Posted by Benji Riggins on February 9, 2009 under Interesting Info | 
Be My Valentine
Years before there was a Saint Valentine to spice things up and bring some passion into the season, mid-February was an important date for lovers. As far back as 400 years BCE, ancient Romans took part in an annual lottery in the name of one of their gods: Lupercus. Young women’s names were written down and put inside a box and drawn blindly by eager young men. The ‘winners’ then found themselves legally paired for a year.
600 years later, the militaristic emperor Claudius II put a stop to marriage for young men — because he took it into his head that single youths made better soldiers.
An early Christian priest, Valentine, dared to disagree with Claudius and went against the law, carrying on marrying young people until Claudius dicovered his disloyalty and first imprisoned him, and finally caused him to be martyred for his faith on February 24th, 270.
The story goes that while he was locked up, Valentine fell in love with his guard’s daughter and after he was taken to his death, he left her a message signed, ‘From your Valentine.’
Taking Valentine’s name in vain, the by now established Christian Church, in AD 496, decided to finally abolish the pagan ancient lottery held to worship Lupercus the pagan god and so changed the rules:
After that, either gender would randomly choose from the box, but now they wouldn’t get the expected year of ‘marriage’ (or, indeed, the more earthy benefits that were implied), they now had to pick out a Saint whose character they had to spend the next year emulating.
How frustrated and cheated the youth of ancient Rome must have felt having their traditions upturned!
This new ‘celebration’ day was called after Saint Valentine whose selection, 226 years after his death, was in order to usurp the pagan god than to signify love.
As politicians through the ages often forget, public memory was stronger than the latest political ideas — especially when as unpopular as this and Saint Valentine’s name remained linked with love and lovers. Young Roman men, missing their traditional sweepstake, began instead giving notes to the women they fancied on February 14th.
So it was that the modern habit of distributing and receiving Valentine cards and messages was started over 1500 years ago!
The first known ‘modern’ card that is still in existence is owned by the British Museum. This first proper Valentines card was sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife in 1415. He was held captive in the Tower of London at the time and so outpourings of love were probably quite heightened!
Five hundred years ago the Bishop of Geneva tried to reinstate the annual Saint’s name lottery, but the people were not much interested. February 14th was by then too firmly associated with lovers for the Church to successfully interfere.
In 1797 a British publisher, who would have done very well in modern Internet times, published a guidebook called ‘The Young Man’s Valentine Writer’ which offered scores of suggestions of Valentines messages for the creatively challenged.
Anonymous Valentines cards all started in Victorian times. Those outwardly straight-laced folks privately adored anything sensual and passionate, but publicly were obliged to display a show of respectful purity. Hence, the messages in Victorian cards became really quite filthy, while the senders were still able to hide from behind their self-imposed anonymity.
The first seller of Valentine’s cards in the U.S., Esther Holland was able to charge up to $35 for each card. That was a fortune in 1870!
Finally, we still write kisses with the letter ‘x’ because in days of illiteracy, a person would ‘sign’ their name with their mark — a cross. To convey the effect of an oath, people would kiss the cross they had drawn — in the same way that they would kiss the Bible. Unsurprisingly the hand-drawn X and the kiss became inextricably entwined — how poetic.
Have a love-filled Valentine’s day! X
Posted by Benji Riggins on under Insurance News, Office News |
New and renewal policies effective on and after 1/1/2009, are subject to a new law that requires UM, uninsured motorist, coverage for policies with 30/60 BI, bodily injury, limits and combined UM/UIM, uninsured/underinsured motorist, coverage if the insured purchases BI limits in excess of 30/60BI.
Basically this means the state is mandating insureds include uninsured or un/underinsured motorist protection on their auto insurance policies based on the amount of liability coverage they are insured for.
The uninsured motorist coverage provides protection for your injuries in an accident if someone hits you and doesn’t have insurance. It also includes an amount for the damage to your vehicle subject to a $100.00 deductible.
The un/underinsured motorist coverage includes the uninsured coverage but also provides coverage for your injuries if the at fault party has insurance but lower limits than you have on your coverage and your damages are in excess of the amounts their policy provides for.
With the current state of the economy, this is definately a good idea since more drivers on the road are without coverage due to their inability/desire to pay for coverage.
If you have any questions about this important and now required coverage, please contact Statewide Insurance.
Benji
Posted by Benji Riggins on February 3, 2009 under Insurance News, Office News |
New and renewal policies effective on and after 1/1/2009 are subject to the NC Rate Bureau (NCRB) rate level changes. The overall rate level change is +9.4% statewide. The increase will be held in escrow since the NCRB and NC Dept of Insurance disagreed on the amount and the final decision will be made in court.
It is important to note this is the average statewide and will be higher or lower depending on where you live, types of cars you drive, age, and driving record.
In Union and surrounding counties, I’m sorry to report, that among our multiple carriers I have seen along the lines of 15-25% increases.
Although an increase of this magnitude is hard to stomach with the economy in such dire straights, NC drivers need to remember that we had the 5th lowest auto insurance rates in the nation.
Don’t hesitate to contact us for a review of your current policy so we can look at options to help off set the increase you may face.
Benji Riggins
Posted by Benji Riggins on February 1, 2009 under Insurance News, Office News |
Effective December 1, 2008, Farmers will be non-renewing existing homeowners policies in North Carolina as well as no longer accepting new homeowners business starting September 15, 2008. This change will not effect any other lines of insurance Farmers currently writes in the state.
North Carolina offers three plans -Fair, Beach, and Coastal- for properties not acceptable in the standard market as a result of claims, credit, or condition issues. If losses exceed the financial capability of the plans, insurers are assessed based on the percentage of homeowners business they have in the state. The Beach/Coastal plans have been growing rapidly and are considerably under funded at this time.
Although I’m sure Farmers regrets having to non-renew homeowners customers, the current hurricane assessment process has forced them to make this difficult business decision.
Since Farmers decision, other carriers have followed their lead and either started the process of non-renewing exisiting customers or discontinued the writing of new business in North Carolina.
Although the foundation of insurance is the sharing of risk over a large group, I fear the residents of North Carolina not located on the coast are being or will soon be paying a premium for their home insurance that includes the risk only the coastal properties are faced with.
I encourage you to voice your opinion to the state legislature, as they will make the final decision on how this matter will eventually play out.
Benji Riggins
