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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/30/2015 in all areas

  1. paulsf

    Back in Bangkok

    Well if it's Heat, Humidity, and Boys your into, come on over. I got in at midnite and by the time I got to the taxi, I felt like a wet sponge. When you have 95 degrees with 80% humidity and dew points it ain't pretty. I stayed in all day and slept most of it. The flights over were great. On time , smooth, good service. But I just couldn't sleep. The guy in front of me was from Miami. 30 or so I would say, and quite hot. He sleep 13-1/2 hours of the 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. I told him I was jealous watching him sleep so long. Said he does 1-1/2 ambians. Said he does the flight every 3 months and sleeping thru it is the only way he can do it. This is a big holiday weekend in Thailand. Tomorrow is May Day and Monday is a bank holiday. Bangkok is no different than big cities in the U.S. All the locals are leaving the city and all the tourist are flocking here. I usually arrive at midnight and get a taxi in 5 minutes or so and gone. Last night, 30 minute waits with huge lines. I had fast track for immigration and no line, but regular lines were 30 to 45 minutes. I counted 20 tour buses and I'm sure there were more I couldn't see. Many groups arriving as you could see the leaders with there follow me flags held high in the air. So I think I'll spend the morning at the pool and wander out and join the ranks of tourist tomorrow afternoon. But now it's time for the main event. It's 8:30 and my phone is lined with messages of when are you coming out. Sometimes you wonder if it's you or your wallet they really want to see . It's still 90 degrees out, so I think I am delaying going As soon as I arrive at the bar where all my friends work and you start getting all the hugs, kisses and miss you's, and you start seeing and thinking of the 500 or so boys waiting for your business, you forget about the heat and long flight and start focusing on the fun stuff. Like starting off with a long, playful shower to cool off after a long night of boy watching. Phones ringing again, so I'm out of here for now.
    3 points
  2. This guy never disappoints. Even when he's talking about industry consolidation, he somehow manages to make it sound fresh.
    2 points
  3. Of course, it's always nice when someone likes his job so much that he can't think of anything to gripe about. Most folks I've met, though, usually have one or two suggestions for things they'd like to see improved.
    2 points
  4. So found some free time today and had this cutey from gayromeo come over for an hour or so. Great time was had an I gave him about $80
    2 points
  5. BTW It is not that he is straight that I find sad (I hire a lot of trade) It is the whining about not making a grand a night and about being "objectified" that bother me. No one is forcing him to do this-unlike some fellas in other parts of the world. So if it bothers you move on!
    2 points
  6. firecat691614502759

    Madrid

    In Madrid one night on the way to Poland and then will return to Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and Ireland. Traveling with straight friends from High School so not easy to fit in some cute escorts . But this morning a boy I have wanted to see for a year came to my Hotel. When the photos are so good you always wonder what he will really look like. In this case he looked exactly like the photos. He is from Mexico and going to school and wants to stay in Spain. He could stay with me anywhere. Nice to have a change from Thailand . 120 Euros which at todays exchange is $130 which II found reasonable. I did not try to get him down because I knew my Hotel was out of the way for him to come. Anyways anyone that good looking in the USA would cost me at least double. I hope I can do as well in Poland where the rates are lower.
    1 point
  7. So I discovered a new way of putting myself into a hypnotic trance -- namely, trying to read Dirac's barely-comprehensible-even-to-specialists The Principles of Quantum Mechanics: http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/dirac/chapter_1.html
    1 point
  8. Suckrates

    Runway Ready

    I Love Fashion Week......
    1 point
  9. Disclaimer--This is a business story, nothing salacious. Unless you get off reading quarterly reports and 10-Ks. Sergio Marchionne, the unconventional CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), spent much of the company's quarterly earnings call today giving a 25-page PowerPoint presentation explaining why the auto industry spends more money developing and manufacturing its products than it can ever earn back, with its current structure. Here is that presentation: http://www.fcagroup.com/en-US/investor_relations/events_presentations/quarterly_results_presentations/SM_Fire_investor_presentation.pdf How it begins: Confessions of a Capital Junkie An insider perspective on the cure for the industry's value-destroying addiction to capital Goal is to provide clarity on two issues that have been raised publicly by FCA ●Industry has not earned its cost of capital over a cycle ●Consolidation is the key to remedying the problem  What this is not about ●An excuse for FCA’s current ranking in the automotive food chain ●Putting FCA up for sale ●A revision to our 5 year plan (which remains a firm commitment) ●A matter of life or death for FCA ●SM’s final big deal  What this is about ●Dispassionate look at the industry from the outside using insider knowledge ●It is about choosing between mediocrity or fundamentally changing the paradigm for the industry Fascinating reading. I think he is right. The global auto industry, to remain (become!) viable, must move to a business model more like the high-tech electronics industry -- design and build many differentiated products based on a core of common, very widely used components and subsystems. Unlike today, when every new platform program re-engineers every subsystem almost from scratch, but with precious little value added or differentiation created, with very few exceptions.
    1 point
  10. N.B. The Maryann Keller quoted herein accusing Marchionne of 'panic' is a consultant whore who makes her money off his competitors. Her business: http://mkellerco.com/Home_Page.html Disclosure--My business is similar to hers. Marchionne Talk of Industry Mergers Called Sign of ‘Panic’ Bloomberg Business Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne has been talking for months about merging Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV with a giant like General Motors or Ford. Fiat Chrysler sales are growing quickly and the U.S. division has been gaining market share faster than rivals. So why does Marchionne want a partner? For starters, the company is boosting discounts on many models and selling unpopular sedans and compacts to rental-car companies and corporate fleets. That’s depressing profit margins, meaning Marchionne will generate less cash to develop the next generation of vehicles and technologies on his own. “What Sergio is panicked about is how much sales are growing while profit margins are falling,” said Maryann Keller, an independent consultant in Greenwich, Connecticut. “He should be making piles of money right now.” Marchionne floated the idea of creating a new global auto behemoth last year. He has repeatedly complained about steep development costs for new cars. In an earnings call today with analysts, he said weak profits across the industry argued for consolidation. This isn’t about putting FCA up for sale, a matter of “life and death” for the company, or Marchionne’s “final big deal,” he said. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Max Warburton wasn’t buying it. In a note after the presentation, he said: “In reality, it is all of those things.” Fiat Chrysler shares fell 4.9 percent, the steepest intraday drop this year, to $15.47 at 3:11 p.m. New York time. Cutting Costs Marchionne said he wants consolidation that helps cover development costs for costly things like engines, advanced technologies and more mundane things like parts. If companies can merge and defray those costs over more sales volume, they can boost returns, Marchionne said. Warburton said on the call that he and other analysts largely agree with Marchionne’s premise that the industry’s high capital costs make for low returns, but he added that CEOs at other car companies don’t seem to be heeding the call for a more mergers: “I don’t think your colleagues are as embarrassed as you and that’s the problem, right?” Marchionne has told Bloomberg that rival CEOs aren’t exactly beating a path to his door. Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. have little interest in combining with FCA, said people familiar with the thinking at each company. If GM, Ford and other automakers don’t want to merge up with FCA, Marchionne told analysts on the earnings call today that he wouldn’t rule out an overture to tech giants Google Inc. or Apple Inc. Lagging Margins Other automakers aren’t lining up because Marchionne needs a deal more than his competitors do, Keller said. While first-quarter profit surged 22 percent, margins lagged far behind FCA’s Detroit rivals. Ford made $924 million on $31 billion in revenue in the first quarter, GM $900 million on $35.7 billion in sales. Fiat Chrysler earned $92 million on $26.4 billion. Last year, Fiat Chrysler’s margin before interest and taxes was 3.3 percent. GM reported a 4.9 percent EBIT margin. Thanks partly to sluggish economic growth, FCA lost $131 million in Europe. That’s far less than in 2013, but it still hurts the bottom line. Ferrari and Maserati are money makers, but Marchionne is spinning off Ferrari to generate cash. That leaves the U.S. business, which generated more than half of last year’s profit, to carry the load. It’s hard to see how Marchionne can take FCA US, formerly known as Chrysler, to the next level. Higher Discounts In the first quarter, the company handed out an average of $3,300 a vehicle in discounts, up 4 percent and the most of any mass-market automaker. Fiat brand discounts have almost doubled from a year ago. GM and Ford are actually pulling back on incentives. As a result, FCA US now spends an average of about $200 a vehicle more than GM and almost $500 more than Ford, according to Autodata Corp. The gap with Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. exceeds $1,400 per vehicle. FCA US is also offering bonus cash to dealers who manage to sell the company’s slow-selling cars, including the Chrysler 200 family sedan and Dodge Dart compact. “Jeeps and trucks are selling,” said Mark Snethkamp, who runs a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep store near Detroit. “I think that’s why they are pushing the 200 and Dart so much.” Telling Weakness Boosting sales to car-rental companies and corporate fleets is another telling sign of weakness because such transactions typically command lower margins than sales to regular consumers. While FCA US’s reliance on fleet sales fell last year and has been declining since 2009, more than a third of Chrysler 200 sales are going to fleets, according to a person familiar with the situation, who asked to not to be identified discussing private information. The company declined to comment on its incentive strategy or which models are ending up in fleets. After FCA announced earnings, Evercore ISI analyst George Galliers bemoaned in a research note that North American margins remain weak and that the company burned $1.1 billion in cash and ended with $9.2 billion in debt, based on exchange rates at the end of the first quarter. That’s about $1 billion more than it had three months ago. Despite some weakness in its strongest market, Fiat Chrysler isn’t in serious trouble. Against long odds, Marchionne revived Chrysler and combined it with Fiat to create a global automaker. The redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee and Cherokee are both hot sellers and now make up about 7 percent of the U.S. market for sport utility vehicles. The Ram lineup, now a separate brand, is growing along with a strong pickup market and is a big moneymaker. But with profits coming from a relatively small number of vehicles, it’s easy to see why Marchionne may be looking for a partner to help with investment in new technology or to help get more scale in passenger cars, where the company is weak, said Richard Hilgert, a Morningstar Inc. analyst in Chicago. With no obvious partner, Marchionne took his case to shareholders in hopes they’ll pressure his rivals to cut a deal. “This state of affairs, it’s almost embarrassing,” he said. “The capital markets need to push for change.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-29/marchionne-talk-of-industry-consolidation-called-sign-of-panic-
    1 point
  11. Marchionne argues if automakers won't consolidate, the market should make themAutomotive News Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, argued today that major automakers need to stop wasting billions developing the same products and start working together. And if automakers won’t consolidate voluntarily, then the capital markets should force change upon them, the FCA boss said during a marathon conference call with analysts. “There is a fundamental problem that can’t be ignored,” Marchionne said from Brazil, where FCA just opened a plant to build the Jeep Renegade and up to two other models. He said the industry -- excluding manufacturers in China -- is burning 2 billion euros a week developing vehicles and components that are largely similar. Those costs could be shared, and the capital saved and returned to shareholders, through consolidation within the industry. “We need to find a way to abandon this path, and effectively go straight,” Marchionne argued. Marchionne singled out Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen Group as being the most effective among mass market automakers at returning value to shareholders through effective use of capital. But he said even the performance of those companies pales next to other industries, which is not a long-term trend that the industry can endure. “The capital consumption rate doesn’t deliver value to the consumer, and in its purest form, is pure economic waste. It’s just bizarre,” Marchionne said. In an analysis he titled “Confessions of a Capital Junkie,” Marchionne said automakers could potentially share 40 to 50 percent of vehicle development costs, returning 2.5 billion to 4.5 billion euros of capital every year. To illustrate his point, he noted four-cylinder engine development, which cost each automaker billions with a negligible impact on buying decisions. “Consumers could not give a flying leap,” about whose four-cylinder engine is in a vehicle, he argued. Marchionne has been loudly courting potential global partners for FCA for several months, without success. But he ran into a stiff headwind from analysts on the call when he suggested that the capital markets could force automakers to change their ways or consolidate. “The capital markets are not going to be able to do anything like this,” argued analyst Max Warburton, of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., a respected industry analyst who issued a report on FCA’s low profit margins last month. “There are probably five or 10 men [in the auto industry] that are able to do this, and you probably have them all on speed dial.” The extended exchange between Marchionne and Warburton grew testy at times. Marchionne said: “Don’t shy away from your obligation. Your obligation at the end of the day is to direct the flow of capital. That’s what you do for a living. I make cars, you direct capital. Own the responsibility, Max. “I think the capital markets need to take responsibility for forcing capital in a responsible way. In the way you wrote it, you’ve relegated us to a valuation that is obscene,” Marchionne added. “How far down the food chain do we need to go to be embarrassed?” Elsewhere on the call, FCA: • Acknowledged its pricing action last month that increased the wholesale prices of its vehicles to dealers but didn’t raise the sticker prices. • Said it is working to “improve the mix” in its pickup offerings to boost profits, and is working to remove what CFO Richard Palmer called “deep bottlenecks” in its supply base that are restricting certain pickup sales. Palmer did not indicate what components he was referring to, but Ram brand head Bob Hegbloom has said the brand plans to expand its profitable light-duty diesel offerings to 20 percent of its half-ton mix. http://www.autonews.com/article/20150429/OEM01/150429763/marchionne-argues-if-automakers-wont-consolidate-the-market-should
    1 point
  12. As if I needed help. It does however make reading ordinary material feel like child's play.
    1 point
  13. And here are some nude shots of this fella http://www.omgblog.com/2015/04/omg-hes-naked-the-screenwriter-of-the-cam-gigandet-vehicle-bad-johnson-jeff-tetreault.php/#axzz3YnMGQ74F
    1 point
  14. boiworship

    Back in Bangkok

    I would LOVE to go to Thailand with some of my fellow posters. I adore Asians boys, especially SE Asian. I would be in heaven. I also love the heat and humidity aspect.
    1 point
  15. mvan1

    2015 Porto Alegre and Rio

    The video is clear and it shows a place where there is lots and lots of fun. -
    1 point
  16. He likes the money. Just doesnt like being touched for it !
    1 point
  17. Laugh-or-you'll-cry dept.
    1 point
  18. paulsf

    Back in Bangkok

    It's off to Bangkok in the morning. I'll be there for 3 weeks on this trip. The boys remember the return dates. I've gotten quite a few texts last couple of days. So hopefully I'll have something to write about. Weather has been very hot and very wet. Good excuse to stay in and spend a lot of time cuddling up. Will try to figure how to post some pictures.
    1 point
  19. Could not resist posting a couple of photos of a boy on Hornet in Thailand. Says he likes mature men , no money involved. ( yes that does happen in Thailand) He posted Face photos which match up very nice with the other photos but I don't feel comfortable stealing and posting them. Skinny Twinks to Muscle Boys. There really is no place like it. Massage Parlors, GoGo Bars, Live Sex shows , tons of internet possibilities all for the equivalent of $30-$50 for an hour and $50-$75 for all night. Great Hotels at 1/3 the price in NYC or Rio and fabulous restaurants of all cuisines for reasonable prices. Yes the plane trip is long, but I don't know anybody who made the trip who could not wait to go back.
    1 point
  20. TotallyOz

    Back in Bangkok

    Firecat visits Thailand often and he has great luck with his dates from GayRomeo and other online sites. He just logs in and in 30 min or less, often has a boy at his hotel. I agree that Brazil is great for muscle but there are so many great muscle boys in Thailand as well. I love Hero Massage for that. There are other places to find this. Also, I agree that 3 ways are hard to get in Thailand as the boys are more shy. But, they are there and if you find the right lad, he will take you on a fun ride with 2 or 3 other sexy guys. I have had this happen tons there but it takes the right guy. In Brazil, I have rarely had an issue with any boy not wanting a 3 way. The hotels are no comparison as the ones in Thailand are cheaper and better quality. Never an issue with boys in your room. And, I hear all the time, "I don't like Asian guys." Well, I have take at least 5 of these people to Thailand and they fell in love with the country and the men there. In fact, 2 of the boys I took there from my days at Campus said that and both have Asian boyfriends now. There is so many great places in both Thailand and Brazil that I just never have a problem finding what I want in either place. Firecat does not like the sauna scene in Brazil. That prohibits a lot of his fun in Brazil. I don't like finding guys on GayRomeo but that does not prohibit me from finding great guys in Thailand as I can go to the massage places, the gogo bars, the discos or just the malls. Abundance of availability.
    1 point
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