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Witnessing an execution in San Francisco only costs a quarter. For the paltry fee you’re placed steps away from the guards, the creaking wooden doors and the hangman himself. Lest you think the scene a bit morbid, remember to bow your head when the friar administers last rites to the poor soul about to meet his maker at the end of a rope. Before you can blink, the scaffolding trap door falls, the criminal drops, the line goes taught and the lights go out — quite literally. 

As you step back from the grim scene, now shrouded in darkness, you’re not thinking about the fragility of life or the consequences of wrongdoing. You’re simply wondering what else $.25 can get you in the Bay Area.

Conveniently enough, right next door to the execution are hundreds of possibilities. How about a game of baseball? A trip to a shooting range? Or even a private serenade by a mariachi band composed entirely of monkeys?

Fisherman’s Wharf tickles every sense but no experience does so with such unexpected nostalgia and eerie sense of humor as the Musee Mecanique (The Mechanical Museum for all you non-Parisians). This waterside warehouse is lined from front to back with mechanically operated old-fashioned arcade games, musical instruments and miniature scenes. Music boxes from the 1890s, gypsy fortunetellers from the 1930s and The Bimbo Box, a 1958 jukebox from Germany that plays “Tijuana Taxi” while a chorus of sombrero-clad monkeys strum along.

Or if your comically sadistic side comes out (as mine did), pop a quarter into one of the several mechanical miniature execution scenes. Having just been to London, I of course chose the probably historically inaccurate Tower hanging, but by all means don’t hesitate to check out the French guillotine a few rows away.

The first of my four days in San Francisco afforded the opportunity to explore at a relaxed pace. The Golden Gate Bridge could wait; the nighttime Alcatraz tour was scheduled for tomorrow. We strolled along the waterfront Embarcadero all the way to the famous Pier 39, taking in the barking sea lions and the smell of Boudin’s sourdough. We even sat along the water with a Boudin’s loaf and a cup of clam chowder from a stall on what I call Crab Row.

Around the Wharf the salty smell of the sea battled with the savory smell of bread and the sweet smell of Ghirardelli square for nasal dominance.

But it was the dusty, old wooden scent that caught my attention most. Skirting the front of Pier 45, before the working section of the Wharf juts out into the bay like a pair of arms waiting to grab the day’s catch, sits an unassuming white warehouse. A small sign above the door just says “Arcade” and if you weren’t looking you might not see the banner that says, “Musee Mecanique” high up on the building’s façade. But it was the smell that made me wonder at what was inside. It reminded me of my grandparent’s attic. When I peeked in the door and saw the old fortuneteller stand, like the one in the movie “Big,” I immediately lapsed into my favorite travel philosophy.

When you think you should bypass something, when you think no is the right answer, go in and say yes. Sometimes it backfires (restaurants are a good indicator at how good your spontaneous judgment is). But more often than not, you stumble into the best experience of your day.

In our society of overpriced time-wasters, the level of entertainment inside the Musee Mecanique comes at a virtual clearance sale bargain. There is no admission fee but plenty of change machines. You’ll have to dodge the children running for the newer arcade games at the rear of the warehouse room. But it frees up the endless rows of tinkering, hand-painted wooden and metal machines.

The interactive pieces are resolutely intriguing, absolutely entertaining. I hit a double in a pinball-esque baseball game and scored 10 points in the Junior Deputy Sheriff shootout. I cringed at some of the creepy dolls behind glass and there wasn’t a chance I was putting a coin in to see what they did. If I wasn’t two days away from my first wedding anniversary, I might’ve peeked into one of the numerous early-1900s, peep show Cali-O-Scopes that show risqué pictures of clothed women. I’d say that their definition of XXX is a bit outdated.

The only hint of disappointment was that the 1920s version of Rock-em Sock-em Robots was temporarily out of order.

After the wistful wooden aroma, the first thing that awes you is the craftsmanship. The intricate detail laced throughout the old Western scene or the elves in Santa’s workshop come straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. When you put a coin in and you hear the mechanisms shift, the metal parts invisibly clanking inside, it’s hard not to be amazed that these hundred-year-old gears still turn.

This city is famous for the massive, man-made bridge spanning the bay. But the real wonders of San Francisco are the smaller ones that span generations.

When the lights clicked off on the execution site, a puppet had lost its life for the thousandth time. And for another quarter, the sombrero-clad monkeys next door played him a tinkering funeral march.

Mike Hartigan, a graduate of St. John’s Prep (class of 2000) lives in Saugus. Mike is a writer and traveler and goes wherever it takes to find a good story.Follow along at http://www.whereverittakes.com or on Twitter @WhereverItTakes.

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WHEREVER IT TAKES: A $.25 Execution: San Francisco's Musee Mecanique

In front of tonight’s earnings release, shares of coin and DVD kiosk outfit Coinstar (NasdaqGS:CSTR - News) were up about 2.15% in volatile trade. Analysts expect profits of $0.64 per share compared to the year ago period’s $0.68 on sales of $498.48M versus $391M. At the same time, the latest action from those pros has boutique Compass Point cutting shares to “Neutral” today due to Coinstar’s joint venture with Verizon which looks to add both cost and uncertainty near-term as its business approaches saturation and eventually falls victim to an obsolete technology.

Despite such headwinds, bulls have been putting fresh coin into the options and feeding the February contract. Calls have outpaced puts by a 3-to-1 margin on heavy overall volume approaching 25,000 contracts. The action has forced at-the-money implieds to rise towards 100% and their highest levels in more than two years. That said, premiums are prone to a volatility crush that we’d conservatively estimate in the mid-40s to 50% IV.

Figure 1: Coinstar (NasdaqGS:CSTR - News) Implied Volatility

For traders feeling optimistic and aligned with today’s order flow in Coinstar’s options, a short-term budget rental position of sorts that’s obviously not a keeper in the family library, but one which makes better sense and cents of the situation, is a bull vertical spread.

By executing a vertical, the fore-mentioned crush risk can be easily averted or cut down radically depending on the position’s strikes in relation to each other, as well as the underlying shares of CSTR. With 2.5 point strikes there’s more than a handful of variations to for the softer long delta strategy when mulling calls or puts and keeping the strikes to the nearby or surrounding money variety.

Figure 2: Coinstar (NasdaqGS:CSTR - News) Bull Call Vertical

One illustrated variation of a short-term bull call spread is the February 50 / 52.5 vertical. This particular vertical will require a bit of upside from shares but flattens out vega risk to nearly zero with the stock near 50.80. The current cost is $1.15 per contract which yields a max payout of $1.35. This return of nearly 117% could be realized if shares rally by about 3% and remain above 52.5 at expiration. At the same time, a breakeven of 51.15 would need just 0.8% of upside from CSTR shares.

For sizing on a hypothetical $20K portfolio, given the potential for undesirable gap risk, we see 1% rather than 2% to 3% of one’s capital as more approachable when considering an earnings situation. As this relates to our bull vertical above, this works out to two spreads. In the end, this type of standalone budget rental agreement won’t produce a profit blockbuster in the trading account. However, its sparing use and some consistency with its execution can add to the bottom-line over the course of the trading year—and without having to sweat the occasional dud that’s all but unavoidable for this sort of thing.

Chris Tyler
Senior Options Writer, former Market Maker & fulltime Option Hedge Hog Advocate
Optionetics.com ~ Your Options Education Site
Visit Chris Tyler’s Forum
 
The information offered here is based upon Christopher Tyler’s observations and strictly intended for educational purposes only, the use of which is the responsibility of the individual. 

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Strategy Snapshot: Budget Rental Coinstar Bull Vertical

James Morrisson wanted a ''more subtle version'' of Jessie J to appear on his album, but chose to work with her because she was such an unlikely collaboration

James Morrisson wanted a "more subtle version" of Jessie J to appear on his album.

The folk singer collaborated with pop star Jessie on his track 'Up' from his third album, 'The Awakening', and said he picked her because it was such an unlikely collaboration.

He told Buzzinemusic.com: "Working with Jessie J - she is a completely different artist. She is the image, the look, the voice, the songs and the tracks. So for me, it was just having the other side of the coin on the record.

"It was just nice having a completely different flavour that people initially were like, 'What? Jessie J and James Morrison - I can't see that happening.'

"I like spinning people out, and when she recorded the vocals and I listened back to them, it just sounded great, it just sounded like the right thing."

James also told how he was keen to lose the tag of being a writer of "love songs," and make a different sounding album to his second record, 'Songs for You, Truths for Me'.

He added: "The second one was a little bit more studio, and it lost a little bit of its soul, so I wanted to get that back.

"And I've become this 'romantic James Morrison', f*****g singing love songs' guy, and that really did my head in, because I didn't feel like that was where I was coming from.

"That's not the place I started out from, so I just wanted to get back to a more sort of centered version of me."

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Jessie J - James Morrisson Wanted Subtle Jessie J On Album

BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2012 Qatar Masters | Wrap | 06 Feb 2012

Jason Day

Day followed his missed cut in Abu Dhabi with a great week in Qatar suggesting he is heading for another great season on the PGA Tour.

(Photo: Bruce Young)

Thirteen years after his emphatic eight shot win at the 1999 Qatar Masters, Paul Lawrie has won the 2012 version by four shots over Australian Jason Day and Sweden’s Peter Hanson.

With the event shortened to 54 holes as a result of the blustery winds that swept across the Doha Golf Club’s layout earlier in the week, today’s final round turned into a sprint to the finish line.

Lawrie was a one shot leader as the event headed into its third and final round and an early birdie extended his lead.

Two groups ahead however Day was on a roll. Birdies at his opening four holes allowed the 24 year old to close within one of the leader although bogeys at the 6th and 9th would see him make the turn three behind.

Then came another birdie rush for Day when he birdied the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th and he was again within one.

Lawrie though would have something of his won left in the tank. He eagled the 9th then birdied the 11th, 14th, 16th and 17th and had the luxury of a four shot lead playing the par five last. A par there was good enough to secure the four shot win and the €316,000 first prize.

“You get a little bit older and you kind of lose focus but I actually feel the opposite,” Lawrie said. “I feel I’m getting better. I feel my ball striking has improved immensely since I turned 40. So it’s great to win.”

Day and Hanson each earned €164,000 for their second place finishes, Hanson’s strong finish of four under in his last five holes making a huge difference to his payday.

Day bounced back from a missed cut in Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last week indicating that effort was but an aberration in what is a rapidly building career amongst the elite of the game.

“I played great golf coming in. I just didn’t putt that great,” Day said. “I saw the leaderboard on 16 and I knew I had to birdie the last few holes. I just kind of ran out of steam there for a little.”

Lawrie has suffered a penalty during his second round when he dropped a ball on his coin and even though there was no real evidence of the coin moving he was obliged to take a one shot penalty. He was philosophical about the penalty.

“Well, there’s so many of them, it’s impossible to get the rules perfect. There are so many rules, but it’s one of those, I’m not getting an advantage even if the coin moved. I’m not trying to drop the ball on the coin. I’m not trying to do it. It’s just an accident.

“It’s like Poulter in Dubai last year, same thing. It’s just one of those many rules that could do with changing a little bit. I can’t see a player purposely throwing a ball on a coin to knock it closer to the hole. But it happens. So not much you can do."

Five months after his victory in 1999 Lawrie would go on to win the Open Championship at Carnoustie.

Given the way he is playing at present, another great week at Royal Lytham & St Annes is not beyond him.

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Lawrie wins, Day second in Qatar