Posted on 03/19/2008 6:20:30 AM PDT by indcons
LONDON - His schnoz is not to be sniffed at. The nose of leading European winemaker and taster Ilja Gort has been insured for euro5 million ($8 million), Lloyd's of London said Tuesday. He took out the policy after hearing about a man who lost his sense of smell in a car accident.
"I thought it must be a horror to lose your smell," Gort said. "It would mean that you cannot taste wine anymore. Tasting wine is something you do with your nose, not your mouth."
Gort, 47, said his nose is essential for him to produce top quality wines at his Chateau de la Garde vineyard in the famous Bordeaux region of France, so he got it insured.
The custom-made policy covers Gort for the loss of either his nose or his sense of smell and has some unusual conditions.
The insurance contract includes a list of what Gort considers "old-fashioned rules" to protect his nose. The Dutchman is not allowed to ride a motorcycle or be a boxer, knife thrower's assistant or a fire-breather.
"I may not fight against Mike Tyson," Gort said.
Jonathan Thomas, the lead underwriter at Lloyd's Watkins Syndicate, took Gort's long, curly beard into account when drafting the policy and added a clause about Gort only going to experienced barbers who will keep their razors steady near his nose.
"These insurance policies, they're not all dry," Thomas said. "There's a bit of fun we can add with them as well."
This is one of many Lloyd's body part insurance policies. Lloyd's reported entertainment icon Marlene Dietrich had her legs insured and that Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards was paid when he injured his finger on tour in the 1990s.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
He: My dog has no nose.
She: Then how does he smell?
He: Awful!
I remember learning about this years ago. The olfactory sensors (bulbs?) are very close to the brain itself, but they’re separated from the brain by a layer of bone, which is part of the skull. If one’s head hits the steering wheel in a head-on collision, the shock can sever the short nerve fibers that pass through little tiny holes in that bony plate, disconnecting the olfactory bulbs from the brain. No more sense of smell, no more tasting food.
Wine ping
Maybe some of Eliot Spitzer’s hookers will want to insure their physical assets....... of course the policies would have to include a provision for rapid deterioration of market value over the next 10-12 years......
“The Dutchman is not allowed to ride a motorcycle or be a boxer, knife thrower’s assistant or a fire-breather.”
No motorcycle? Can his wife wear cologne? If she wears musk oil, will he go into spasms???
These and other olfactory hallucinations boggle the mind ping...
The last thing in the world this man should do is shout look at me and multi-million nose. He has just made himself and his insurance underwriter a target. He may have a nose but he hs no brain.
Some folks have genetic anomsia (no sense of smell) But excellent senses of taste......
I can’t smell anything, though I can sense changes in the textures of the air....however, food tastes great to me.
Carolyn
My mother was like that—— she could tell if I had petted someone elses dog.
Hell is being a kid who can’t smell air with a mother who can smell sweat on molecules.
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