Better call Geico

Published 11:18 pm Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A Dutch winemaker who relies upon his sense of smell has insured his nose for $8 million with Lloyd’s of London, the folks who insured Marlene Dietrich’s legs, Keith Richards’ fingers and even America “Ugly Betty” Ferrara’s metal-mouth smile. Others in the news might want to consider some specialized insurance:

The Canadian Space Agency might want to insure its $200 million space robot, Dextre, against getting ideas from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and other sci-fi movies that could inspire it to malfunction and take over the international space station.

Microsoft — which just released an update for its Vista operating system that brings computer speeds back to what users had with the old XP system — might want to insure against customers demanding that ’80s-era MS-DOS be reinstalled on their computers.

State transportation planners looking to improve safety on U.S. 2 by posting signs urging people to drive carefully might want to insure their signs against irony when drivers plow into them.