adjusting, the yield will decline on that particular portfolio. But the other half will be a little more sticky with the yields that we have been able to put the capital to work.
We go to page 12, page 12; we've raised almost 30 million shares of new common stock in the last four months, $333 million of new capital. I think from an accretion standpoint, it's been very accretive to the book value of our company. The new capital has been accretive by over $2 by sale, not to mention the improved value of the portfolio. But I think what has happened as you see in the fourth quarter, and will be impacting us going forward, the new capital raises have been accretive to earnings and dividends, and will continue to be.
I think one important feature with our motivation for trying to get the capital rates and put the work in here is that we were focused on the liquidity of our stock from our peer group, which is the Annaly, MFA and Hanover. We were the smallest guys from a book value standpoint, from the amount of market capitalization. As of September 30, we had about $193 million in market cap. Now we are over $850 million in market cap, and I think the underlying liquidity to that is a good story for our new mix of investors.
During this period our average daily trading volume has improved. If you go back before the first offering that we did in October, for the previous year, our trading volume averaged about 100,000 shares. Since that first offering, we have averaged 600,000 shares, and today in 2008, we have averaged over a million shares on a daily basis.
I don't expect that that's going to continue at those elevated levels, but suffice it to say, it's going to be substantially higher than what we have seen prior to doing the first offering. Overall for 2008 and 2009, we are excited about the opportunities in here. Earnings and dividends will improve in 2008, the first quarter dividend we plan to announce on March 13, and I think its exception was a 152 basis points net interest credit, it's going to be higher than what it was in the fourth quarter. And with that I will turn it over to Anthony to pool up the questions.
Question-and-Answer Session
(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from the line of Steve Delaney with JMP Securities. Please proceed with your question.
Steve Delaney - JMP Securities
Good morning, Andy, and congratulations to you and the team on a great quarter.
Andy Jacobs
Thanks Steve.
Steve Delaney – JMP Securities
First thing here, the additional $600 million in swaps that were added subsequent to year-end, I just wanted to confirm that and putting those on, they were related to new investments made in the fourth quarter along with the 900. So I guess the way I'm looking at it is swaps that were added were $1.5 billion and the net portfolio growth in the fourth quarter was like 2.4. So about swaps represented about 60% the [ARMDS] portfolio growth, is that correct?
Andy Jacobs
Well, as I mentioned earlier we are hedging our longer-reset securities for a duration of about a year and quarter. So yes, those were in conjunction with fourth quarter purchases and as well as purchases in the New Year.
Steve Delaney – JMP Securities
Okay, oh, you're saying that some of that 600 had to do with purchases in January as well.
Andy Jacobs
Steve Delaney – JMP Securities
Okay, well that's what I was trying to understand, the exact [percent] what securities the swaps were related to, but you would not include the January 28, raise in that or are you speaking to purchases made earlier in January?
Andy Jacobs
We're just hedging our portfolio on a macro basis.
Steve Delaney – JMP Securities
Andy Jacobs
Our duration gap in line and obviously we know that we have proactively walk-ons in January and February.
Steve Delaney – JMP Securities
Okay and switching to the short reset part of the portfolio. I mean it looks like it still was one of the unique characteristic with Capstead versus your peers. I think it was close to 70% back in September and still over 50% of the book at the end of December. I was just curious if you guys are seeing any changes in consumer behavior. I know in the past you said to close -- like 3:1 and 5:1 are approaching reset, which is a catch on fire in terms of prepaid fees. And given what's going on with home price declines and inside our mortgage credit, I was wondering if you've seen any change of behavior and whether you are expecting to get longer, larger and longer sales that of those resetting average?
Robert Spears
It's still kind of early to determine what prepayment fees are going to do this year. I will say that you have a fairly large chuck of the mortgage universe that credit is there right now, ones that we're originating two or three years ago, higher LTV, low Doc etcetera. That in conjunction with, if you think about these shorter retake guys, that's to say generically LIBOR is 3% and they have a 250 gross margin, they are not only looking at resetting up or resetting down actually in some cases the 5.5% with a 30-year low cost re-buy still close to 6% and a 5, 1 low cost if you are such an animal in the high fives, that should be a positive to a certain degree.
And we are at this low point in the year on fees right now. And we are expecting to see, the two things given where we are in the rate cycle. Fees aren't growing yearly as fast as they were in the past. So still a little early to determine the exact numbers. But I still think the prepayment trends are - not really what you are getting out on the rate front. A lot of that was going to offset on a credit front and people want resets at actually lower rates right now.
Steven DeLaney – JMP Securities
All right. Well, we'll keep an eye on that in the first quarter. That's great. Thank you, Robert.
Our next question comes from the line of David Hochstim with Bear Stearns. Please proceed with your question.
David Hochstim - Bear Stearns
Hi. Good morning. I had a sort of follow-up question on that. Just somehow a bit about where you are in the way of premiums and sort of what's the amortization is like at this point of the premiums and what the sensitivity to higher prepayments will be? And so if prepayment fees become more then you expected, could you kind of talk through what would happen, in terms of funding mix?
Andy Jacobs
Our portfolio ended at a basis level not that far different then where we were at the end of the third quarter. And we did include on the bottom of the slide 6, because there somebody was asking about, it was the amount of premium amortization we recorded in the fourth-quarter.
David Houston - Bear Stearns
But I guess I was wondering can you say anything else about what's happened in the first part because there were a lot of purchases subsequent to?
Andy Jacobs
Yeah. Purchases in the first quarter are running, that the yields are down rather. So prices are up. So we'll be adding a little higher premium portfolio all in all. Robert might be able to give a little better color on that.
Robert Spears
Yes. At year-end our aggregate premium was just north of 101 in the quarter. With the drop in rates and spreads tightening somewhat in the first quarter, most of the mortgage universe is now trading north of 102 but at the margin we're only at a low point right now, the first quarter its just seasonal.
So you could see speed picking up generically in the ARM lifting from the high-teens right now to the high-twenties over the next -- by the middle part of the year. But our legacy portfolio at such a lower premium that should be in rather detrimental to our earnings.
Andy Jacobs
The mix of our portfolio being 50-50 with the current reset and longer-to-reset, the complexion of the portfolio will change a little bit from a year-over-year offering being equal. You would generally expect because of that mix that will be a little bit lower than previous year level. So, that does come into play to some extent we will be lower as it relates to that.
David Hochstim - Bear Stearns
Okay and then can you say anything about the range of maturities and the longer duration fees, the average you said I think it was 15 months, but…?
Andy Jacobs
On the liability size?
David Hochstim - Bear Stearns
Andy Jacobs
In our earnings press release we did kind of give a little color on that, we indicated that the range of maturities is -- you will find it in here -- about 9, 8 months to 20 months, something like that.
Robert Spears
Yes, it got a longer repo, and credit [swap] on longer than two years. So, our average longer reset liabilities rating mark with the longer-term repo position starting to come off this year as early as September of this year and on the swap front we have been utilizing two year swaps.
David Hochstim - Bear Stearns
Okay and thanks.
Our next question comes from the line of Mike Widner with Stifel Nicolaus. Please proceed with your question.
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
Good morning guys thanks for taking the call. And just a couple of minor items. First there is an other revenue item for $852 million, sorry if you guys talked about that early, but could you just elaborate a little bit as I wasn't in there.
Phil Reinsch
Yeah we mentioned what is lot of overnight earnings with the offerings and with the capital market where we have capital at more REVPAR and earn a little bit more in our overnight investments than we would have, may be in a more calm quarter. And also there are a few minor non-recurring items really not worth getting into in any kind of detail.
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
All right. Second question, you had chart in there on your common equity in the past didn't more highly leverage related to peers. The question I've got -- you see these guys are issuing more preferred, trust preferred, any comments on that or what you think in this environment if that's...?
Andy Jacobs
Yeah. I'll say this, the trust preferred market for mortgage special, mortgage REITs in particular really isn't there, and you're not having issuers like us put into those trust at this point in the credit cycle. And other if you look at the market for perpetual preferred is relative high rate environment as well. So, that's going to color our decisions going down a line in terms of how much preferred capital leverage we will employ.
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
All right, that's I think answered their question. On the leverage, you mentioned I think reasonably conservative in the 10 to 1 range. Is there anything that we change to make you either choose the lower that down to 3 and closer to 9 times or potentially raise it back to, so the higher end where you been in the past?
Andy Jacobs
We are pretty comfortable with 10 times is given us plenty of liquidity to weather a storm like we saw in August and September. So, a decision to take it down further we would have to depend upon things being worse than what we saw in last fall I'd say. Robert you got some comments on that.
Robert Spears
No, I mean I think returns that we are able to generate now however 10 times are satisfactory. We've got excess repo capacity, but there is no reason at this point that I see either to take it down or up.
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
Right. So, if we see I guess I'm just thinking about scenarios, where you might take it down to -- further flattening or seedling of the yield curve or so, maybe uncertainty in kind of macro indicators, we're looking at the potential. Right now overwhelmingly everyone can expect additional Fed cut, but if we start seeing sort of more uncertainty -- with that change your tune volume of we see strong in point, if we see inflation remember you said -- that kind of thing?
Robert Spears
Sure, I mean, if the environment changes substantially from where it is now, we may alter the decision, but I don't think in any regard we wouldn't be taking our leverage up. Here we potentially take it down at some point sure, if macro indicators change, if liquidity changes etcetera, but we doesn't see down near-term horizon.
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
Okay, all right, great. Thanks guys. That answers the questions and congratulations a solid quarter.
Andy Jacobs
Thank you.
Phil Reinsch
Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of George Bose with KBW. Please proceed with your question.
George Bose - KBW
I had a question on your book value, you have said earlier in the call, the markets trading around 1 or 2, suggest that pretty material improvement in your portfolio asset. Is that a reasonable way to back into the increase in your portfolio, the value of your portfolio since quarter end?
Robert Spears
Well, yes, it's going to drop. And obviously, we tell you that what our duration gap is and so not getting into other stress tighten or widen our portfolio. We trade to a duration of somewhere between three and six months. And so, you kind of do the math and look at where breadth of two year swaps move and apply from duration to that you get a pretty idea on where our portfolio is trading to that.
George Bose - KBW
Okay. Actually just on the clarification from an earlier point you made. Did you say 40% of the liabilities are termed out with swaps, is that what you're saying?
Robert Spears
Well a combination swaps and longer-dated we have 3 billion and we gave you that a . 1.5 billion in long-term repo and then $1.5 billion in swaps.
George Bose - KBW
Okay, great. And just question more of a theoretical question on how you guys would see new capital to given that now the spreads on your portfolio are hard materially higher and probably will going-forward will be even higher than what's you guys are seeing in the market is that change your appetite for new capital. And how do you guys think about that?
Andy Jacobs
Well, I think capital going forward opportunities to do any additional offerings depends on, what we look at the underlying assets that we can put that capital to work with. This last offering we did, we actually could have done more capital than we did, but it was all the function of where we felt comfortable being able to deploy the capital -- maintain and the discipline with the way we look at our portfolios.
We don't like paying high premiums in assets at some levels, some particular our will be rich. We like to raise in the right amount of capital -- working to get the right loans, but that's what we are tying to do going-forward, with what happens in the market assets. We can apply the same discipline perspective to how we raise capital on the future and how we and where we deploy.
George Bose - KBW
Okay great. Thanks a lot.
Andy Jacobs
Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Dan Weldon with Diamondback Capital. Please proceed with your question.
Dan Weldon - Diamondback Capital
Hi, thanks. All of my questions actually already been answered.
Andy Jacobs
Okay excellent.
Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Howlett with Fox-Pitt Kelton. Please proceed with your question.
Matthew Howlett - Fox-Pitt Kelton
Thanks for taking the question. Just on the new lenders looking to do business with you as you get bigger, and you get more quote clout out there in the market, significant improvement in the financing rates from your existing lenders or some of the new players coming in?
Robert Spears
You are seeing that right now more because LIBOR funds that have moved back into a more normalized spread relationship. But, yes, I think you could see rates on a relative basis improve just because guys are looking at balance sheets right now. And I think agency repo is a fairly risk free profit centre for some of these repos vendors now and so think some of these guys or one of them have more distinctive. So it's hard to just say that rates are improving, but that the biggest difference is hardware versus funds coming in. But obviously if more people are looking or seeking new business on a relative basis your funding costs are going to come down.
Matthew Howlett - Fox-Pitt Kelton
Right, that's okay. And then just switching to some of the purchase yields have come down relative to some of your acquisitions in the fourth quarter relative to sort of January and February. How much of that was due to tightening between OAS spreads and treasuries versus just a decline in the long-yielded for bonds. What is your expectation going forward this year, given we could see I think agency and the SREs under performing treasuries in the first week of February and given the increase in supply and given the increase in the performing loan balance could there be under performance going forward, what's your expectation for a sort of performance going forward in that market?
Robert Spears
Breadth has come in 20 to 30 basis points in the first quarter and a lot of that guys who were skittish over year-end not wanting to add positions, liquidity has increased on the repo front as we talked about earlier. Obviously a lot of REIT's have raised capital in here. So from the standpoint and more often than not spreads have a tendency to come in the first quarter.
Going forward performance wise I still think there is a decent amount of capital out there, supply -- net supply is down a little bit in the first couple of months. And so you're not seeing the spreads selling like you saw in the latter part of last year, which is another reason, spreads have come in.
And said that when mortgage assets we are trading in some cases over [1 out 3] you're obviously not a front of upside on the price front and so that's where you will see some widening early on because a lot of guys don't want to add those kind of premiums. At the same time lower priced assets right now probably have more room to run just because there is a shortage up is out there, but new supply and a more lower rate environment is created that become more normalize as well.
So, I think right now the fundamental and the technical -- it's harder to see spreads dampening out from they we are now. I'd say they have a tendency to tighten a little more although higher dollar prices, we are going to limit how much they can tighten here.
Matthew Howlett - Fox-Pitt Kelton
And then, everything I've heard is the increased -- potential increase in the conforming loan balance would actually be very helpful in terms of OS, but would widen them. Would that because sort of an investing standpoint if the longer-dated is raised?
Robert Spears
Well, my opinion if I'd say they raised the loan on the $625,000 and earlier talking about in fixed rate past through, those loans probably won't be [TVALS4]. So, they will be securitized by themselves in all likelihood. On the ARM front, doesn't TVA market.
So if we co-mingle with every other ARM loan that's originated, at the margin you -- we come back to the profile that a $600,000 one is much more negative than a $200,000 one. That on top of, the fact that almost everything being originated in our squeaky clean [Toolbox ADLTV], because the agency that pioneered underwriting standards and so many [of them having in-depth research] are gone. I think what you are going to get is cleaner product with our larger average loan balance, which is from a prepayment standpoint is usually a negative.
So, our view would be to try to stay away from newer production as much as possible and focus more on seasoned securities that were originated two or three years ago, that have a smaller average loan balance, might be somewhat credit impaired from a refinancing standpoint and should have a better prepayment profile.
So, I think security selection is going to be very important and critical in this environment. So, to me in a nutshell, the higher average loan limit for new production is a negative.
I mean obviously the borrowing increase, which is a positive but the characteristics of the securities will not be as attractive as the ones created two or three years ago.
Matthew Howlett - Fox-Pitt Kelton
Okay. So, you don't -- look towards the more seasoned loans out there and you don't mind sort of adding premium on a sort of season basis or on the newer production. You got to see -- look sort of closer to par type prices?
Andy Jacobs
Yeah and obviously it depends upon where your trade, once is created, you run [after going to months] and estimate where you think fees are going to be and it's like it fixed rate advance you go to the market about these larger loan securities potentially trading a [point back] generic fixed rate pattern. And that's the case in ARM and those securities traded at a price discount that compensates you for the added fee risk, sure you take a shot. But it's too early to tell right now and the biggest -- the term loan will be how the securities are priced relative to season securities.
Matthew Howlett - Fox-Pitt Kelton
Great. Thank you guys.
There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back over to Bethany Siggins for closing comments.
Bethany Siggins
All right, that's it. Thank you for joining today. If you have further questions, which can be raised and we are available to you. Have a great week and we will speak with you again next quarter.
This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
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Fears of an "explosion" of head trauma problems caused by concussion in the NRL
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- April 16, 2011
SOMEWHERE between the dizziness and dry retching, Shaun Valentine will try to get himself ready for work.Not the landscaping business he runs now, but rather one he hasn't held since high school.
"Whenever the dizzy spells come on, it's like I go back in time," Valentine reveals without a hint of drama. "I get really groggy, confused.
"I think I'm still working at one of the jobs I had after leaving school.
"Eventually I do snap out if it and get my bearings.
"Yeah ... eventually."
If you cannot remember the four years, 36 games and seven major concussions that made Valentine's NRL career, don't feel bad neither does he.
This is life for the retired leaguie, still only 35, who labours to pay the mortgage, loves his two children and starts every day looking for the same set of car keys he has "religiously" placed on the lounge room bar every night before.
It's been this way for a while now, Valentine admits. Misplacing items, forgetting messages. The gifted athlete who once counted memory among his greatest assets now recalling games only via DVD.
Which isn't to say he wants to make a big deal of his condition. Exactly the opposite. He starts almost every answer this particular day with, "Mate, it's nothing too bad ... "
"But without trying to whip up a frenzy, this is a concern," leading Sydney neurologist Mark Davies warns. "It could be that Shaun's issues are caused by Type II diabetes, by thyroid disease or a calcium disorder. But it could also be that he's suffering from repeated hits to the head."
Does anyone still need convincing that the dark spectre of concussion has finally exploded in the NRL?
That this cloudy conundrum is no longer the domain of only American footballers like the late Mike Webster, the former Pittsburgh Steeler and owner of four Super Bowl rings, no less who a few years back was found urinating into his oven and pouring super glue on to rotted teeth.
A tortured soul so desperate for sleep, he'd use a Taser gun to render himself unconscious.
No, this is about the Kangaroo retiree, not even through his 50s, who now sits in a nursing home crippled by dementia. Or the cult Winfield Cup figure confiding in mates about the onset of Alzheimer's. The Daily Telegraph has agreed not to release their names.
And shouldn't we be asking how Phil Gould knows six leaguies who've committed suicide?
"I'm horrified that our footy codes aren't taking this issue seriously enough," says Dr Kathryn Fox, a Sydney medical practitioner whose past three years have been spent researching the effects of head injury on footballers.
"Up to one in five people who suffer concussion will have cognitive or personality changes.
"That's irrefutable - and here in the NRL we're treating our young men like human crash test dummies.
"Involving them in collisions the equivalent of hitting your windscreen while driving at 60km/h.
"They're doing it hundreds of times a year, too.
"I know young men who've had seizures on the field, who've dropped from A-grade to C-grade students ... and still we're asking if this is a problem?"
Certainly in America the question marks have gone.
They were erased eight years ago when Dr Bennet Omalu, completing Webster's autopsy, discovered a previously unknown brain disease which he labelled Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE.
Causing degeneration of brain tissue and the accumulation of tau protein, symptoms of CTE include depression, aggression, violence and extremely advanced Alzheimer's.
Or, in the case of Pittsburgh lineman Justin Strzelczyk, driving your pick-up headlong into a tanker of corrosive acid - a crash that killed him at the age of 36.
Autopsies revealed he had suffered from brain damage, most likely caused from years of impact playing football.
Indeed, there's a school of thought suggesting the NRL's increased player behaviour problems are in direct response to a CTE build-up in bigger, faster, heavier athletes whacking each other at 13gs (the risk of death arising with constant application of 16gs on the human body).
So what's being done?
Right now, Sydney neurosurgeon Dr Richard Parkinson - the man who saved the career of Rabbitoh Ben Ross - is halfway through a two-year study into the impact of head and spinal injuries in the code.
But that's all we know.
Dr Parkinson is currently working in the US.
Elsewhere, NRL chief medical officer Ron Muratore is overhauling NRL concussion rules while monitoring studies from the US. He stresses, however, that while NFL linebackers will use their head as "a weapon" 30 or 40 times a game, NRL clubs "boast an average of four to seven concussions a year".
Yet what about when the statistic becomes staggering Knights forward Richie Fa'aoso?
Should we be worried about him when you consider the college footballer, only 18, who died with a brain containing more tau than you'd find in a 50-year-old?
"People need to understand league players are open to the same concussions - the same multiple concussions - as NFL players," Australian Medical Association professor David Mountain warns. "Yes, there are differences in the way they tackle.
"But to see a guy whacked in State of Origin; to see him staggering, reeling about and then later return to the fray ... it cannot be right."
Professor David Ames of Alzheimer's Australia agrees, adding: "We know head injuries are no good ... it's why we invented seatbelts."
It's also why Dr Davies is now urging NRL-specific studies be undertaken. Why the RLPA is closely following proceedings and Aussie boxing legend Johnny Lewis suggests concussed players rest the same 28 days as fighters.
"But I guess the NRL is big business," Lewis shrugs. "And no one can miss a minute."
Just ask Valentine.
The forgotten footballer who, playing against the Auckland Warriors back in 2000, was cleared by a Cowboys club doctor to return to the field after being kayoed by giant Ali Lauitiiti. Who, within minutes, was iced again by fellow Warriors enforcer Joe Vagana.
"Which is when I had the seizure," says Valentine, eventually cut by the Cowboys on medical grounds.
"Out cold five minutes. After that I was concussed against Wests Tigers, against Canterbury and ... ahhh ... no, sorry, can't remember the rest."
Valentine admits he could be the first Australian to join the revolutionary research into CTE.
"Because the scariest thing, it's not the seizures," he shrugs. "It's the questions. Like afterwards, when you finally sit down in the quiet and think to yourself, 'What the bloody hell is going on upstairs'?"
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ATV: Offroad Fury 2
- Platforms: PS2
- Developer: Sony
- Publisher: Sony, THQ
- Genre: Racing
- VN:F [1.9.22_1171]User Score: 0 votes
- Add to MyGames
Offroad racing just got more intense. Race anywhere, anytime as you gun your ATV to the finish line. Is that a rocky mountain in your path? Take it on. Stuck by some thick woods? Play through them. With more than 20 all new ATVs, 40 offroad environments, mini-games, seven race modes and even online play, ATV Offroad Fury 2 challenges you to conquer the terrain against top riders through massive, stunning environments. But don't get caught watching the beautiful scenery. The mountains won't have mercy on you … and neither will the competition
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Hot Stuff: the Cars of 'Fast & Furious'
Specs and action shots of these sweet rides
<< Prev Next >>
Next gallery »First Look: The wonders of 'Where The Wild Things Are'
« Previous galleryGratuitous: Sam Raimi's 'Drag Me to Hell'
The streets are ruled by "Fast & Furious"
Vin Diesel and Paul walker may be returning to "Fast & Furious," but as with the first three films, the cars get as much love on the screen as the stars. Here are the details of their rides and some shots of the sweet cars in action.
In the above pic? Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and his 1998 Nissan Skyline ER34 in "Fast & Furious."
Photo Credit: Universal Pictures


text:
Captain Crash the raccoon by FurReal Friends just loves to scurry, spin and run wild at any opportunity! With motorised bump and go features and funny sounds, you will love your little friend's bundles of energy and free spirit. Don't worry though; he keeps still long enough to give him a cuddle!
There are 8 unique pets to collect each with their own sounds and personality.
Batteries included.


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text:
Astrology And Medicine Dictionary
A selection of articles related to astrology and medicine dictionary.
Original articles from our library related to the Astrology And Medicine Dictionary. See Table of Contents for further available material (downloadable resources) on Astrology And Medicine Dictionary.
- Our Pagan Village: The Importance and Persuit of Honor
- Candlelight flickers over the Beltaine revels. Food is laid out in the circle for the feast. Only one rule – no one can feed themselves. Each is dependent on friends and loved ones for sustenance, joy and delight. After an hour of laughter and revels and way...
Paganism & Wicca >> Daily Life
- What is hypnotic trance? Does it provide unusual physical or mental capacities?
- 2.1 'Trance;' descriptive or misleading? Most of the classical notions of hypnosis have long held that hypnosis was special in some way from other types of interpersonal communication and that an induction (preparatory process considered by some to be...
Parapsychology >> Hypnosis
- Bringing it Down to Earth: A Fractal Approach
- 'Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.' B. Mandelbrot W e want to think about the future - it's our nature. Unlike other creatures, humans possess an...
Mystic Sciences >> Astrology
- Pagan Mythology
- Is the traditional story presented as an historical event that serves to illustrate part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. The mythological beliefs a culture shares gives shape to its actions and choices....
Paganism & Wicca >> Holidays
- The Religious Experience: A Wiccan Viewpoint
- What is religion? Religion is a set of beliefs which allow us to understand and categorize our world and our place in it. A set of beliefs which define our culture, our expectations, our views of people and behaviors we expect. I have found several different...
Religion & Philosophy >> Religions
Astrology And Medicine Dictionary is described in multiple online sources, as addition to our editors' articles, see section below for printable documents, Astrology And Medicine Dictionary books and related discussion.
Suggested News Resources
- Will female Viagra liberate Indian women?
- Along with sexual freedom, the drug is also meant to provide respite to those whose libido has diminished due to medical problems.
- Ten things you should know about Zika virus
- Naturopaths, holistic health experts as well as medical doctors have been long talking about the health hazards of modern toilets. Sitting in the toilet increases your chances to get disorders like bloating, hemorrhoids and constipation.
- No communal tension in West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee
- KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said there is no communal tension in the state. Recommended By Colombia. Banerjee, who was speaking at Bengal Global Business Summit here, said unity in diversity is the mantra of the ...
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Flo Rida's "Low" just ended its 10-week reign on top of the Billboard Hot 100. To mourn its loss, my friend Jon and I listen to it simultaneously, attempting to measure whether there's a gender preference with music. We end up discussing shoes and dancing in the rain.
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Baofeng HT - How are they?
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Part 95 FRS radios are also required to have fixed (that's non-detachable) non-gain antennas and be Part 15 compliant for EMI and RFI susceptibility and compatibility. Ham radios often have some of this but are only required to keep RF energy inside our bands, if they cause interference it's only your fellow hams to whom you have to answer and at your best operation and engineering practices.
Outside the ham bands radios can't be setting off car alarms or upsetting vehicle computers. Just be sure if you do chose to use these radios for FRS that you aren't screwing stuff up. There are a lot of UHF devices out there, not just radios. Medical RFID devices for example, there is some logic behind the rules in this case since the spectrum around 400-500MHz is probably the most used and sought other than the cell phone bands.
We have quite a lot of spectrum in the band that is under constant threat and finding hams transmitting illegal is one major red flag that will bring the FCC hammer down. It's easy for them to tell, FRS radios have the tailing tones where ours don't and GMRS users have to be licensed just like us. Some of it is already allocated on a secondary user basis, so complete loss is not a remote possibility.
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Mikael Åkerfeldt
|This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
|Mikael Åkerfeldt
Mikael Åkerfeldt with Opeth at Leipzig – November 2012
|Background information
17 April 1974
Stockholm, Sweden
|Musician, singer-songwriter, producer
|Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboard
|Years active
|Roadrunner, Candlelight, Century Black, Music for Nations
|Associated acts
|Opeth, Storm Corrosion, Bloodbath, Steel, Katatonia, Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, Ayreon, Edge of Sanity
|Notable instruments
|PRS Guitars
Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt (born 17 April 1974)[1] is a Swedish musician, prominently known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of progressive death metal band Opeth, as well as being the former vocalist of death metal supergroup Bloodbath. He was also guitarist for the "one-off" band Steel, and is part of the collaboration Storm Corrosion with Steven Wilson.
Åkerfeldt is known for his progressive rock-influenced songwriting style and his frequent use of both clean baritone and growled vocals. Åkerfeldt was ranked #42 out of 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time by Guitar World along with Peter Lindgren,[2] and #11 among "The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists" on MetalSucks.[3]
- 1 Career
- 2 Personal life
- 3 Equipment
- 4 Discography
- 5 Appearances
- 6 Notes
- 7 External links
Mikael Åkerfeldt revealed in September 2009 that he is contemplating recording a singer-songwriter acoustic solo album.[4] However, in 2014 he expressed the view that he didn't have the need of a special solo project and that he can put pretty much anything into Opeth.[5] In an interview on STIM magazine he reveals that one of the highlights of his career was the performance in Royal Albert Hall.[6]
Early life[edit]
A native of Stockholm, Mikael Åkerfeldt was the vocalist for Eruption, a death metal band which he formed in 1988 at 14 years old.[7] After Eruption came to an end in 1990, he joined Opeth, ostensibly as a bassist. When vocalist David Isberg insisted Åkerfeldt join the band, all other members left.[8] Isberg assumed guitar duties, and when he left Opeth two years later, Åkerfeldt replaced him as the vocalist. Åkerfeldt performed the death vocals on Katatonia's album Brave Murder Day and Sounds of Decay EPs.
Åkerfeldt is a collector of obscure 1970s rock and heavy metal albums.[9][10] He also tends to show his influence from these obscure bands, making reference to them in Opeth album titles such as Blackwater Park, Still Life and My Arms, Your Hearse, as well as songs such as "Master's Apprentices." He is also influenced extensively by jazz, the musician Ritchie Blackmore[1] as well as Magma and its founder Christian Vander.[11]
When asked what the album was that 'made him a metalhead', Åkerfeldt answered that it was probably The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden, but also mentioned Lick It Up by Kiss.[12]
Personal life[edit]
Åkerfeldt is an atheist.[9] On 15 August 2003, Mikael Åkerfeldt married his longtime girlfriend, Anna Sandberg. On 13 September 2004, Anna gave birth to a daughter whom they named Melinda. The couple had their second daughter, Mirjam Ebba Maria Åkerfeldt, on 28 October 2007.[9] In 2016, in an interview with The Quietus, Akerfeldt revealed he had gone through a divorce.
Åkerfeldt is known to be friends with Steven Wilson, the frontman of one of his favorite bands, Porcupine Tree; Mike Portnoy, former drummer of Dream Theater (he is featured in their music video for Wither); and Jonas Renkse of Katatonia.[10] He is also presumed to be the basis for the character Toki Wartooth from the popular cartoon Metalocalypse, as divulged in an interview with Ultimate Guitar.[13]
He has almost exclusively used PRS guitars since the Deliverance/Damnation era and has his own signature model.[14]
Electric guitars[edit]
Åkerfeldt uses the following electric guitars, according to the Opeth web site.[15]
- Jackson Guitars USA RR USA Model
- PRS Custom 24 (Tortoise shell flame top)
- Gibson Flying V ('67 Reissue)
- PRS Custom 24 (Blue Flame Top)
- PRS Custom 24 (Black Quilt)
- PRS Custom 24 (Black)
- PRS SC 245 (Black Cherry)
- Fender Stratocaster 1975 (Black)
- Fender Stratocaster 1972 Reissue (Natural)
- Gibson Les Paul Standard V.O.S. (Tobacco Sunburst)
- B.C. Rich Mockingbird (Black)
- PRS 22 fret Modern Eagle (Grey Flame Top)
- PRS Modern Eagle Single Cut 24 Fret (Wine Flame Matte Top)
- Gibson SG Standard 1961 Reissue
- PRS Custom 22 12-String (Black)
- PRS Singlecut (Black Quilt)
- PRS SE Mikael Åkerfeldt Signature Guitar
- PRS Starla (Vintage Cherry)
Acoustic guitars/Steel string[edit]
Åkerfeldt uses the following acoustic guitars, according to the Opeth web site.[15]
- CF Martin (with Fishman Pickup)
- CF Martin 00016GT
- Takamine 12 String
- Seagull (with Fishman Pickup)
- CF Martin 000-28
Acoustic guitars/Classical nylon[edit]
- Amalio Burguet 3am (cedar top)
- Landola CT/2/w
Åkerfeldt uses the following amps, according to the Opeth web site.[15]
- Marshall Vintage Modern 2466
- Laney GH100L with cabinet
- Laney VH100R
- Laney VC30
- Fender 1000 Rocpro
- Fractal Audio Axe-FX Ultra preamp / effects processor
- Marshall JCM900
with Opeth[edit]
- Orchid (1995)
- Morningrise (1996)
- My Arms, Your Hearse (1998)
- Still Life (1999)
- Blackwater Park (2001)
- Deliverance (2002)
- Damnation (2003)
- Lamentations (2003)
- Ghost Reveries (2005)
- The Roundhouse Tapes (2007)
- Watershed (2008)
- In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall (2010)
- Heritage (2011)
- Pale Communion (2014)[16]
- Sorceress (2016)
with Katatonia[edit]
- Brave Murder Day (1996) – harsh vocals
- Sounds of Decay (1997) – harsh vocals
- Discouraged Ones (1998) – backing vocals, co-production on vocals
- Tonight's Decision (1999) – additional vocal production
- Brave Yester Days (2004) – harsh vocals (on disc 2: tracks 1–6), additional vocal production (on disc 2: tracks 6–9)
- The Black Sessions (2005) – backing vocals, co-vocal production
with Bloodbath[edit]
- Breeding Death (2000, EP)
- Resurrection Through Carnage (2002)
- The Wacken Carnage (2008, CD/DVD)
- Unblessing the Purity (2008)
- The Fathomless Mastery (2008)
- Bloodbath over Bloodstock (2011, DVD)
with Edge of Sanity[edit]
- Crimson (1996)
with Steel[edit]
- Heavy Metal Machine (1998, EP)
with Storm Corrosion[edit]
- Storm Corrosion (2012)
|This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (September 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
- Ayreon: Åkerfeldt sings the parts of Fear in The Human Equation, the 2004 release.[17]
- Candlemass: Åkerfeldt performs vocals for one song on the Candlemass 20-year anniversary DVD.[18]
- Devin Townsend: Åkerfeldt appeared as a guest vocalist for Deconstruction. He sings on the song "Stand".[19]
- Dream Theater: Åkerfeldt performs a spoken word part in "Repentance" on their 2007 album Systematic Chaos. He also sang the second verse of the same song on its first and to date only live performance, during the Progressive Nation 2008 tour. During the same tour he also performed the growled part of the song "A Nightmare to Remember" with the band live.
- Edge of Sanity: Åkerfeldt provided vocals and guitar parts in Edge of Sanity's 1996 album Crimson, and also wrote lyrics for a song on Infernal.
- Horrified: Åkerfeldt growls a few words on "Avatar of the Age of Horus" off of their Deus Diabolus Inversus album.
- Katatonia: Åkerfeldt sings on the 1996 album Brave Murder Day, and the three-song EP Sounds of Decay, released 1997. He also performs backing vocals on the albums Discouraged Ones and Tonight's Decision.
- Ihsahn: Åkerfeldt performs on the song "Unhealer" from the 2008 album angL.
- OSI: Åkerfeldt performs lead vocals on the track "Stockholm" for OSI's 2009 album, Blood.
- Porcupine Tree: Åkerfeldt sings backing vocals on "Deadwing", "Lazarus", "Shesmovedon" and "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" and plays a guitar solo on "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" on the 2005 album Deadwing.
- Roadrunner United: Åkerfeldt performs vocals on the song "Roads" alongside Type O Negative keyboardist Josh Silver on the Roadrunner Records 25th Anniversary album Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions.
- Soilwork: Åkerfeldt sings cleanly on the title track of the album A Predator's Portrait.
- Steve Hackett: Genesis Revisited II (2012) – vocals on "Supper's Ready"
- ^ a b Mikael Åkerfeldt, Opeth – Official Website, Retrieved 3 June 2012
- ^ "GUITAR WORLD's 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time". Blabbermouth.net. 23 January 2004. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists: The Entire List in One Place". MetalSucks. 8 June 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
- ^ "OPETH Frontman To Record Acoustic Solo Album". Blabbermouth.net. 15 September 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "Mikael Akerfeldt: 'This Record Is More Melodic, Slightly Heavier and a Bit More Schizophrenic'". Ultimate Guitar. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
- ^ "Post Metal". www.stim.se. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ "History of Opeth, Chapter I" Opeth Official Website, Retrieved 12 February 2012
- ^ "History of Opeth, Chapter II" Opeth Official Website, Retrieved 9 November 2013
- ^ a b c Blake, Mark (13 August 2014). "Heavy Load: Mikael Akerfeldt". TeamRock. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Hearts Are Falling – An Interview With Katatonia's Jonas Renkse". Metalblast.net. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ "Seminal Progressive Rock Pioneers Magma Confirmed For Mikael Åkerfeldt's Curated 2014 Roadburn Event – Roadburn". Roadburn Festival. 8 October 2013. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
- ^ "Floris van Bommel interviews Mikael Åkerfeldt at FortaRock XL 2013". YouTube. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Geddes, Duncan (8 November 2007). "Opeth: 'The Band Will Continue For As Long As There's Good Material In Us'". Ultimate Guitar. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
- ^ "Opeth - Mikael Åkerfeldt & Fredrik Åkesson". prsguitars.com. PRS Artists.
- ^ a b c "www.opeth.com" – various "Equipment" pages on the official Opeth website
- ^ "Opeth's "Pale Communion" Coming June 17". Roadrunner Records. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
- ^ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-human-equation-ayreon/8701416
- ^ "CANDLEMASS: '20 Year Anniversary Party' DVD Details Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. 12 October 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Gricourt, Nicolas (2011-03-31). "DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT: DECONSTRUCTION DISSECTED". radiometal.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
External links[edit]
- 1974 births
- Swedish baritones
- Swedish heavy metal singers
- Swedish heavy metal guitarists
- Swedish male singers
- Opeth members
- English-language singers of Sweden
- Lead guitarists
- Progressive metal guitarists
- Singers from Stockholm
- Living people
- Death metal musicians
- 20th-century singers
- 21st-century singers
- Unclean vocalists


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Vocational qualifications
Our 14th annual survey of HR roles reports on the key metrics for the profession, including the ratio of HR professionals to employees and cost per head.
Our survey among HR professionals, with 557 respondents, explores how people entered the profession, the qualifications they hold and the barriers they have experienced in career progression.
While the majority of the 668 respondents to our HR careers survey told us that they chose their career in the profession "by chance", most would opt for HR all over again. Our research also found that HR practitioners view professional qualifications as more important for advancing in HR than starting out in the profession.
Survey analysis: HR and legal information and guidance relating to vocational qualifications.
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The materials and information included in the XpertHR service are provided for reference purposes only. They are not intended either as a substitute for professional advice or judgment or to provide legal or other advice with respect to particular circumstances. Use of the service is subject to our terms and conditions.
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It wasn't hard to figure out the omen that turned out to be the Mets "Black Cat Game" in 1969 when a black cat came out of nowhere in Shea Stadium to walk in front the dugout of the fading Chicago Cubs. There was nothing subtle about it. Nothing.
However, what is this year's "Black Cat" moment? I've got a few contenders in mine, beginning with the night of July 29 when the Mets' trade for outfielder Carlos Gomez for Wilmer Flores fell through and the Mets' shortstop cried on the way to his position.
"It was a tough night," outfielder Michael Cuddyer recalled. "Bizarre is a good way to put it."
Bizarre? Flores received an ovation prior to a late-inning at-bat that he couldn't comprehend until he got back to the dugout.
"I heard I had gotten traded," Flores said. "And, I got very emotional."
The Mets looked clumsy that night, but turned it around and acquired Yoenis Cespedes two days later. Trades are mostly build on hope, and that's what the Cespedes deal was all about. Manager Terry Collins sensed that right away: "This guy was a legitimate run producer. He is an impact player."
That night, Flores homered in extra innings to give the Mets a victory over the Nationals, and they would go on for three-game sweep of the series and wipe away years of pent up frustration in the process.
The Mets were on their way.
Cespedes lit a fire under their dormant offense, with the signature moment the night of Aug. 24, when David Wright homered in his first swing after four-and-a-half months on the disabled list. It was definitely was a "things will be all right" moment. They hit eight that night.
Three days later, the Mets had one of those "I don't believe it" moments when the Phillies' Jeff Francoeur ripped a ball off reliever Carlos Torres' foot that bounced to first baseman Daniel Murphy who made a backhanded, no-look flip to the pitcher.
Also tipping the "WOW" meter was Bartolo Colon's behind-the-back flip to first last weekend in Miami. Then, there was that crazy inning Tuesday night in Washington.
Does anybody else have a moment that could end up defining this season?


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...decompose spontaneously, or decay, into a more stable configuration but will do so only in a few specific ways by emitting certain particles or certain forms of electromagnetic energy. Radioactive decay is a property of several naturally occurring elements as well as of artificially produced isotopes of the elements. The rate at which a radioactive element decays is expressed in terms of its...


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150 acres/60 bed facility
Bill Brown, Manager
2845 Jackie Snider Trail
Stapleton, GA 30823
Phone/Fax (478) 625-3930
Louisville is located in East Central Georgia
about 40 miles South West of Augusta Georgia.
Go 8 miles South of Wrens Georgia on U.S. 1.
Turn right on Mennonite Church Road for 1 mile.
Turn at the firehouse. Watch for the sign.
|Welcome to the Bridges of Hope III
|Main facility
|Dining Hall
|We grow much of our own.
|Got cows too.
|Beautiful environment
|Serene country setting
|Fishing anyone?
|Outside Greenhouse
|Inside Greenhouse


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D1NZ's ripping up the track
Friday 26 Nov 2010 7:35 p.m.
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The NZ V8 championship moves to Ruapuna this weekend.
There will be plenty of rubber on the track after few laps by a drive known as Mad Mike.
He's one of the stars lining up in the New Zealand drift series, better known as D1NZ.3 News


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John Reagan on spring football, progress of KU's offense
Kansas football offensive coordinator and offensive line coach John Reagan discusses anticipation and development that comes with spring football.
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- As Watchmen is the Deconstructor Fleet of the superhero genre, the homosexuality subtext was addressed. Two male members of the Minutemen were having a closet relationship (with Hooded Justice not being a huge fan of monogamy, and a large fan of S&M), and the lesbian Silhouette was cast out of the team after she was outed (we're talking about The Thirties here). Aside from the official Ho Yay, some suggest subtext between many male characters, most popular pairing being Rorschach and Nite Owl II.
- This despite Rorschach's expressed contempt (in narration, no less) for homosexuals, though one might argue he was just deeply, deeply in the closet, even to himself.
- The bottle of cologne that Rorschach nicks from Dan is specifically marketed towards homosexual men. Make of that what you will.
- The new Before Watchmen: Comedian mini-series suggests that part of what drove Eddie Blake to become such a monster was the fact that he was really good friends with John F. Kennedy, and watching Jack get shot down just crystallized his own cynicism about humanity.
Jackie Kennedy: And by the way, "baby" isn't something you should call the wife of a man you love.Eddie Blake: Hey — I didn't mean —Jackie: —Any disrespect?Eddie: Exactly.Jackie: I wish you did. I think I'd like to be honestly disrespected.Eddie: Well, I'm...Jackie: —-not going to do that?Eddie: No, I'm not. Because—Jackie: You love—Eddie: —Respect him. Honestly.
- Wait, so Before Watchmen has retconned it being Eddie behind the Grassy Knoll?
- Before Watchmen has the Comedian behind the assassination of Bobby Kennedy instead of JFK. It also includes this conversation:


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Reviews - Albany Lodge Guest House4
9 Clevedon road, ,, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1DA
Price FromView Rooms
Customer Reviews
Our reviews are from genuine LateRooms.com customers. We verify that the customer has stayed before leaving a review.
94% would recommend it to a friend
Customer service
Food quality
Room quality
Nice b&b great hosts, did what it says on the tin.
Great breakfast coffee tea and home made biscuits in room .All we could ask for for a short stay accommodation.
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outstanding value and service
exceptionally high quality accommodation.
very warm welcome on arrival, room very well appointed, nice sized en suite , extras such as plenty of tea, coffee and milk, mini fridge. very comfortable bed, very clean. offered a choice of breakfast times. Very good range of breakfast items and cooked to perfection
Bob and Denise are fantastic hosts and i am very grateful to them for their effort in making my stay very restful and comfortable
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room ok, Shower/ Bathroom was smaller than my Broom cupboard
Beautifully comfortable, warm & cosy.
The weather outside was awful but the welcoming accommodation helped to make our stay enjoyable. Lovely breakfast, the bacon deserves high recommendation. Everywhere clean & welcoming.
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Three night stay
Excellent location, 10 mins walk from station, 5 mins from beach, 10 mins walk into the centre of Weston.
Hosts very friendly and helpful. Excellent breakfast. Downsides - ensuite very pokey, just the width of the shower tray, and cistern very old style; the room, though nicely decorated, didn't have much 'free' space.
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Far from a dismal weekend at the Albany Lodge Guest House
This was a late booking in anticipation of getting walk up tickets for Dismaland.
We arrived on the Friday evening to a warm greeting from Becky who made us feel very welcome. The room was lovely, very spacious, comfortable beds and plenty of utilities. We had a separate bathroom which was also to a high standard. Everything was just perfect. After a comfortable sleep we woke early to a hearty full English breakfast and met Bob and Denise. Both were very hospitable and we told them our plans for getting walk up tickets. After breakfast we joined the walk up que in the pouring rain; 40 Minutes into our long wait, Bob arrived and he told us that some guests had spare online tickets. We couldn't believe it. The care the Albany Lodge Guest House has for its guests is faultless. You are made to feel welcome and at home. Bob, Denise and Becky are all very accommodating and will ensure your stat in Weston-super-Mare is memorable for all the right reasons. We can't recommend the Albany Lodge Guest House enough. Highly recommended. Thanks Bob, Denise and Becky we will see you soon!
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Seaside Sunshine
Excellent for a bed and breakfast - will hopefully stay again.
Our Stay Aug 2015
Great Customer service, cheerful hosts, nothing too much trouble.
Room Bit on the small side, but as we were out most of the time not an issue. Chairs in room unable to sit on as too small. Breakfast excellent and service couldnt have been better. Seaside with couple of minutes from guest house :)
on the down side :(
I am a large bloke and couldnt get to the toilet, just couldnt get pass the sink. bathroom just to small. Shower is the first One I could atcually get in, unfortuantly once inside had to rely on wife to wash me down. Would we stay here again, even with the issues . If price was right yes
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Fantastic B&B
Extremely friendly hosts.
Everything thought of in room and at breakfast. As a contactor in the area I have stayed in many B&B's in WSM and this one easily rates amongst the best.
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Friendly Hosts Fantastic Breakfast
We stayed at the Albany Lodge for 2 nights as a last minute weekend away for our wedding anniversary.
We were greeted by Denise who is really friendly and helpful. Breakfast next day was served by Bob, a very friendly chap who was happy to chat without being intrusive. Breakfast was superb with the added touch of homemade jam and marmalade rock cakes and banana bread, wonderful. Thee Lodge is well situated for the sea front and only a few minutes from the railway station.
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Senior swan songThey'll long (we hope) carry the dubious distinction of losing more games – a minimum of 26 – than any recruiting class in program history.
There have been no major upset wins (though Saturday could count) and in fact, no wins over a Top 25 foe (Utah is No. 14). Regardless of their flaws and foibles, the recruiting class of 2007's second head coach, Brian Kelly, will remember them fondly for their contributions to what he believes is a strong foundation going forward.
"I would say more than anything else, how they've matured. I think they've shown themselves to be really good teammates as this season has progressed," Kelly noted when asked to talk about the soon-to-be graduates, though at least three regular season games remain for the group.
"They want to lead the right way, they want to set the right example, they want to set the right tone, and that has probably been the single most gratifying thing for me as the head football coach – to see our seniors develop in the areas that I know will allow this program to continue to move forward and eventually be the winning program that we all want it to be."
The class's best players – Golden Tate and Jimmy Clausen – bailed early. Those that remained behind were led for the bulk of this season by two unable to suit up for their final home games at the Stadium: tailback Armando Allen due to hip surgery, and nose guard Ian Williams due to a still-healing sprained knee.
A third, and perhaps the most polarizing of the group, caught the attention of his second collegiate head coach for all the right reasons…eventually.
"Maybe this isn't right to say, but I wasn't a big Brian Smith fan early on," Kelly admitted of the verbose linebacker. "I thought he (cared) maybe a little bit too much about what he could do instead of what the team could do.
"I told him today, if I had anything to do with making the decision on a fifth year – which I certainly don't, the faculty board makes that decision – I'd be the first one in line advocating for Brian Smith to come back for another year. I would not have said that early in the year."
As with classmates Kerry Neal, Robert Hughes, Duval Kamara, former walk-on and transfer Bobby Burger, Allen and Williams, Smith has exhausted his eligibility. Eight others, including starters Taylor Dever, walk-on transfer David Ruffer, Harrison Smith and Gary Gray, can apply for said 5th season for various reasons.
Kelly noted last week that he and the potential applicants have yet to discuss the 2011 season though Harrison Smith stated on Wednesday that he had every intention of returning for one more year next fall.
Emergency entry onlyHis classmate Tommy Rees has earned Saturday's start following a spring session apprenticeship under Dayne Crist and a strong performance in relief - and in vain - in the team's last outing.
Andrew Hendrix spent the bulk of the 2010 season on the scout team, preparing the first team defense for particular opponents' offenses. He's ascended to "active" status thanks to the season-ending injury suffered by the aforementioned Crist.
But the strong-armed frosh of whom his head coach has spoken so highly will not enter Saturday's contest vs. Utah under any circumstances.
Former walk-on Nate Montana is the team's official number two signal caller; current walk-on Brian Castello will be the team's No. 3 QB this week.
"I would say that right now I can't see a situation where Andrew would play in the game (vs. Utah)," Kelly noted Thursday following practice. "It would have to be (vs.) Army or USC.
"On the sideline he's going to have a different role on Saturday in terms of what we're doing. I think that's going to help him see some things. (To that end) we scripted out, 'Here's what I want you looking for. You've got to identify this, this, this and this' – a lot of (similar) stuff we did with (Rees) after the Michigan game. They're actively doing things on the sideline: charting, showing some looks.
"That's where I see (improvement) happening this week for Andrew, and then maybe climbing into that third position for the last couple of weeks."
Should Hendrix take a snap vs. Army or USC, the first-year player would lose an entire season of eligibility (and thus not be a potential 5th-year applicant following the 2013 season).


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September 25, 2013
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