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Operator: Good day, and welcome to the Hospitality Properties Trust Fourth Quarter and Year End Results Conference Call. This call is being recorded.
At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Senior Manager of Investor Relations, Carlynn Finn. Please go ahead.
Carlynn Finn - VP, IR: Thank you, and good morning. Joining me on today's call are John Murray, President; and Mark Kleifges, Chief Financial Officer. John and Mark will make a short presentation, which will be followed by a question-and-answer session. The recording and retransmission of today's call is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of HPT.
Before we begin today's call, I would like to read our Safe Harbor statement and set some ground rules concerning certain questions. Today's conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other securities laws.
These forward-looking statements are based on HPT's present beliefs and expectations as of today, March 1, 2013. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to the forward-looking statements made in today's conference call other than through filings within the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC.
In addition, this call may contain non-GAAP financial measures, including normalized funds from operations or normalized FFO. A reconciliation of normalized FFO and adjusted EBITDA to net income, as well as components to calculate AFFO, CAD, or FAD are available in our supplemental package found in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website.
Actual results may differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Additional information containing factors that could cause those differences is contained in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC and in our Q4 Supplemental Operating and Financial Data found on our website at www.hptreit.com. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements.
Before I turn the call over to John and Mark, you should be aware that Travel Centers of America has not completed its yearend reporting and accordingly the Company's remarks today will not refer to TA's fourth quarter or full year 2012 results and we will be unable to take questions related to TA's fourth quarter or full year 2012 performance.
Now, I would like to turn the call over to John Murray.
John G. Murray - President and COO: Thank you, Carlynn. Good morning and welcome to our fourth quarter 2012 earnings call. At the outset I'd like to apologize for changing our call from Wednesday to today. Appreciate your joining us.
Today, HPT reported fourth quarter normalized FFO of $0.76 per share. As Carlynn mentioned, we are not yet able to update you on TA's performance for the fourth quarter or full year. Because TA has considered in accelerated filer under SEC reporting rules, it has until March 15 to report. As you may recall, TA's performance is very strong through the first three quarters of 2012 with EBITDA up $16.9 million or 8% year-over-year. Year-to-date through September, TA's business had reflected modest declines in fuel volumes due to the slow growth economy, driver conservation efforts, and fuel lane renovations. But the negative effect of the volume decline was more than offset by strong per gallon diesel margins.
As a result, TA's fuel margins had increased almost 10% year-to-date through September compared to 2011. Non-fuel revenues and gross margin were up 5.9% and 3.1% respectively year-to-date through September compared to 2011.
Focusing on HPT's hotel investments, our fourth quarter was negatively impacted by 33 hotels that were being renovated causing rooms to be out of service. Also, although Wyndham and Sonesta have been working to gain back occupancy and rate at their rebranded hotels, the rebrandings continue to negatively impact our RevPAR performance. RevPAR growth for our 2014 comparable hotels, not under renovation and not rebranded in 2012, increased 8.4%, the result of a 1.5 percentage point increase in occupancy to 68.8% and a 6.1% increase in ADR to $101.
Our expectation is that operations will not fully stabilize at the rebranded hotels until after renovations are completed in 2013 and early 2014. Please remember these rebranded hotels account for only about 9% of HPT's minimum return and we have credit support for the Wyndham branded component of that.
We expect 43 hotels will be under renovation during all or part of the first quarter and 39 in the second quarter of 2013. Renovation activity is expected to continue throughout 2013, principally at Sonesta and Wyndham hotels, but also to a lesser extent in our Marriott 234 and IHG portfolios.
Also, during the second half of 2013, a greater percentage of the hotels being renovated will be large or full service hotels, so the impact of renovations will continue to be significant throughout 2013. We have tried to schedule renovation projects for periods when they may create the least disruption to our hotel performance.
Our manager's 2013 RevPAR forecast for our hotels are generally in the 5% to 7% increase range with Sonesta expecting flat RevPAR due to renovation activity and IHG expecting growth in the teens following some substantial completion of renovations.
GOP margin percentage increases are generally forecast to be in the 100 to 200 basis point improvement range, but the Wyndham and IHG portfolios are more than twice the high end of that range. On average across the portfolio, GOP margin percentages are expected to increase by 310 basis points. These may sound like drop of the expectations given the soft RevPAR and margin performance during most of the renovation and conversion late in 2012. However, hotels renovated in 2011 and in the first three quarters of 2012 had fourth quarter RevPAR and gross margin percentage growth of 8.1% and 330 basis points and 12.5% and 430 basis points respectively.
In addition, in January of 2013 our comparable hotels excluding the 30 under renovation grew RevPAR 11.7% and excluding renovations and conversion hotels grew RevPAR by 16.2%. There is modest optimism about the lodging cycle due to continued room supply growth and steady demand.
This allows for increases in room rates and expansion of GOP margins particularly as we move towards the fully renovated hotel portfolio.
In terms of acquisitions on November 1, 2012 we closed on the acquisition of 348 rooms Hotel 71 in Chicago for $85 million, which we discussed on our third quarter call. It was added to our Wyndham portfolio management agreement.
On December 19, 2012 we acquired the leased fee interest in the 372 rooms Clift Hotel in San Francisco for $120 million. The Clift is long term leased to Morgans Hotel Group under triple-net lease that runs through 2103.
Current rent is approximately $6 million annually there are CPI based increases every five years subject to certain limits. The next scheduled rent increase is in 2014 when a rent will increase by a minimum of 20% and a maximum of 40%.
Well-known for its classic elegance since its development in 1915, the Clift Hotel is a luxury 372 room lifestyle hotel in Union Square section of San Francisco.
On January 17, we signed a purchase agreement to buy the 426 room (indiscernible) Marriott place for $31 million. We are currently in the midst of completing our diligence procedures. Assuming the acquisition closes it is our plan to rebrand this hotel as Sonesta place and combine this hotel with the existing 20 hotel Sonesta portfolio.
On Wednesday this week HPT announced it reached agreement of letter of intent with NH Hoteles of Spain for hotel investments in Latin America, Europe, and New York totaling approximately $375 million. There are three components to the terms outlined in the letter of intent, including the purchase of five hotels in Latin America from NH for $17 million. The mortgage financing of four NH owned and managed hotels in Europe for EUR170 million and a joint venture to acquire and renovate our hotel in New York for up to $80 million.
The Latin American hotels are located in Mexico, Chile, Uruguay and Colombia. European hotels are in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. The New York hotel is located in Midtown in Madison Avenue. HPT's minimum return in Latin America and interest rate on the European mortgage loans is 10% of its investment. Its return in New York is 8%. NH Hoteles will continue to manage the hotels in Europe and Latin America and Sonesta and NH will jointly brand and operate the New York hotel. We've agreed to a letter of intent. The binding of transaction agreements remains to be negotiated and the entire transaction is subject to diligence. Assuming these steps are completed without issue, the closing of the three components are expected to occur later in 2013.
We are hopeful this becomes a long-term strategic relationship that enables us to enhance our growth especially in South and North America. We continue to see a healthy pipeline of hotel acquisition opportunities and are looking at both single property transaction and portfolios. We faced a competitive landscape with other REITs and institutional investors also seeking acquisitions, but we are optimistic that we will continue to generate steady acquisition growth to our existing and new portfolio relationships in 2013. We are also optimistic about anticipated 2013 operating results as a large and growing number of renovations are completed at our hotels.
I'll now turn the presentation over to Mark to provide further detail on our financial results.
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: Thanks John. In the fourth quarter operating results for our hotel properties continued to be negatively affected by a renovation and rebranding efforts. As John discussed, we had 33 of our hotels under renovation for all the part of the fourth quarter. In addition results of the 39 hotels we've rebranded during 2012 were down substantially versus last year's fourth quarter.
During the fourth quarter, revenues at our 214 comparable hotels not under renovation and not rebranded during the year were up 8.4% versus the prior year quarter on strong ADR growth. On the other hand, we experienced quarter-over-quarter declines in revenue of 1.9% at hotels under renovation during the quarter and 17.8% at hotels rebranded during 2012. These declines were largely the result of lower occupancy. Our portfolios with the highest revenue growth this quarter were our Carlson and Marriott No. 1 portfolios with quarter-over-quarter revenue increases of 11.3% and 10.2% respectively. Although our renovation and rebranding activities also had a negative impact on hotel profitability this quarter, the positive results of recently renovated hotels more than offset these declines.
Gross operating profit for our 285 comparable hotels was up $5.8 million or 5.5% quarter-over-quarter and GOP margin percentage increased 80 basis points to 35%. Results were much stronger at our comparable hotels not under renovation during the quarter or rebranded during 2012, with gross operating profit up $15 million or 18.4% for the quarter and GOP margin percentage of 340 basis points to 41.3%.
Turning to 2012 fourth quarter coverage of our minimum returns and rents, despite the impact of our renovation and rebranding activities, cash flow available to pay our minimum returns and rents increased approximately $7 million or 10.4% from the 2011 fourth quarter.
Our Marriott 234 and IHG portfolios had fourth quarter coverage of 0.87 and 0.73 times, respectively. During the fourth quarter Marriott advanced $4.9 million under its guarantee resulting in the remaining balance of $26 million at year-end.
During the quarter we utilized $11.9 million of the IHG security deposit to cover cash flow short falls, resulting in an available security deposit balance of $26.5 million at the end of the quarter. Information regarding all our security deposit and guaranteed balances at the quarter end is included in our Form 10-K which will be filed later today.
At year-end our lease with Host for our Marriott No. 1 portfolio expired and effective January 1, these hotels are managed by Marriott under a combined management agreement. The agreement does not provide credit support as a result payment of our minimum returns going forward will be solely depended on hotel cash flow and will also be impacted by seasonality.
Our minimum return under the management agreement is a same amount as minimum rent was under the lease. The portfolio did have one times coverage in 2012 and therefore this change is not expected to have a material impact on our 2013 operating results.
Turning to HPTs consolidated operating results for the fourth quarter, this morning we reported normalized FFO of $93.9 million or $0.76 per share. This compares to fourth quarter of 2011 normalized FFO of $96.8 million or $0.78 per share. The decline in normalized FFO from the 2011 quarter is due primarily to the temporary elimination of the FF&E reserve for our Marriott agreement and lower returns earned from certain of our hotels that were rebranded during 2012.
These declines were partially offset by increased minimum returns and rents resulting from our funding of capital improvements to our hotels and travel centers. The impact of our 2012 acquisitions and lower income tax expense.
Adjusted EBITDA was $134.1 million in the fourth quarter and our adjusted EBITDA to total fixed charges coverage ratio for the quarter remained strong at 3.2 times. We paid $0.47 per share dividend in the quarter and our normalized FFO payout ratio was 62%.
On the renovation front I'd like to provide an update on where HPT stands at the end of the year with its capital funding commitments and liquidity. We have agreed to fund up to $123 million for renovations to the 68 hotels in our Marriott 234 agreement. As at the end of 2012 we have funded $78 million and we expect to fund the remaining $45 million in 2013.
We have agreed to fund up to $290 million for renovations to the 91 hotels in our intercontinental agreement, as at the end of 2012 we have funded $213 million and we expect to fund the remaining $77 million in 2013.
We have agreed to fund up to $93 million for renovations to 21 hotels in our Wyndham agreement, as of the end of 2012 we have funded $9 million and we expect to fund the remaining $84 million in 2013.
We have also agreed to fund up to $195 million for renovations to the 20 hotels included in our Sonesta No. 1 agreement. As of the end of 2012 we have funded $11 million. We expect to fund $127 million in 2013 and the balance in the first half of 2014. Finally we funded $77 million for improvements to our travel centers in 2012. We expect to fund approximately $80 million for improvements in 2013.
With respect to our balance sheet and liquidity, at quarter end we had cash of approximatley $20 million, which excludes $41 million of cash escrowed for improvements to our hotels and had $430 million available under our $750 million revolving credit facility to fund our capital commitments and future acquisitions.
In closing, we remain optimistic about the prospect of continued strong operating results at our travel centers as well as the positive impact our extensive renovation program will have on the long-term performance of our hotels.
Operator, we're ready to open it up for questions.
Operator: Jeffrey Donnelly, Wells Fargo.
Jeffrey Donnelly - Wells Fargo: A few questions on the NH transaction you guys did. Is the decision to invest more aggressively I guess outside the U.S. a sign that you feel that asset prices in the U.S. are no longer as attractive as they may be once were for investment?
John G. Murray - President and COO: Well, first I want to say that it's just the letter of intent; we haven't documented the deal or closed any part of it. So, there's a lot of diligence and work to be done. But it's not a sign that we're losing faith or unhappy with pricing in the U.S. We bought – in the fourth quarter we bought a couple of hotels in Chicago and San Francisco and agreed to buy one in the Atlanta area. So we are finding hotels that we think are attractively priced here. But we think there are opportunities to establish strategic relationships with other companies and sort of pave the way for enhanced growth opportunities down the road. So that's – we think that NH opportunity gives us some growth here with the joint venture in New York, but also opportunities in Latin America and possibly Europe going forward.
Jeffrey Donnelly - Wells Fargo: I recognize that these aren't closed, but just as it relates to the loan that you contemplate on the European hotels, can you talk about or are you able to talk about what the agreed values are on the hotels and maybe what their earnings performance is, because I am just trying to understand how that EUR170 million loan pencils out on maybe like a loan-to-value or debt yield basis?
John G. Murray - President and COO: Yeah, right now, we are in the diligence period and we are subject to a confidentiality agreement. So unfortunately, I can't talk about those sort of metrics at this point. Once we hopefully get through the documentation and close, then we will be able to provide full disclosure of that sort of information.
Jeffrey Donnelly - Wells Fargo: Because like you said, you had mentioned getting a little more active on acquisitions in the fourth quarter if – does that lead you think I guess, if would be activities in picking up, we've been hearing this from brokers out there. Does that lead you to think that you might end up revisiting bringing some of the non-core assets that you had contemplated in selling in 2011 back to end market as we move through 2013, and you begin to finish up some renovations?
John G. Murray - President and COO: Right now, we are not contemplating brining any hotels to the market. The ones that we had on the market, they were Marriott branded properties. We are in the throes of renovating and we are expecting – we've seen some pretty good post-renovation growth coming out of the hotels we have renovated and we are expecting to see the same out of those 18 hotels. So, it's not our plan at this juncture to look to sale anything.
Jeffrey Donnelly - Wells Fargo: Just one last question. I know I recognize this pertains to a guess I call a sister company, but given the corporate action that you have given, you are reading about a Commonwealth, there is I guess scenario out of many where the Board at Commonwealth could be compelled to explore. I will turn this to avoid their only go risk. I know this doesn't involve HPT directly but have you guys consider that maybe an outcome on that side could have implications on governance for HPT down the road or is it too premature to make those sort of decisions.
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: I don't want to really comment on that whole chain of events that transpired this week with our, one of our affiliates. I'd just say that we think we have good corporate governance at HPT and we are not at all fearful of challenges to it.
Operator: David Loeb, R.W. Baird.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: Few kind of follow-up to Jeff's questions. John, given that you are holding in letter of intent and you are not willing to talk about too much detail about the NHH deal. Why did you announce it, was NHH going to announce it anyway?
John G. Murray - President and COO: Yes, so our agreement with them is part of the larger series of transactions for NH, in particular NH reached the agreement with Chinese company that's in the airline and tourism business called HNA. And HNA group was making a 20% investment in the equity of NH. So, the combination of the HNA transaction and the HPT transaction taken together relatively transformative for NH at this stage and they needed to make an announcement. So we were concerned that if they announced, there'll be selective disclosure. So typically we would not have announced this transaction we would have agreed to letter of intent and then work on our diligence and documentation and then announced it once we had a binding agreement. But because NH had to announce we felt compelled to do so as well. That's principally the reason why our conference call was delayed a couple of days.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: If you can't talk about the specifics of the deal can you talk a little bit about what your return hurdles in different scenarios and what, how you balance return hurdles and credit or corporate support?
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: Well I think I mentioned in the remarks that the returns in Latin America and Europe are expected to be 10%, the returns in New York expected to be 8%. When you do business outside of the U.S. there are taxes that you have to consider and foreign currency issues. We think that, we've found ways to mitigate those so that our returns on this transaction will be as good as the returns we are getting on other transactions. But I guess I am reluctant to go further than that at this point.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: I won't get any more about risk or credit or that side of the equation?
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: We'll be willing to talk in much greater depth on this transaction once it, if and when it becomes final.
John G. Murray - President and COO: I would say, that these are all, all of these hotels are in the capital cities of the countries where they're located with the exception of one hotel in Mexico, which is in a market for the likes that maybe, they are Houston, it's where their largest state-owned petrochemical company Pemex is based. It's a major port city and so we think that all of these locations are very strong locations.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: Just kind of a broader general question. Mark, you mentioned you had ample room on the line to fund upcoming transactions and CapEx the recent and future acquisitions alone is something you close were on the order of, I guess, $0.5 billion dollars, $526 million. Is your intention to fund all of that on the line or do you have a different idea about long-term funding? And kind of a follow-up on that is, what's the impact that all of this would have on your distribution requirement and on the dividend?
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: There a few questions in there. Let's, I guess, step back first and kind of look at where we are from a commitment standpoint. As I outlined in my prepared remarks, we have got $450 million of funding requirements this year under our hotel in TA agreements. We've also got the $31 million (Guenette) Marriott acquisition. So, I guess firm commitments there, call it $445 million and we have the possible NH transaction for $375 million, so that brings us to total possible commitments of about $820 million. As we disclosed in the press release, the EUR170 million loan would be funded with a euro borrowing by us, so that takes, call the $225 million of the $820 million off the table leaves us with $595 million. Let's say we generate $95 million of free cash flow during the year that leaves us with $0.5 billion of funding and we've got $430 million available under the revolver at the end of the year. So under that scenario, we're short. So I think it's pretty clear in that aspect that we are going to have to go and visit the capital markets at some point during 2013. If you look at our balance sheet and leverage, at year-end we are at about a 50% debt to total book capitalization, which is the high-end of where we like to operate the Company. We like to be in that 40% to 50% debt to total book capitalization. So I think it's fair to say that we'll in all likelihood assuming the NH transaction take place that during 2013 we'll be accessing both the debt and most likely the equity markets.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: So that could become an all preferred or you really mean coming?
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: It could be either.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: And impact on the dividend?
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: Yeah, in terms of our distribution requirements, we haven't worked through all of that yet. I think coming into the year we have some cushion on our payout requirements. So I don't think that the tax side of it will drive our need to make distributions. However, we are in the business of making distribution, so our Board will continue to evaluate the distribution level each quarter and as our renovation activity gets closer to its end game and if we continue with our successful acquisition pace than dividend increase would be something I can see them consider it.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: But that seem like if you did the NH transaction that's a big increment to taxable income, am I missing something on that. Is there a disproportion on kind of – on a full-year basis?
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: No. We always evaluate the ability to make a distribution based on cash flow and the tax requirements are based on taxable income where you get the large benefit in the real estate industry of depreciation. So, just because you are earning a lot of money doesn't mean you are creating a lot of taxable income if you structure things right.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: And one final question maybe more for John. On the RevPAR responses to the rebranding in the fourth quarter, what do you think the prospects are once those assets stabilized? Do you think you grow some of that back or are these just – are the new brands just different RevPAR kinds of hotel?
John G. Murray - President and COO: Our current expectation is we grow with that. They are heading in that direction, they have ways to go, but that is definitely the expectations we can see. Grow back to where we were before there rebranding and continue to grow from there. and I'm optimistic that will happen.
David Loeb - R.W. Baird: Think that's a one year trend or does that take a couple of years.
John G. Murray - President and COO: I think it takes a couple because most of the hotels are going to be under renovation for a decent part of this year some of the full-service hotels for both Wyndham and Sonesta will be renovated towards the end of this year or beginning of 2014. Then there will be a ramp-up period after that. So obviously Wyndham is a stronger better known brand, so I would expect that their pace would be a little bit faster than Sonesta's which is a smaller perhaps less well-known brand today.
Operator: Ryan Meliker, MLV & Co.
Ryan Meliker - MLV & Co.: Just I guess a quick question little bit of a follow-up from what David mentioned and Mark you indicated that you might have to tap in to the capital market at some point this year just what's your leverage levels at the high end of the current range. Can you give us an idea of a, where you are comfortable and where you'd like to see that level be, after you tap into the capital markets. Then B, if there are more acquisition opportunities that maybe when you tap into the capital markets. You might want to build in some; I guess some buffer into that level. Just to give us an idea of what we could expect across the year?
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: Well, I guess first off I'd say that we are in though – we don't have gun to our head to do anything in the near term. Given what we have available to us under the revolver. As I said I think many times in the past we like to operate the company with debt to total book capitalization between 40% and 50%. Where we end up within that range is going to be influenced by the strength of the capital markets themselves our view of where the capital markets are going in the near term. As well as what we think the horizon looks like in terms of additional acquisition opportunity. So, I'm not really in a position here to lock in to where we want to end up 2013 except to say within that range of 40% to 50%. I think if you pull back in time, we've been pretty consisting of running the Company along those metrics.
Ryan Meliker - MLV & Co.: Sure. I guess what I'm trying to get at is are you guys more inclined to do one large equity raise or maybe do one equity raise near-term to get you to within the range that you are looking for if these acquisitions close, but then be forced to do more equity raises if you guys do move forward with more acquisitions?
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: Ryan, I think decisions on capital market transactions are driven by the facts that at the time you decide to execute on one and whether its – whether there even is an equity offering something that will be determined down the line.
Ryan Meliker - MLV & Co.: Then the second question and I apologize if I missed this, but you sounded like you said that the Clift Hotel was a $6 million lease payment that will have CPI step-ups. That seems to be on the $120 million acquisition price of 5% yield on your investment, what's going to get that to your target investment hurdles that I guess you look at? I'm assuming 5% is way below what you guys are looking at certainly given your cost of equity?
John G. Murray - President and COO: That is the return that's currently below where we would like it to be, but there are built-in adjustments to the rental rates and in particular in 2014 there will be a minimum increase of at least 20% which will move the return closer to from 5 to 6, and then there will be subsequent increases after that. We feel like it's a good investment in terms of cost per key and it's a good investment in a very strong market in San Francisco. We think we got it in an attractive price and with interest rates low, we are willing to go a little bit below our normal hurdle rates to get our hotel this quality. We think that it's being well operated by Morgans today.
Ryan Meliker - MLV & Co.: I guess you did mention it going up from a 5% in yield to a 6% yield, but still seems drastically below what you are generally looking at from a yield perspective and certainly where your cost of equity is. I understand that it can be an attractive market and it can be a good deal, I guess so to speak, but at the same time, if your cost of funds outweighs your yield on those funds, I question how you guys think about whether that's a prudent investment for your shareholders, and if you are going to be doing anything, that would get that yield higher than the 5% to 6% that we just talked about.
John G. Murray - President and COO: We think that we take a long-term view of acquisitions and we expect that interest rates are going to be very low for the next, a couple of few years. We think that the returns on this hotel are going to grow and over the longer haul, it's going to have more impressive returns than what you are seeing today. What happens with the hotel going forward and what changes may occur; it'd just be a matter of subjectiveness. Right now, the hotel has triple-net leases for long-term to Morgans Hotel Group and they are current in their rent payments. and unless that changes there is some – how much that we are going to do to change what's happening there.
Ryan Meliker - MLV & Co.: But if they weren't current in their rent payment at some point in time, you might be interested in choosing another path for that property?
John G. Murray - President and COO: I think it's a very attractive hotel in a good location and that if there was – if there was ever a default that we would have various options without, I don't have much doubt about that.
Operator: William Marks, JMP Securities.
William Marks - JMP Securities: Just had some broad operating questions. I guess first I know you don't give guidance but any thoughts it seems like the range is kind of 5% to 7% for the industry and do you concur with that and will your redevelopments cause much for disparity from that?
John G. Murray - President and COO: As I mentioned most of our operators have come in, in the 5% to 7% range. And we are very comfortable with those ranges, I think if you ask me if I thought they were likely to come in towards the higher end or lower end. I think I will probably say that we expect that they might be more. If they miss they will miss towards the higher end because for instance IHG is expected to be much higher up in the teens for RevPAR growth. The only portfolio that is below the absolute 5% to 7% range is on the Sonesta brands where virtually every one of their hotels will be under renovation during 2013. So, they are expecting across the portfolio flat RevPAR, but otherwise, we are pretty optimistic, as I mentioned that January RevPAR growth has been very, very strong at the hotels that have been renovated and those that haven't been rebranded. So we feel pretty good about where our numbers are going to come out this coming year. You never know, none of us has a crystal ball. So obviously there's changes going on in Washington and there's budget cuts happening. So that may have some modest impact on performance, but because of the renovations and because of lower supply growth and because the economy continues to chug along, which we expect will continue, we are optimistic.
William Marks - JMP Securities: Where do these types of ranges put your coverage?
John G. Murray - President and COO: We are expecting RevPAR to increase and margins to increase. So we are expecting (indiscernible). But we don't typically provide guidance on where we expect coverage to come out.
Mark L. Kleifges - Treasurer and CFO: But our expectation is that we'd see despite the continued renovation, disruptions that we'd see improved coverage across all of our portfolios in 2013.
Operator: Bryan Maher, Craig-Hallum Capital Group.
Bryan Maher - Craig-Hallum Capital Group: I think you might have answered my question earlier on, but I wanted to talk a little bit about TA. With what they are doing, they are seeking out underperforming, possibly distressed truck stops that they can renovate, reposition, rebrand as TA and get the EBITDA of those properties as they build out their portfolio. So my question would be to you, as they do that, is there any interest on HPTs part to buy one or a basket of more mature stabilized truck stops that TA has acquired on their own going forward or do you think that you are pretty filled out on the acquisition front on the hotel side?
John G. Murray - President and COO: Our primary focus is on hotel acquisitions, however, if TA were to come to us with one or more mature travel centers that they had ramped up and they had proven cash flows we would not be against acquiring those and adding those properties through existing leases or a new lease, but it's not really our focus right now. The properties that TA has bought, as you mentioned, have been sort of underperforming turnaround opportunities and so they got some work to do before that will become an issue for us.
Bryan Maher - Craig-Hallum Capital Group: Then secondarily, just on the NH Hoteles deal, can you tell us how that deal kind of came about, did they approach you, did you approach them, was it a brokered deal?
John G. Murray - President and COO: It came about over a long period of time and there have been bankers involved at various points, but I think that if I remember back that we approached them.
Operator: There are no further questions in the queue. I'd now like to turn the call back over to John Murray. Please go ahead.
John G. Murray - President and COO: Thank you all very much for joining us today and again I apologize for moving the date on and appreciate being with us.
Operator: That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and using the AT&T Executive Teleconference. You may now disconnect.


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London Bullion Market Association - LBMA
The LBMA is an international trade association, representing the London market for gold and silver bullion which has a global client base. This includes the majority of the gold-holding central banks, private sector investors, mining companies, producers, refiners and fabricators.
The on-going work of the Association covers a number of areas, among them refining standards, trading documentation and the development of good trading practices. The maintenance of the Good Delivery List, including the accreditation of new refiners and the regular retesting of listed refiners, is the most important core activity of the LBMA. To find out more, please visit the LBMA website.

subset: commoncrawl


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Framed Steamboat Vintage Ski Poster
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- Inkjet-printed poster.
- Dimensions & Care
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FUNERAL NOTICES — Monday, April 21, 2014
Frieda D. Feutz Kaiser — 11 a.m., Mary Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, Sand Lake. (Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville)
Nancy H. Rice — 11 a.m, Johnson-Feuerstein Funeral Home, Belding.
Frances M. Brock — 11 a.m., Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Edmore. (Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville)
Jack Hatfield — 11 a.m., Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville.
Robert Garvey — 2 p.m., Heckman Funeral Home, Howard City.
Jack D. Arwood — 11 a.m., Evergreen Cemetery, Sheridan. (Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville)
Shirley Fisher, 78
GREENVILLE — Shirley Fisher, 78, died Sunday. Funeral arrangements are pending at Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville.
Robert Garvey, 66
HOWARD CITY — Robert Garvey, 66 of Wyoming, died Saturday. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. on Wednesday at the Heckman Funeral Home in Howard City. Burial will be in Rosedale Memorial Park. Visititation is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. until the time of services on Wednesday.
Jack Hatfield, 78
GREENVILLE — Mr. Jack Hatfield, 78, of Greenville, died Saturday. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Hurst Funeral Home, Greenville, with visitation from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday. A full obituary notice will appear in Tuesday's edition of The Daily News.
Frieda D. Feutz Kaiser, 96
GREENVILLE — Frieda D. Feutz Kaiser, 96, of Kent City, died Friday. A Mass of Christian burial will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday at Mary Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, Sand Lake. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. today at Hurst Funeral Home with a prayer vigil at 6:30 p.m. Burial will be in Trufant Cemetery.


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22 Dunkeld St, Aberfeldy PH15 2AA Tel: 01887 822777 email@example.com
Please note that Aberfeldy Farmfresh has now been sold. The new deli will be opening soon (it will be closed for a short time in May for refurbishment). Thank you to all of our customers for your support over the past 2 years. If you would like to make enquiries about the new shop, contact firstname.lastname@example.com
Aberfeldy Farmfresh - fresh, local, organic, scottish, fairtrade, wholefood produce
About Us
A deli in the Highland Perthshire town of Aberfeldy selling delicious, healthy and fresh food.
We stock fresh fruit and veg, local where possible, cheese - with more than 20 scottish varieties to choose from, local organic meats, fresh fish five days a week, wholefoods - including a large range of gluten-free products, home baking made in the shop and from local artisan bakers, locally made chocolate, smoked game, locally roasted coffee and lots more .....
We aim to source as much of our produce as possible locally, supporting farmers and producers in the area and reducing food miles where possible. We also try and source organic, fairtrade and sustainable produce where we can to ensure safe, healthy and tasty food for our customers.


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Behind the scenes, in a homicide investigation is the Medical Examiner. Dr. Caroline Dignan, MD takes an in-depth look at an autopsy procedure, and explains how examination and theory will reveal a cause of death.
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More questions have been raised about the adequacy of cordons set up around Christchurch buildings considered dangerous after the September 2010 earthquake.
The royal commission of inquiry yesterday heard evidence into the collapse of 601/601A Colombo St in the February 2011 quake which killed pedestrian Normand Lee.
The building, a two-storey unreinforced masonry structure on the corner of Mollett St and Colombo St, was red-stickered after the September 2010 earthquake.
The city council placed cordons blocking off the Mollett St and Colombo St corner of the building - but from the edge of 601A the barrier angled in towards 601 Colombo St.
The building later collapsed in the magnitude 6.3 February quake, killing Mr Lee, 25, who was walking nearby.
The concerns over the adequacy of cordons mirror evidence heard this month by the inquiry.
There was no barrier fencing in front of 605-613 Colombo St at the time of the February 2011 quake. The building fell onto a bus, killing eight people.
There was a cordon outside the 603 Colombo St building, which collapsed killing four pedestrians, but engineer Marton Sinclair said the barrier might not have been enough.
"The whole of Colombo St should have, in my opinion, been closed off until the buildings could be made safe or demolished," he said.
Engineer Paul Campbell did an external inspection of 601/601A Colombo St in January 2011 to assess the adequacy of the cordons on behalf of the city council.
Mr Campbell had not been involved in setting up the cordons but was satisfied with their placing. However, he requested an engineer urgently inspect the inside of the building to confirm his decision.
Mr Sinclair also visited the site, on behalf of the owners, but was not concerned about the cordons.
"As far as I could see it seemed consistent with barriers I had seen in other parts of the city - it was outside the veranda line. It looked like quite a common approach. It didn't raise any alarm bells."
However, Mr Sinclair yesterday said he now did not think the cordon had been adequate.
"I don't think the barrier extends far enough to fully protect if the parapet fully peeled off. With the benefit of hindsight, none of the barriers being put up around the city on this sort of site were adequate for upper-level facades."
But Mr Sinclair then said he did not think extending the barrier to outside 601 Colombo St would have made much difference, as the building fell out into the middle of the road.
Royal commission chairman Mark Cooper said the cordoning off of whole streets was an issue which should be "considered pretty carefully" for the future.
"As we are going on in the commission, with the benefit of hindsight, it seems it may have been better to cordon off Colombo St completely."


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deliver the reporting needed to successfully operate your business.
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ED Magedson – Founder
Ripoff Report
Mortgage Lenders Of America8400 W. 110th Street, Suite 500 Overland Park, Kansas USA
Mortgage Lenders Of America (MLOA) -- In The "BLACK DAZE" Aftermath: The Sad Consequence Of One Elderly Veteran's Negative Experience With Getting Ripped-Off By MLOA Overland Park Kansas
Does your business have a bad reputation?
Fix it the right way.
Corporate Advocacy Program™
I am a disability-retired elderly veteran existing on a meager fixed-income federal civil service disability retirement pension over the course of the past fourteen consecutive years running. It has become my belief that MORTGAGE LENDERS OF AMERICA, Overland Park, KS 66210, operate under the deranged corporate philosophy, doctrine, and attendant actual practices of appearing to adhere to non-discriminatory lending practices, while behind-the-scenes and beneath the facade, in all actuality they may likely indeed embrace an elitist hidden agenda of exercising certain selective decisions in their own interests which do indeed become suspect and therefore tantamount to "nod-and-wink", "hush-hush" back-room practices which smack of fostering age discrimination and possibly discrimination against certain veterans and perhaps the disabled as well. In light of the aforementioned belief, I hereby reserve the right to promote, advance, and/or promulgate said belief and attendant notions within the public domain at large, and more specifically within all manner of media from this day forward.
With reference to multiple affronts, I contend that MORTGAGE LENDERS OF AMERICA (MLOA) unfairly and unjustly put-me-through-the-ringer in terms of overall abuse, and made me expend all kinds of unnecessary time, effort, hope, prayer, energy, emotion, and money in applying for and matriculating through the refinancing process before suddenly just pulling-the-rug-out-from-under-me at the very last minute of the eleventh-hour by summarily denying my REFI loan and sending me an unexpected Loan Withdrawal Letter to that effect, following a long, protracted, and laborious loan approval process .
Personal devastation ensued as the tragic result of the aforementioned draconian action so cruelly perpetrated by the lending institution and when I lodged inquiry as to the rationale for their extreme and unexpected decision, their explanation was brief, cold, impersonal, and generally inadequate for the most part, with the exception of their advising me that the appraisal report came back stating that the entire roof of my dwelling was faulty and would require replacement. This is not true. There was some moss on certain areas on the roof, but the roof itself had already been replaced seven (7) years prior to the appraisal inspection and said roof was still in good condition with formidable integrity at the time of appraisal inspection. The roof has not leaked even once over the course of the past seven-years and I reside in the Pacific Northwest region where rain and snow is prevalent and all too commonplace -- and the new roof has withstood the mean-season forces of Mother Nature's inclement weather assaults for all this time running.
When I challenged the appraisal summary submitted by Paul Olson Appraisals, the lending instituion failed to follow-up on my assertions and contention regarding questionable aspects of ther report, but instead they informed me that their minds were made-up and their hands-were-tied, so they could not reverse the REFI denial action and thus elected to let-it-stand.
The MLOA loan officer I had been working with throughout the long involved REFI process -- Steve Johnson -- advised me that since only a partial appraisal report had been submitted by Paul Olson Appraisals, I should receive a refund of a portion of the $400 fee that I had already paid up-front with a credit card. This refund never materialized and when I inquired about it, all lines of communication were shut-down on me and MLOA has remained entirely incommunicado regarding the issue to this very day.
It has since become my belief that the intolerable business practices of the MLOA organization have indeed become suspect, and their mission statement and guiding principles regarding fiduciary integrity and customer relations is nebulous and lacking at best -- thus reflecting poor credit upon the institition -- in my humble opinion. I have needlessly suffered at the hands of the MLOA organization. They got-my-hopes-up, encouraged me, and then suddenly slammed-the-proverbial door-in-my-face at the last possible minute. Just when I thought the long process was finally over and I was expecting REFI loan approval, everything went all-to-hell-in-a-bucket and the emotional roller-coaster ride ended abruptly with a surprise unexpected denial sent by Shea Geist in the MLOA Customer Service Department .... and that was it …..... oh man, did I ever feel savagely raped and left-for-dead !!!!
Due to all the aforementioned ugliness, I must confess that I cannot recommend MORTGAGE LENDERS OF AMERICA to anyone -- especially retired elderly veterans -- seeking a REFI loan. Thanks to MLOA, I have now missed the last best golden opportunity to obtain a REFI under the present historic low interest rate levels -- levels which have not been seen for many past decades. I've just gotta say that I could really benefit greatly -- in my fixed-income retirement condition -- if I were to have become able to have had my monthly mortgage payment substantially reduced as the result of effecting a successful REFI loan. I feel so foolish and decieved, depressed, despondent, defeated, and disgusted by all that has transpired during my painful relationship with MORTGAGE LENDERS OF AMERICA.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/17/2013 03:37 AM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/mortgage-lenders-of-america/overland-park-kansas-66210/mortgage-lenders-of-america-mloa-in-the-black-daze-aftermath-the-sad-conseque-1100026. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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Home › Forums › General Forums › Winter Hiking › Backcountry Ski Touring and What Do You Bring
Nov 20, 2005 at 3:27 pm #1217199
Ken HelwigBPL Member
@kennyhel77Locale: Scotts Valley CA via San Jose, CA
New to ski touring. I will be making my rounds in the Sierra's and was wondering what any of you bring when it comes to cold weather camping. I guess that elevation would be anywhere from 7-10,000 ft. With nighttime lows around 5-20 degrees at night. What I am really am asking is; I want to stay lightweight and be prepared.Nov 20, 2005 at 8:55 pm #1345566
larry savageMember
@pyeyoLocale: pacific northwest
The Sierras can be pretty benevolent with some monster snows on occasion…are you going to the same place where you can build an igloo or snowcave or are you going to assorted destinations?Overnight or multi-night?Touring where you can dip water versus having to melt snow?Prepared tracks or are you breaking trail?The answers predict how much shelter,stove,and clothing changes you might need.Alpine and Nordic backcountry skiing burns more calories then just about anything out there,except skate skiing.When you throw in altitude your hydration needs increase dramatically.It's never hard to stay warm skiing it's when you stop that you need to shed wet base layers…building snow caves and igloos can be pretty wet work also. The one item I always manage to overlook is adequate light,it gets darker earlier in winter and you need quality light to set camp,cook, etc…Nov 20, 2005 at 9:42 pm #1345569
David BonnMember
@david_bonnLocale: North Cascades
For an overnight trip, I'd for sure have a fluffy down jacket with a hood. Liner gloves (probably with an extra pair), fleece mittens, and overmitts. I'd want a thin, light hat (a buff works well) and a warmer hat.
I would wear a warmer polypro bottoms and shorts for pants, probably a smartwool midweight top and maybe a wicking tee-shirt underneath it.
My normal summer raingear doesn't have enough pockets for winter wear (think about climbing skins, waxes, that extra hat, overmitts, Clif Bars, &c). My experience is that wind pants are better substituted with goretex rain pants with side zips (bibs don't vent well enough for my taste). But I don't even like to go to the post office without a windshell.
Some people are fanatic about neoprene socks or other vapor barrier things.
If it is colder (like down to -25F) I'd probably consider thinner polypro bottoms and either Koch XC pants or a pair of Pattagucci Wind Shield tights, and a light fleece vest or fleece pullover top.
Most people screw up on sleeping pads. You need a lot more insulation of you are camping on snow. A full-length foam pad and a partial-length self-inflating mattress is a good starting point. You will probably want a warmer sleeping bag (although I've regularly gotten away with a 30-degree down bag in a bivy sack in conditions like you are expecting).
You'll need lots more food. Figure on twice the weight and calories per day you'd need for a comparable summer trip.
You'll need lots more fuel to cook that food. If you are melting snow for water you will need lots and lots more fuel. I usually figure on about three times the fuel I use on summer trips.
A beefier headlamp with lithium batteries is a good idea.
Then there is all that other stuff — a snow shovel, climbing skins, avalanche transceivers, wax (both grip waxes and maybe glide waxes — the new paste glide waxes from Toko are great), a scraper, a cork, and (of course) skis, boots, and poles.Nov 21, 2005 at 7:37 am #1345592
Andy LewickyMember
I am building a website dedicated to Sierra backcountry skiing. Much of the content isn't fully edited yet, but I have a large gear section where I list what gear I use & talk about why I use it.
If you find anything useful (or not), please let me know. I still have lots of work to do.
AndyApr 21, 2006 at 10:13 am #1355251
kevin davidsonMember
@kdesignLocale: Mythical State of Jefferson
Here's a gear list I saw on Lou Dawson's ski mtneering blog.
These folk are coming from a relative heavyweight tradition but have done (I feel) a pretty good job. Their randonee gear, on the other hand is state-of-the-art light (Dynafit oriented).
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Sexi Flip
*Offer valid online at crocs.com. Discount applied in cart. Cannot be combined with any other offer or promotion. Offer valid while supplies last. Offer not valid on previous purchases. No rain checks. Offer Ends Tuesday, May 30th, 2017 at 11:59pm MST.
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Shopping for a ½ size? Order up to the next largest whole size.
Sexi Flip
Item #11354
The sophisticated Sexi Flip sandal has a sleek Italian look that's sure to turn heads. Unique t-strap design and the form-fitting comfort you love from Crocs.
Crocs™ Sexi Flip Sandal Details:
Debb from Jasper, AL"I LOVE THIS FLIP!!!...fits great, feels great and looks great...thanks Crocs for making a "Sexi Flip" that looks good with any outfit...a great summertime sandal..."
- Innovative combination of Crocs™ comfort and Italian design.
- Footbed features Croslite™ material circulation nubs for a massage-like feel.
- Non-marking Croslite™ material outsole.
No extra room; fits comfortably snug.
Original Croslite™ foam cushion: Feels soft with all day support.
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®by PowerReviewsCrocsSexi Flip
- Lightweight (91)
- Stylish/fashionable (80)
- Fun! (71)
- Washable (65)
- Versatile (61)
- Causes blisters (5)
- Unstylish/unfashionable (3)
Best Uses
- Wear everywhere (80)
- Wear for fun! (69)
- Wear outdoors (68)
- Wear in the water (53)
- Wear to work (33)
- Width:
Feels narrow
Feels true to size
Feels wide
(241 reviews)
- Size:
Feels small
Feels true to size
Feels large
(238 reviews)
- Comfort:
Very comfortable
(304 reviews)
- Durability:
Very durable
(297 reviews)
- Reviewer Profile:
- Comfort-seeking (67), Casual dresser (54), Fun! (54), Stylish/fashionista (43), Mom-on-the-go (25)
Most Liked Positive Review
My Favorite Sandal Ever!
I LOVE THESE! They can be worn everywhere! If you like your sandals to be minimalist, these are for you. If you love being barefoot, this is pretty much as close as...Read complete review
I LOVE THESE! They can be worn everywhere! If you like your sandals to be minimalist, these are for you. If you love being barefoot, this is pretty much as close as you can get and still be wearing footwear. If you like to wear toe rings and have them very visible, these sandals show them off. I have them in five colors and I want more!
PLEASE GIVE US MORE COLORS! Dark Purple, Denim Blue, Dark Green (not Kelly), Really Red, Navy, Maroon, and some pretty florals, maybe polka dots. I am sad to see that you are only selling black right now. I love my black ones, but I want MORE! Thanks!
Most Liked Negative Review
These are ok but...
These are the closest thing I could find to the Sexi Aliana that was discontinued years ago; the strap configuration on the Aliana was much better, made for easier on and off, and...Read complete review
These are the closest thing I could find to the Sexi Aliana that was discontinued years ago; the strap configuration on the Aliana was much better, made for easier on and off, and was much more comfortable than the Flip. The Flip's heel panel in the back makes the ankle strap grip tighter and higher up the ankle, putting more strain on the T strap that goes between the toes, which feels chafed after wearing the Flip for more than an hour. This was.NEVER the case with the Sexi Aliana, which were comfy right out of the box. Please bring back Sexi Aliana! (PS If you bring it back, maybe you can leave "Sexi" out of its name and just call it something normal?)
Reviewed by 662 customers
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Comments about Crocs Sexi Flip:
My favorite sandal ever. Feels like you are walking in your bare feet with insoles!
- Lightweight
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- Only Black!! Bring the colors back!
Best Uses
- Wear Everywhere
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Comments about Crocs Sexi Flip:
Ummmm, they feel like bedroom slippers. I'm just so so sorry that I didn't know about them last year when you had colors and patterns. Bring them back! Bring them back! Bring them back!
- Width:
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My daughter loves these easy and comfortable sandals. This got these for her Mother's Day gift.
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I absolutely love these. I am going to purchase a second pair. Hoping to find another color. Highly recommended. They are casual but can be dressy too and definitely sexy!
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My niece gave me a pair of Sexi-Flips. I had so many great comments on them that I got another pair for myself, my grand daughter & daughter-in-law!! They take a bit of getting use to but we'll worth it.
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Already have a pair. Ordered another for myself and another for a friend.
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Love these shoes saw 2 people wearing these shoes so I asked them where they got them did my research and found them. They are so comfortable wish I could find more colors in my size 8
Comments about Crocs Sexi Flip:
Extremely comfortable and light right out the box! I love them. I wear a 7-1/2 ordered a size down based on reviews but had to go back and get an 8. So comfortable though I kept the 7 to share with someone else :)
Comments about Crocs Sexi Flip:
Wish there was more colors.
Comments about Crocs Sexi Flip:
Most comfortable, fashionable, easy wearing Crocs yet!
Displaying reviews 1-10
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text:
BEIJING, June 1 -- The European Space Agency (ESA) supports China's inclusion in the International Space Station (ISS) partnership, the agency's director -general Jean-Jacques Dordain said on Monday.
He made the remarks on Monday during the ongoing Global Lunar Conference in Beijing, which is organized by the International Astronautical Federation and the Chinese Society of Astronautics.
Dordain said international cooperation on space exploration has been progressing slowly. To achieve more, the partnership needs to be expanded, he said.
"I am really willing to support the extension of the partnership of the ISS to China and South Korea. Obviously, this should be a decision by all partners, not the decision by one partner," he said.
The ISS is jointly built and run by the United States, Russia, ESA's 11 member countries, Canada, Japan and Brazil. China is excluded from the ISS.
But with growing power based on its independent technological development, China is being invited to more international cooperatives in space exploration in recent years.
Dordain noted that he was glad to see that on June 3, the first Russian, Chinese and ESA group will participate in the Mars-500 mission.
"This is the first time that we shall have quasi-astronauts from Russia, China and ESA living together for 520 days. This is a good step," he said.
The Mars-500 project is a three-stage experiment including a 250-day virtual flight to Mars, a 30-day stay on the planet and a 240-day journey back to earth.
Wang Yue, a space trainer from China, will join five other volunteers from Russia, Italy and France in the project. Three experiments proposed by China will also be conducted during the mission.
Chen Qiufa, vice-minister of industry and information technology in charge of the lunar exploration mission, said at the conference that China is willing to join international cooperatives, and share technologies and research results with other countries, while independently developing its own technologies.


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December 4, 2002 (Washington, DC) – According to the most comprehensive global analysis ever conducted, wilderness areas still cover close to half the Earth's land, but contain only a tiny percentage of the world's population. More than 200 international scientists contributed to the analysis, which will be published in the book, Wilderness: Earth's Last Wild Places, (University of Chicago Press, 2003).
The 37 wilderness areas identified in the book represent 46 percent of the Earth's land surface, but are occupied by just 2.4 percent of the world's population, excluding urban centers. Nine of the wilderness areas fall, at least in part, within the United States.
Although the wilderness areas are still largely intact, they are increasingly threatened by population growth, encroaching agriculture and resource extraction activities. Barely 7 percent of the areas currently enjoy some form of protection.
Nineteen of the wilderness areas have remarkably low population densities – an average of less than one person per square kilometer. Excluding urban centers, these 19 areas represent 38 percent of the Earth's land surface, but hold only 0.7 percent of the planet's population.
"These very low density areas represent a landmass equivalent to the six largest countries on Earth combined – Russia, Canada, China, the United States, Brazil and Australia – but have within them the population of only three large cities, a truly remarkable finding," said co-author Russell Mittermeier, President of Conservation International. "It's good news that we still have these large tracts of land largely intact and uninhabited, but these areas are increasingly under threat."
The large-format, 576-page book depicts rare species and remarkable places in more than 500 breathtaking color photographs that accompany detailed information regarding the habitat, species and cultural diversity of each wilderness area. The analysis was mainly carried out over the past two years by Conservation International's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science with support from the Global Conservation Fund.
The wilderness areas include several diverse habitats, ranging from Southern Africa's Miombo-Mopane Woodlands, with the world's largest remaining population of African elephants, to the Sonoran and Baja Californian Deserts of Arizona, California and Mexico, with their Gila woodpeckers and giant cacti, to Amazonia's rainforests, teeming with biodiversity including 30,000 endemic plant species and 122 endemic primate species and subspecies.
To qualify as "wilderness," an area has 70 percent or more of its original vegetation intact, covers at least 10,000 square kilometers (3,861 square miles) and most have fewer than five people per square kilometer.
"Wilderness areas are major storehouses of biodiversity, but just as importantly, they provide critical ecosystem services to the planet, including watershed maintenance, pollination and carbon sequestration," said Gustavo Fonseca, Executive Director of CI's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science. "As international debates on climate change and water security continue, these wilderness areas take on even greater importance."
Only five wilderness areas are considered "high-biodiversity wilderness areas," because they contain at least 1,500 endemic vascular plant species, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world. The five areas are Amazonia, the Congo Forests of Central Africa, New Guinea, the North American Deserts and the Miombo-Mopane Woodlands and Grasslands of Southern Africa.
"These wilderness areas are important for any global strategy of protecting biodiversity, since we have the opportunity to save large tracts of land at relatively low costs," said Peter Seligmann, CI's Chairman and CEO. "The areas are also critical for Earth's remaining indigenous groups, which often want to protect their traditional ways of life from the unwanted by-products of modern society."
"As striking as these wilderness numbers are, they only serve to underscore more than ever the critical importance of protecting the biodiversity hotspots, areas which represent only 1.4 percent of the Earth's landmass but contain more than 60 percent of its terrestrial species," said Mittermeier. "If we are to succeed as conservationists, we have to take a two-pronged approach of protecting the biodiversity hotspots and high-biodiversity wilderness areas simultaneously."
The book is the result of collaboration between Conservation International and Agrupación Sierra Madre, and is published by CEMEX, a Mexican company that also published the first two books in this series, Megadiversity and Hotspots.
Wilderness: Earth's Last Wild Places is now available through Conservation International (www.conservation.org). The University of Chicago Press will accept pre-orders beginning in December (www.press.uchicago.edu), and the book will be available in bookstores in Spring, 2003.
Conservation International (CI) applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity in the hotspots, major tropical wilderness areas and key marine ecosystems. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., CI works in more than 30 countries on four continents. For more information about CI's programs, visit http://www.conservation.org.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Conservation International. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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Posted by admin on Mar 8, 2011
The U.S. Department of Defense on Tuesday said it has sent a specially-trained team to southeast China to search for twelve American soldiers who went missing after their plane crashed in China during the Korean War.
The team of nineteen members from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) arrived in China's Guangdong province in mid-February, JPAC said, although the expedition was not announced until Tuesday.
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text:
Biotechnology education : topics of interest to students and teachers
Kidman, Gillian C. (2008) Biotechnology education : topics of interest to students and teachers. In Hammann, Marcus, Reiss, Michael, Boulter, Carolyn, & Dale Tunnicliffe, Sue (Eds.) Biology in context : learning and teaching for the twenty-first century. Institute of Education, University of London, London, U.K, pp. 87-98.
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This chapter presents the findings of a survey that investigates the biotechnology topics of interest according to students and teachers for inclusion in biology lessons and reports on the similarities and differences in teachers' and students' biotechnology topics of interest. The study is of significance as biotechnology has been identified as a key area of technological and economic importance worldwide yet there is scant literature relating to teachers' and students' interests concerning biotechnology education topics. 500 students and their 15 teachers completed the survey. Interviews were conducted with 3 teachers and 60 students. Responses indicate there is a mismatch in the interests of students and teachers, and what they perceive as being possible topics for inclusion in biology and biotechnology lessons. Where teachers are provided with the freedom to design and assess their own units of work, this mismatch of interests causes problems. The study found students withdrawing from biology courses in post compulsory settings due to lack of interest, and perceived lack of relevance of the course. It is possible that this lack of agreement on topics of interest is a factor in the world wide decline of enrolments in the sciences.
Impact and interest:
Citation counts are sourced monthly from Scopus and Web of Science® citation databases.
These databases contain citations from different subsets of available publications and different time periods and thus the citation count from each is usually different. Some works are not in either database and no count is displayed. Scopus includes citations from articles published in 1996 onwards, and Web of Science® generally from 1980 onwards.
Citations counts from the Google Scholar™ indexing service can be viewed at the linked Google Scholar™ search.
|ID Code:
|Item Type:
|Book Chapter
|Additional Information:
|For more information about this book please refer to the publisher's website (see link) or contact the author.
|biotechynology, teachers, students, interests, curriculum
|Current > Research Centres > Office of Education Research
Current > Schools > School of Teacher Education & Leadership
Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Faculty of Education
|Copyright Owner:
|Copyright 2008 University of London
|Deposited On:
|09 Feb 2009 04:03
|Last Modified:
|10 Oct 2015 14:12
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IIT Chicago-Kent Names Its 2013 National Pretrial Competition team
October 8, 2013
Laura Henneman '15, Rob Kohen '14, Lucas Peters '15 and Judy Shammo '15 will represent IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in the sixth annual National Pretrial Competition October 10 through 13 at Stetson University College of Law's Gulfport campus in Florida. The invitational tournament, which is designed to capture the essence of pretrial motion practice, is sponsored by Stetson's Center for Excellence in Advocacy.
Competing law school teams will receive a legal problem containing two issues that require pretrial solutions. The teams will write two briefs—one for the respondent and one for the petitioner. After submitting their briefs, teams will receive supplemental information that may alter or negate the arguments they submitted. During the competition, teams will present oral arguments, examine witnesses, and ultimately attempt to synthesize the law and new facts in a final argument. Awards for the top four teams, the top four oralists and the best team brief will be presented at a banquet at the end of the tournament. (Teams from IIT Chicago-Kent were finalists in the 2009 and 2010 tournaments.)
Team member Laura Henneman, a second-year student, graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a major in journalism and a minor in political science. Teammate Rob Kohen is a third-year student who completed his undergraduate education in sports management with high honors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Teammate Lucas Peters is a second-year student who received a degree in sociology from San Francisco State University. Teammate Judy Shammo, also a second-year student, earned an undergraduate degree in political science with minors in Spanish and sociology from DePaul University.
The IIT Chicago-Kent team will be coached by Joseph Carlasare '12, Lindsay Gephardt '12 and Rachael Sinnen '11.
Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is celebrating "125 years of distinctive legal education." IIT Chicago-Kent is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. IIT Chicago-Kent's trial advocacy teams have won numerous individual student honors and regional and national competitions. U.S. News & World Report this year ranked Chicago-Kent's trial advocacy program among the top five in the country. IIT Chicago-Kent won National Trial Competition championships in 1988, 2007 and 2008.
For More Information:
Assistant Dean for Public Affairs
(312) 906-5250


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ED Magedson – Founder
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Organizers of a two-day running relay along U.S. 1 on Friday and Saturday have agreed to a set of rules that Monroe County sheriff's officials are hoping will make the event run more smoothly this year.
Last year, Monroe County commissioners and sheriff's officials received dozens of angry calls from residents complaining about the Ragnar Relay, a 200-mile relay from Miami to Key West that backed up traffic on U.S. 1 for miles, and hours.
The relay teams' support vans, often driving alongside runners on the two-lane highway, caused traffic jams by slowing down to cheer on and talk with runners.
At a meeting following the relay, county commissioners relayed the residents' frustrations about the traffic to sheriff's and county staff.
Commissioners discussed not allowing the relay to take place again.
The annual event is scheduled during one of the Keys' busiest times, as both tourists and winter residents generally arrive in late December and early January.
Both sides have been in discussions about how race organizers could ensure a better flow of traffic.
The Sheriff's Office proposed, and relay organizers agreed to, disqualifying runners if their support teams slow down to talk with participants or back up traffic. The organizers also put together a driver training video.
"The vans should keep moving. They should not be stopping," said Alex Moulchin, a spokeswoman for the relay. "We understand traffic is an issue and we are trying to keep it to a minimum."
Also, the Sheriff's Office will have 17 extra deputies and two motorcycle units working Saturday in the Lower Keys and will be posting deputies at the transition stations to make sure traffic is not being slowed and runners are not crossing the highway, sheriff's Capt. Gene Thompson said.
"They know we are serious, and they are being serious as well," Thompson said.
There will be 500 teams with 10 runners each, Moulchin said. The relay starts at 5:30 a.m. Friday in Coconut Grove and ends Saturday at the Southernmost Hotel. Participants will run both day and night.
Traffic on U.S. 1 will be impacted again the following Saturday, as the Lower Keys will play host to its first-ever Iron Man Triathlon, which will have 1,000 participants.
The bike course of the race takes riders from Higgs Beach in Key West to the Middle Torch Keys. The Sheriff's Office will be placing messages on the electric signs throughout the Keys, warning motorists about traffic.


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Commonwealth Games baton lands back in British Isles
The Commonwealth Games baton has returned to the British Isles.
The baton contains a message from the Queen which is due to be revealed at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Games in Glasgow on Wednesday 23 July.
Over the past seven months it has travelled to 63 Commonwealth nations and territories.
Mark Beaumont spoke to Chris Eakin about the baton's design.
11 May
- From the section UK


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|Data Dictionary:
|Census 1870
you are here: choose a survey survey data set table variable details
Survey: Census 1870
|Data Source:
|Digitally transcribed by Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Edited, verified by Michael Haines. Compiled, edited and verified by Social Explorer.
Data set: Social Explorer Dataset (SE)
|T47. Sittings By Faith [21]
Universe: Sittings of All Denominations
Variable Details
|Sittings By Faith
|Universe: Sittings of All Denominations
T047_019 United Brethren in Christ
Percent base:
Aggregation method:


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Mon., Aug. 19, 2013, midnight
History doesn't lie
Alice Galeotti's Aug. 12 letter reminded me that every time one points a finger, three fingers point right back. In my thinking, Leonard Pitts Jr.'s columns are accurate and to the point. Two centuries of slavery and second-class status leaves its mark. Who was responsible for that?
In the mid-1940s, while stationed in North Carolina, the church I attended needed a vote to decide if the black janitor could attend the Christmas program. Cleaning was one thing, sitting in the pews another. Consider the vitriol spewed following the election of a black president with, heaven forbid, a Kenyan father.
Being conservative or liberal is fine (I am neither), but spouting inaccuracies or blatant lies as truth is not. I spent many years under a dictatorship disguised as a democracy. The recent changes in voting laws in Texas and elsewhere smell like one election I witnessed in Zaire. Voters had two choices, a green card for the party in power and a red card against. Often no red cards were available. Think about it.
Harvey Polley
Want to respond? Submit your own letter to the editor »


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The Hawaii Bowl will continue to be played on Dec. 24 but Sheraton Hotels will no longer be the title sponsor, officials announced on Friday.
Sheraton had been title sponsor for 11 years and will remain as "official hotel sponsor," officials said.
The game is owned and operated by ESPN Regional TV, which said it is talking to several candidates about title sponsorships.
It will be the 10th time in the game's 13-year history that it will be played on Christmas Eve. Kickoff for the nationally-televised event is scheduled for 3 p.m. on ESPN.
The game is scheduled to match representatives from the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA. The University of Hawaii will represent the Mountain West if the Rainbow Warriors win at least seven of their 13 regular-season games.


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I first posted about the BBSAK desktop application back in early June, at which time it was pretty basic like JL_Cmdr. This update brings some great new features that I'm sure many of you will appreciate!
New to v1.3:
- New way to detect device implemented MUCH MORE efficient and accurate
- Radio is now temporarily disabled while backing up devices (turns back on when backup completed)
- Backup now creates .alx file (allows you to install from loader.exe/desktop manager) and wont give you trouble when using desktop manager
- Restore 3rd Party apps removed – with alx install in 1 step with loader.exe
- Ability to Read all Apps on the Blackberry (3rd party and stock)
- Ability to Save individual COD files (C:\Program Files\BBSAK\CODs\(App name)\cod file)
- Ability to Remove individual COD files (THEY WILL BE LOST FOR GOOD!)
- Ability to Load individual COD files (some require phone restarting others do not depends if app is running in background)
- Donate button! please donate if you appreciate our hard work!
Main Features:
- Wipe Blackberry leaving a 507 error
- Reset Blackberry to factory state removing any IT Policy
- Take Screenshots of your Blackberry (Screenshots stored in My Pictures\BBScreenies now)
- Auto-Detects if phone is plugged in first.
- Displays PIN so you know your connected.
- Will not let you do any actions until phone detected.
- Load OS will auto delete Vendor.xml and start Loader.exe. (BBDM is needed for this)
- Backup 3rd Party Apps*
- Restore 3rd Party Apps**
- *Save to Program Files\BBSAK\Backup (only 1 backup at a time) Will prompt to make rename if backup already exits (click ok to see folder for name change)
- **Restore within Loader.exe
This is a desktop computer application, not an on-device BlackBerry application. You can find more info and download links at the BBSAK RIMGeeks page.
Let me know what you think about BBSAK in the comments!


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Recreation is important to quality of life. The Clark Fork River and surrounding area is filled with year-round options, including boating, camping, swimming, bird watching, hiking, fishing, and hunting. Maintaining safe, clean recreation sites that are accessible to everyone while at the same time preserving natural resources and the rural and rustic nature of the valley is one of our goals at Avista. Use the map below to view each of the recreation sites and the features they offer. As you enjoy the many activities this area has to offer, please follow signs, respect site rules and boundaries, and use proper equipment.
Recreation Opportunities
Clark Fork River Recreation Map
Antelope Lake (Avista Corp.) Antelope Lake is a beautiful alpine lake with panoramic views of the Clark Fork Delta and Lake Pend Oreille. Access is via a steep, gravel road off Highway 200, two miles east of Clark Fork, Idaho. A 4x4 vehicle is required. The site has lake access with fishing trails, handicap accessible vault toilet, and primitive, 3-day limited campsites. Activities are camping, fishing, hiking, boating, swimming, mountain biking, wildlife, and scenic viewing. Winter access would allow snowshoeing, Nordic skiing, and snowmobiling. Clark Fork Access Site (Avista Corp.) This unique site is located one mile west of the Montana/Idaho border between the Cabinet Gorge Dam and Lake Pend Oreille. A day-use area, this recreation site offers a 1.5 mile hiking trail along the river and through an old growth forest. Other amenities include picnic tables, handicap accessible vault toilet, information signs, and a public launch for non-motorized crafts. Activities offered are hiking, fishing, boating, wildlife viewing, picnicking, snowshoeing, and Nordic Skiing. Swimming is not recommended because of the current. Cabinet Gorge Dam View Point (Avista Corp.) Located on Highway 200 at the Montana/Idaho border, this day use site offers handicap accessible vault toilets and parking with wheelchair access to the overlook with interpretive signs on Glacial Lake Missoula and hydropower displays. You will also find scenic views and excellent opportunities for bird watching. Heron Boat Ramp (Sanders County) This day-use only site is located two miles west of Heron on Golden Pond Road and offers a boat launch, dock, picnicking, swimming, fishing, wildlife viewing, and a scenic view of the Cabinet/Sawtooth Mountains. Big Eddy (USFS) This no-fee recreation site is located off highway 200 on the Cabinet Reservoir near the six-mile marker. It offers overnight camping, a covered picnic area, handicap accessible vault toilets, boat ramp, and dock. Activities enjoyed are camping, picnicking, fishing, swimming, boating, group use, and wildlife viewing. Two Rivers RV Park (Avista Corp.) Two Rivers RV Park is a fee site located at the junction of Highways 200 and 56 where the Bull River flows into the Cabinet Gorge Reservoir. The facility includes full hook-ups for recreation vehicles, an RV dumpsite, propane sales, laundry facility, handicap accessible showers, and flush toilets. A rental cabin is available on site as well as tent camping. A recreation area offers a group fire pit, sand based volleyball, canoe rentals, ladder ball, and horseshoes. A trail leads to water access and a boat dock. Boats may be launched at the nearby USFS site on Bull River Bay. Reservations are available by calling 406-847-2291, faxing 406-847-2291, or emailing email@example.com. Bull River Campground (USFS) This 26-site campground sits on the confluence of the Bull River and Cabinet Gorge Reservoir just off Highway 200 mile marker 11. A fee is required for overnight camping which includes drinking water and flush toilets. A day use area has a boat launch site, dock, and handicap accessible vault toilet. Swimming is available with no lifeguard. Also available for group activities is a large covered pavilion which can be reserved by calling 877-444-6777 or visiting the website at http://www.recreation.gov. Triangle Pond (USFS) This pond is accessed by driving three miles west of Noxon on the river road. The recreation site includes a covered picnic area, handicap accessible vault toilets, swim beach, dock, fishing pier, and fishing trails. The site is day use only and is open year around. Non-motorized water craft only. No lifeguard. Centennial Park (Community) Centennial Park is a community maintained park in the town of Noxon. The site includes a covered picnic site and disabled accessible vault toilets, boat launch, and dock. The park is a popular location for community celebrations and boating access. Pilgrim Creek Recreation Facility (Avista Corp.) This popular recreation facility is located on Pilgrim Creek east of the town site of Noxon. The site includes two baseball fields, a soccer field, and a covered picnic area accommodating large groups. Other amenities include horse shoe pits, fishing pier, handicap accessible flush and vault toilets, drinking water, and a disc golf course. The playground includes a large pirate's ship, spring toys, sand box, and swings. A system of wheel chair accessible trails allow for relaxing walks and wildlife viewing. The hosted, day use park is open spring through fall.
Noxon Rapids Dam View Point (Avista Corp.) The beautifully landscaped view point offers a panoramic view of the Noxon Rapids Dam, even more exciting in the spring and early summer run-off season when the spill gates release water. This day use only site is reached by turning off Highway 200 near mile marker 18 and includes picnic facilities information displays and a handicap accessible vault toilet. Nesting osprey and soaring eagles are often seen. South Shore Recreation Area (Avista Corp.) Located on the south end of Noxon Rapids Dam, this recreation area is reached by traveling four miles east from the town of Noxon on Marten Creek Road. The facilities include nine camping sites, a handicap accessible vault toilet, boat launch, and dock. The boat ramp is closed during spring run-off. A day use area has a covered picnic area and swim dock. No lifeguard. Panoramic views of the Cabinet Mountains add to the recreation experience.
Marten Creek Recreation Area (USFS) This campground is located 10 miles west of Trout Creek on USFS road No. 2229 and requires no fee. Several sites accommodate either tenting or travel trailers. Handicap accessible vault toilets, picnic shelters, a boat launch, and dock are available. North Shore Campground (USFS) Located 5 miles west of Trout Creek on old Highway 200, this site offers 13 overnight campsites (fee involved), picnic area, drinking water, handicap accessible vault toilets, boat launch, dock, and fishing access. This hosted campground is open April 15 to November 30. Frog Pond (Avista Corp.) This day use only site is reached by traveling four miles west from Trout Creek on USFS road No. 2229. The area includes a handicap vault toilet, picnic sites, fishing pier, and trails, some of which are wheel chair accessible. Trout Creek Recreation Area (Avista Corp.) This popular day use only community recreation area is located in Trout Creek on Highway 200. It offers a covered picnic area, drinking water, handicap accessible vault toilets, boat ramp, and boat dock. The swimming area has a swim dock. No lifeguard. Vermilion River Recreation Area (Avista Corp. and USFS) Primarily used as a boat launch site, this area is approximately five miles east of Highway 200 on the Vermilion River/Blue Slide Road. The day use only facilities include a dock, picnic table, and a boat launch that can be used even at lower water levels.
Finlay Flats Recreation Area (Avista Corp.) Turn off Highway 200 at mile marker 42 and follow the gravel road to reach the Finlay Flats Recreation Area. This site offers several campsites, handicap accessible vault toilets, a boat launch, and dock. A river side hiking trail with beautiful views of the Blue Slide adds to the recreation experience of this popular fishing area. Flat Iron Ridge Boat Ramp (MFWP) Located at mile marker 50 on Highway 200, this site offers picnic tables, handicap accessible vault toilet, a boat launch, and dock. Fishing piers are also available. River's Bend Golf Course (Community) This challenging nine-hole public golf course is located five miles west of Thompson Falls on the Blue Slide Road. The par 36-hole course has an attractive club house with food and drink available. Thompson Fall State Park (MFWP) This recreation area requires a fee and includes campsites for both tents and recreation vehicles. Full hook-ups are not available, but drinking water, toilets, boat ramp, and covered picnic area are on site. The park is open May 1 through September 30.
For more information about the lower Clark Fork River, please contact:
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Cross Country Earns USTFCCCA Division I All-Academic Status
Feb. 15, 2012
CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati men's and women's cross country teams both were named United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I All-Academic Teams for the 2011 season.
The men's team earned a 3.331 team GPA for the fall season while the women's squad came in at a 3.232.
This is the second academic honor for the Bearcats this month as Eric Finan was recently named the American Eagle BIG EAST Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Finan was also one of 58 men's cross country runners nationwide to earn USTFCCCA All-Academic status.
To qualify as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Cross Country Team, the team must have had a cumulative team GPA of 3.00 or better and have started at least five runners at their respective NCAA regional championship.


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As the climate warms, moss growth dramatically spreads on the continent's peninsula.
Settlement Signal
January 9, 2014|
A marine bacterium generates contractile structures that are essential for the metamorphosis of a tubeworm.
January 9, 2014|
A marine bacterium generates contractile structures that are essential for the metamorphosis of a tubeworm.
December 19, 2013|
During HIV infection, CD4 T cells in lymphoid tissues initiate a highly inflammatory form of cell death that helps cripple the immune system.
December 17, 2013|
Water samples collected from natural gas extraction sites in Colorado contain hormone-disrupting chemicals linked to birth defects, infertility, and cancer.
December 16, 2013|
Dust-borne bacteria from houses with dogs can prevent allergies in mice by changing their gut microbes.
December 16, 2013|
Mouse colon cancer cells can fuse with macrophages, leading to changes in tumor growth.
December 5, 2013|
Scientists discover that cancer can drive the autoimmune disorder scleroderma.
December 1, 2013|
Mouse mothers can improve their pups' memories by altering levels of immune chemicals in their milk.
December 1, 2013|
Joel Cohen uses the tools of mathematics to deconstruct questions of life.
December 1, 2013|
Changing ion channel densities allows fish to tune their hearing to male reproductive calls during breeding periods.
December 1, 2013|
A century's worth of collected butterflies shed light on how climate change threatens the survival of early-emerging species.