Structural Vibration Isolation

Structure-borne vibration is becoming a serious concern as structures become lighter in weight and built closer to major sources of vibration such as railway lines and industrial plant etc.

Vibrational energy will take the path of least resistance and a stiff lightweight structure offers an excellent path to transmit the vibration from the transmitter to the receiver. The first measure of vibration control should be to isolate the source but if this is not sufficient or possible then measures can be taken to isolate or dampen the intermediate structure.

Incorporating materials into a structure with a lower stiffness than adjacent materials (such as elastomeric isolators) will effectively reduce the transmission of vibration in either direction. They also provide a degree of structural damping which will reduce any vibration disturbance as well as being very important when a structure is as risk from the effects of resonance as it is the only way to control the amplitude of vibration.

Elastomeric isolators can also be used a resilient seatings since they possess the added advantages of being able to absorb bending, torsion and rotation modes and can eliminate the risk of local stress concentrations which may arise from thermal expansion / contraction or ground settlement. These features, combined with the intrinsic damping of elastomeric materials make them far superior to lighter weight, glass fibre equivalents.

Farrat offers a comprehensive range of multi use elastomeric isolation materials (seen below) which can be used in all areas of construction to reduce structure-borne vibration and acoustic transmission across a wide frequency range. Our complete confidence in the material properties and performance is based on thorough lab testing as well as extensive, long term experience of use in a variety of scenarios.

Structural Steel Destruction of the Towers' Steel Remains

The only constituents of the Twin Towers that survived the "collapses" in the form of recognizable pieces of any size were their metal parts, such as pieces of structural steel and aluminum cladding. 1 Virtually all the non-metallic parts of the towers and their contents were converted to microscopic dust particles or small unrecognizable fragments.

Building 7, though also reduced to a short pile of rubble, was not as thoroughly pulverized as the towers. Large sections of the building's perimeter wall could be seen on the rubble pile.

The surviving fragments of steel from the Twin Towers, most of them between 10 and 30 feet in length, and the larger remaining steel sections from Building 7, were essential to any serious investigation of the collapses. These catastrophic failures were at least as deserving of careful study as other rare events that are studied intensively, such as the aviation disasters investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Normally, great care is taken in preserving the evidence from structural failures and crime scenes.

No such effort was made to preserve the evidence of the unprecedented and unexplained collapses of skyscrapers WTC 1, WTC 2, and Building 7 in lower Manhattan -- easily the three largest and least understood structural failures in World history. Indeed the evidence was destroyed with remarkable speed and efficiency.

SUPPER STRUCTURE

Twin 3,650-hp MTU 4000 V16 diesels, which Bassani claims will give the boat a 45-knot top speed and around a 40-knot cruise speed. Go for these, and you’ll also save about $8 million on the asking price (which is $16.55 million when the yacht is equipped with twin diesels, $24.83 million as tested, with triple gas turbines).

The 118 WallyPower is a high performance superyacht integrating technology with design, resulting with unique and marked characteristics like the vertical bow, the air inlets, and the deck superstructure.

Reduced: 47% of original size [ 540 x 360 ] - Click to view full image

The technical solutions contribute to the yacht appeal, like the shape of the bow that allows for a 50 per cent reduction of the vertical acceleration, and the superstructure design that features flat surfaces in order to be transparent.

Reduced: 47% of original size [ 540 x 360 ] - Click to view full image

The yacht features all the spacious comforts of a mega yacht together with the nautical characteristics of coast-guard boat: while remaining comfortable on board, guests are capable of cruising at 60 knots not only in flat seas but also in rough waters.

Reduced: 47% of original size [ 540 x 360 ] - Click to view full image

The tender garage in the bow is exposed when a triangular section of the foredeck lifts on three hydraulic rams revealing a storage compartment for a Zodiac, scuba gear ,fishing supplies and all the other water toys you can imagine.

The saloon is designed with the same relaxed life of the cockpit; the drop-down bulwarks increase the view from inside. The teak planes are covered with cushions to serve as sofas, while the spaces between the teak planes contain various functions such as additional seating, tables, storage and technology. The teak soles are a continuation of the deck teak enhancing the inside-outside living concept of the yacht.

Reduced: 47% of original size [ 540 x 360 ] - Click to view full image

The spacious galley encloses the crew mess with 15? plasma screen. The galley is equipped with professional oven and stove, as well as plenty of fridges

The forward deck of the yacht features the cockpit with a large pop-up bimini roof and tables accompanied by sliding seats. This system provides the opportunity to modify the layout according to various situations and requirements, from dining to sun-bathing or a casual living area.

The motorized aft sliding gangway just off the poop deck serves as a very large passerelle (dock or diving platform at water level) when completely extended, and as swimming ladder when folded.Watching it extend or retract is mesmerizing.

The superstructure is elegantly built in strong and light weight carbon fiber and PVC foam covered with laminated glass.
The hull is carbon; the passarelle is carbon. Even the bath fixtures are carbon composites.

Just about the only major surface that is not carbon fiber is the decking.Both for its unmatched beauty and longevity in the marine world traditional teakwood was the choice.

The superstructure is made of a carbon frame to which the glass panels are glued. The glass is composed of Lexan and a triple laminate of glass.

The deck, cockpit, navigation, dining and saloon areas have been conceived as one continuous element. Inside the superstructure, the atmosphere if that of a New York style loft. The open space incorporates three areas, from stern to bow: the saloon, the dining/seating area, and the navigation cockpit.

The owner?s stateroom is forward, featuring a king size bed. Plenty of storage is provided by the side cabinets. A 20? plasma screen is mounted in the aft bulkhead. The cabin has plenty of natural light coming for the top skylight.

The owner?s double en-suites share the bathtub and shower.

On Incarnation- The Beginning of our True Life- The Soul

===========

To explain why such a process is a little more complicated, we need to go back to the beginning of the progress of the un-individualized soul, and once we have the understanding of this process correctly, we can better understand the process required for the soul that has undergone the re-incarnation.

At the instant our Father desires or intends for something to exist, the thing He desires comes into existence. Of those things, our soul, and by the soul I mean the complete soul consisting of the two “halves”, came into existence in the same manner. This is why Jesus said in the first century, “before Abraham was, I am,” which meant that before the man Abraham existed in the flesh, Jesus existed as a soul. Of course, this not only applies to Jesus himself, but also all of those souls created, including yourself, since we were all created at the instant of God’s intention.

But we existed in an un-individualized form, meaning that we were not at the time conscious of our own existence or individuality. At this time, the soul could be said to have an “instinct”, and many God determined actions are included within its instinct, the primary action being to find a spirit and mortal body into which to incarnate to become an individualized form. There are many other actions of course, including the feeling within the soul that it must answer the questions of life, such as “Why am I here,” “Where am I going,” “What is my purpose,” and similar questions which we all want to answer if we stay close to our feelings during our life.

Each soul could be considered in human terms to have a genetic imprint,
which comes directly from our parent, our Father and Mother, who is our God and Creator. At the time of human conception, when the egg and sperm cells combine, the genetic imprint of two further bodies begins, the body of the material, which man classifies as the DNA structure of the material body, and the body of the spiritual, which man cannot classify currently, but which also has a genetic blueprint which could be considered to be similar to the material body.

I cannot at this time discuss the intricacies of this process, since,
besides being very difficult for most to understand, it is not the point of my discussion. At a later time, these matters will be discussed with the medical fraternity, and I expect that their understanding of many medical and psychological procedures will deepen, with the resultant change to many medical practices currently used generally.

Now half of the soul incarnates into the body prepared. For the purposes of our discussion I shall still refer to it as the “soul”, but the reader needs to consider that it is the half of the soul that I am now referring to. The “first half” of the soul may incarnate into any material body in the earth plane, and this process is generally a random choice, in a similar nature to the randomness of a sperm finding and impregnating the egg in the process of reproduction. The second “half”, since it has an affinity to the first half, often remains in close proximity to the first half that has become incarnated, and in almost all cases, will incarnate into a body where it has a high likelihood of finding its soul mate during its existence on the
earth. This is a provision of our Father’s Love.

So the soul (remember the half of the soul), which is the real man or woman, has gained individuality, and, if left to a proper natural course, will continue its cycle of growth while contained with the spiritual and mortal bodies.

The first body that the soul becomes aware of is its mortal body. Once the brain of that body is able to adjust to its surroundings, awareness comes to the soul and that soul sees in a mirror a person, which it believes defines its existence. So, the soul which did not have an individuality, now has an individuality, and has a consciousness of the same, and believes that the person in the mirror, that others see, is the complete definition of who it is.

Now, many “souls” will go through their entire material existence without being conscious of any other part of themselves, and by this I mean that they are not really conscious that they also have a spiritual body, and a soul, which are both attached to the material body while it remains alive. Also, the soul often thinks of its material body as the “real person”, since it may not be conscious of these other concurrent parallel existences of itself.

As time progresses, the mind of the spirit body, through the exercise of the brain of the material body, may begin to become aware of “spiritual things”, which cannot be explained using a material analysis of the universe in which it “appears” to exist, although, I must say, is definitely supported by a scientifically open examination the material universe. This process is often accompanied by a “realization” of the existence of a higher being, which it now refers to as the “God” of which its conception may be correct or in error, depending on the information supplied by other “souls” within the material world.

Also, this same soul, while exercising its mind and brain, may become more aware of the spiritual body in which it is encased. And, in doing this, it may even come to understand the different areas where different types of information are being process while it is having the experience within the material world. Of course, if this process does not occur while the soul is attached to the material existence, it may occur during its existence while it is attached to its spiritual existence.

While the soul has the material experience, although it may not be aware of the fact, it is concurrently having a spiritual experience, and a soul experience. All it needs is an awareness to occur before it can really live a complete experience, and this is the fact whether it is in a material or spiritual world.

So, to summarize, the soul, before incarnation, is not personally aware of its own existence, or of its own “personality”. When it incarnates, during the process of living, it gains awareness, and now has individuality. Please understand that I am loosely using the term “process of living”, since some material bodies perish while in their mother’s womb, either by miscarriage, or by a miscarriage of Love through abortion, but they nevertheless are souls with individualization.

Large wooden home in Vietnam

One's first house
At home due to be built all the way wood is Don's expensive and to Vietnam are made in Nghi Phu, Vinh city-Nghe An, attracting not only people of Nghe An province where many people other to see

Who is shocking, strange lùng before a house in a two this is not. Minister Le Doan Hop VHTT also have to place to see the architecture of this house. Owner of it is Cuong Tran - nickname is "Cuong Tho.

Works with a two

Home is located on the campus nearly 4000 m2, surrounded barrier wall is solidified over 3 m high, built very elaborately, OP to 5 rock types. Mount lợp barrier wall with the glaze tile eel waves as giant dragons blockade lấy campus. A mason told us: Each member lợp on the tile wall barriers cost of 2500, the total cost to build barrier walls fresh nghẹt 2 billion.

This is certainly a record in the construction barrier wall. Record is the next tree is written uom inside barrier wall. I have to count all the trees found several dozen written to two people not embracing Xue, price per tree from 50 to 100 million, told the owner to buy in many places, transportation of uom available, as will be done in house in campus, to create a harmonious space with the house.

More stupid than when you walk on campus in the air before labor by hundreds of people are rampant construction of such a large school. Break your eyes I'm home timber giant 8 sleeps on roof area of 400m2 with 46 wooden columns high cloves 6 to 8 m with round Vanh 1.2 - 1.4 m.

Eight corner mái dispose as curved roof home village is đắp the cloud and dragon nụ cerulean eyes very start. Roofs overlap tube sound ways of enamel paint nhẵn light dust grains are not clickable! 46 Except for round timber columns, left everything to the wood for the glue, away from home ... sculpt all the flower pictures are very sophisticated. Besides the record of area in a house to 400m2, the house also has the largest record is the timber. Every woodworker wings as revealing that the number of timber owner used to house convention about 500m3 cloves into wood gas.

He made you do the job with us to calculate: to have wood products that housing must exploit to 5 ha of forest wood raw cloves of 500 years old. Behind the house is the house building, wooden columns also a way ancient area of several hundred square meters. Heard this will be in place by ... cannot. Connecting the two houses is a coffee shop to be made of wood is also a way of not.

This is the house in wood largest, most expensive Vietnam, what should you make any shady ran as a "the metamorphosis", a "Forbidden City", a "from and" Greek "... through with it also reflects the level of due process ..

"Superman" Cuong Tran


Top woodworker Nam Dinh are engraved state
Born in 1964, is the second son of Mr. Tran Tho, a Vietnamese doctors treat the famous and rich in Nghe An. People Nghi Phu said his children are very Thọ "blood" business and see all the rich, in which Tran Cuong as "superman". Tran Cuong each of the team. Between decade of the 80 centuries ago, he moved to work in the company agricultural materials Vinh city.

Implementation guidelines on capital in business, he is married Lan Anh rental business in building materials. Those with the company he said that, walking it, Mr. Cuong also very hard, the only business you sad English Poland-out, but he always Cuong out to overcome the Laos, where he is very familiar to traders, spent on Vietnam.

Mr. Cuong famous for two products in the fields and tamper. The 1990s it was Don Mr. Cuong "sập to" take more than 2 billion, nearly a year of budget xứ Nghệ this city at the time, so he Cuong still not as smooth. Own this, replied that they had called him a "superman".

Around 1995, 1996, people see only English Poland business building materials, as Mr. Cuong then was director of Co. Red River. Of business primarily by the company are import, export of timber. People feel like after the break he Cuong buy both wings cloves timber forest resources in your country of Laos. He completely owned timber market cloves Vietnam, and then exported to Taiwan, China. In 2000, he made house 4 storeys in block 7, Le Loi hoành page that the cause of "the university" in Vinh city must of lost my body. Add this more they respect him as "superman".

Cuong his life only once risk. It is 2002, he was Police to Hanoi, and must proceed from the suspension, because I smuggling. After that out, nor Co. Red River in his work anymore. Moneybox buy farms in Thanh Chuong district to afforestation, planting fruit trees, purchased some land in Cua Lo beach, Vinh city.

In addition, information from the ones of his household Highway: He turns to contribute capital to the Company Phu Nguyen Hai, a private company with big potential in Nghe An are many business fields, including exercise mechanical loading and ore mines. In this company he received only positions Deputy Director.

Those households on road Tran Cuong were friendly to him as human work, always confused money and make the vehicles with no one. And in particular have very good health. Every respect be twice as "superman Nghệ land", as more time go to the house this big, people continue to call him a "superman". This is the house he expected short-term construction materials must be unique and expensive houses in his right is not the same house any time.

Home instead of subjects?

Mr. Chu Huu Dinh, music of Cuong Tran is also designed, directed construction this house for him in person and hire stepchild necessarily a translation, take 100 million to China as samples home. Although to the ancient Chinese as the Dinh Hoa's, te tướng Save gu, and "From the Greek, Forbidden City, but do not form the lot, he eyes the father.

Mr. Dinh said that they have the real wood, but actually to have no state, more graphics sculpt that draw directly from a raw material paste into another timber should not be learning anything. Return to water, his father children "having a rice mắm", "with stars such as," as Mr. Dinh said. According to Dinh, wood used to make this house over the one thousand block, the contributions of ten years training. So, sorry do not do houses for hoành page.

Mr. Dinh also adds, he advised of the re put money, wisdom to create a 100% of culture to show that not only China or the past to create new projects with long life time that Nghệ land at this time as well as to the neck and completely pure culture. So his son-in-law agreed to ask the wife stands to make.

With new ideas that same year, a dozen years later still as new, and he is the design of self in and conduct construction. The process of construction, said of his star, 50 hand carpenter Nam Dinh, dozens of construction workers to do so. He was wrong to do it again, fear not expensive as long as you properly. Who reset, the rest of his days. And he actually did: four architects to design the wall as a campus, for his dismissal because he is not level! Owner with a contractor in time woodworker sculpt 50 The he, for all his work.

His strong hand to the children re lo fever wife as hard as any of his wife is the head of people do now. Mr. Dinh still very confident, in the: Children who ask for the parent secure. And he is guiding and making the house is just the stepchild. Mr. Dinh said: "We do house, which is where the houses are long - time - of - Ward as Don's galaxy. He explains: "Long-time - of - Ward is the architecture of Temples, shrines look. We house only sculpt the flowers, birds 4 spring - summer - to - east.

This is the scenic beauty and close to people. He just go and will see. " I acknowledge by him. He only hands say: "to have more graphics in 8 corners of the roof is the symbol of the mushroom cloud and dragon." He emphasized: "May the dragon and the dragon, not nhé!". Finally, he concluded: "We want to give a life of eternal culture, unique and a work by Vietnam not reproduce what the architecture of China ...". Asked about the amount of construction, lightweight features of his: "Some three dozen billion, how much is where. The most expensive wood, the wood is we already have it. Other materials is not their country lack. "

Great house this is the 100% culture or do not need the expert assessment. Scatter but we saw this house in the Vietnamese workers who work a reality.

But as Mr. Cuong home in to, so expensive, how in the end, when Mr. Cuong only 3 people (husband and she his daughter). Play started, here are a couple houses fathers put up money as dowry for her daughter after this unique?

The structure of the cave in "The Myth of the Cave". what's the symbolic meaning of the different elements?

the cave is
A. a symbol of ignorance hence the darkness.
may also represent safety to some degree.
also our primative beginings.

B. prisoners are "kept in the dark" this represents forced ignorance.

C.the fire is an artificial light that creates distorted images.light represents ultimate or pure knowledge there fore fire would be mans conceived knowledge tainted and disformed by his own fears ,ignorance and personal agenda.

D. in this "light"the puppet master reveals a distorted version of reality to his captives. a comfortable version that does, nt mess with the puppet masters agenda.

E.hands are tied .feet are bound.symbolizing the helplessness of the prisoners to break free.
and or the fact that the bonds are composed of the misplaced trust they have of their captors.

i have more info at this site if you wish to see it.
peace><>

MEDIA AS LIFE WORLD(pART2)

III. INNOVATIONSIN COMMUNICATION: THE PHENOMENON OF MUSIC VIDEO

Music Videos are made for nearly every single released today and have become a major force in the music market. The leading channel MTV reaches 36 million people. Music videos have influenced, changed, colonized, cannibalized, and merged other types of media. And the viewer has become a collaborator. Music television seeks the constant feedback of its audience, altering its programming accordingly. Music videos seem to be a postmodern response to Richard Wagner's "Gesamtkunstwerk", the attemp to unite the arts in the grand opera. Though music videos are only 'operetta' they should not be underestimated: there is no question that this new medium is here to stay. Michael Jackson's recent 17-minute video "Bad", directed by none other than Martin Scorcese, is a clear indication that music videos are about to break out of their rigid format.

A phenomenological awareness is less interested in the content of the music video — decisive is rather the way it manifests itself. That many music videos represent "male street culture, social rebelliousness, and fantasies of female conquest",¹² and that there is an answer from a "female culture" is not our concern here. Music videos are clearly an integral part of contemporary youth culture and for this reason alone an interesting field of research for both sociologists and semiologists. Nonetheless, our line of questioning will be the inovations in communication which music videos indicate apart from and beyond their role in youth culture, changes in the way we communicate with ourselves and with one another. This development is by no means restricted to music videos. But perhaps most visible in music videos — or perhaps they are simply the most fun to analyze! Their colorful and anarchistic texture, filled with shock images, their visual variety and ability to cut through clutter stimulates a sense of creativity too often missing in the technological life world.

Before we consider the phenomenon of music videos in detail, I would like to stress the point that music videos belong to cinema and its aesthetics. The movement-image is, according to Deleuze, the basic unit of the cinematic discourse. This unit, a totality encompassing time and space not only makes the difference of opposing entities clear, it also allows them to be experienced as separate and distinct yet belonging to the whole. The movement image, as a process, does not destroy the identity of the cinema, of movement and image. In the mode of unity the instant and the whole, immobility and change, self-awareness and a sense of the other are experienced in their discretness as two differing and dialectically joined moments and, precisely through this relation, in their oneness. The cinematic movement-image gives us together and as one unit both the instant (i.e. the smallest perceptual unit of the shot) and the whole (which is our sense of change, flow, and duration).¹³

The music video is grounded in this a-centered unity of the movement-image which allows us a communication in-between. The characteristic modi of such communication are manifest in the music videos and can be understood as creation of a life world in which mediation becomes the reality. Our music video examples will include performance clips as well as concept clips. We shall be viewing two iconographic videos in which the performer is spotlighted: Prince's "You've got the look" and Michael Jackson's "Bad". Both pieces are edited, but you need to see only a few minutes to get the point; the details deserve our attention. In their shortness and compactness music videos reveal a structure often similar to that of a poem. Viewed in its entirety the concept clip "Dear God" from XTC offers a unique opportunity to find out how the problem of theodicy has changed since the time of Leibniz.

Let us now examine music videos within the modern structural perspectives of time, space, matter, language, person, and truth in relation to their postmodern counterparts of presencing, rupture, hyperreality, writing, happening, and exposure.

1. FROM TIME TO PRESENCING
Time in music videos is created by cutting and montage. At first glance, performence clips seem to deal with real time, and concept clips to have more freedom in time disruption.¹⁴ But how do music videos generate a sense of time? The rhythm, the pulsating beat, constitutive of most music videos, defines time. The driving, unrelenting beat, whether of sound and/or the visual beat marked by the rapidity of the image's movement, creates a time without past and future.The " reign of the presence"¹⁵ is obvious and total. Even quotation of the past as Madonna's "Who's that Girl?' is merely material for an overwhelming universal coexistence, a time process of pure moments which could be called presencing.

The power of this presencing in music videos literally wipes out the sense of space. The stage character of the environment makes space appear artificial and interchangeable. The idea of progress which can create space has been abandoned in music videos. The beat, the gestures, the drive may still be rebellious but ultimately go nowhere. Prince's cruising and Michael Jackson's "loose — limbed prowess" demonstrate a stunning formalization of street rap, the art of movement without moving, a flowing with the beat in stillness. XTC's "Dear God" may seem to be narrative in composition and have a beginning and an end, but this impression is contradicted by the video's surrealistic elements. What we have is the presence of a nightmare without end and a narrative continuing on like a broken disk.

2. THE ABSENCE OF SPACE: RUPTURE AND DECENTRALIZATION
A sense of space provides security and helps satisfy our desire to determine our place in the world. Merleau-Ponty points out that space is the distance between the body and the objects which create our own sphere.¹⁶ Emotional distance allows us the experience of being the center. In music videos space is present in absence only, as rupture and decentralization. Immediate access to emotions and images destroys any sense of personal. Behavioral as well as spatial scope have diminshed. The "global village" realizes the end of distance: where barriers have fallen there can be no space. And the ruthless use of even the most expressive symbols has forgotten space. Rupture, experienced through distortion, need not be spectacular, as in heavy metal videos, it can be achieved through subtle changes, all the more effective. The video "Dear God " goes out of tune; this is effected by (a) varying shutter speed, (b) reversing tape direction, and (c) varying playback speed. Relevant to disorientation, Deleuze notes the viewer of cinema is acentered, lacking a fixed point of view. Technical manipulation in music videos and a "floating" viewer together create the rupture of personal space and a spreading out of presence. Temporality has become ever more important, incorporating all that which has formerly the realm of spatiality.

3. THE PERCEIVED WORLD: MATTER AS HYPEREALITY
The slant of distortion is how music videos perceive our being™in-the-world, but this is not a pessimistic view. In fact it reveals a multiperspectivity which gives us more authentic world than the fake narratives of print media and television. The layerings in the beginning of Prince's video create, by superimposition of different perspectives, hyperreality which is according to Merleau-Ponty more real than reality. Out of Michael Jackson's rumble dance on stage of a New York subway platform in which film, music and dance are equally balanced, emerges a coherence in dissonance which is the material side of most music videos. Even "Dear God" is a realistic look-alike, only to turn surrealistic after a few moments.

4. WRITING THE DIFFERENCES OF LANGUAGES
Music videos can be viewed as an example of Jaques Derrida's criticism of our traditional logocentrism with its predominance of the verbal language. The lyrics are composed of jokes and puns, intending to be self ridiculing and confusing. Difference, not identity, is at stake. The equality of verbal, visual, audio, and body language breaks the spell of meaning and reveals the whole of language which is beyond our instrumental grasp. Disconnection, distortion in pitch, and contradiction are on all levels the movens/ stimuli.

Critics have attacked the non-narrative structure of music videos as impotent, unable to create an authentic lifeworld, and as an escape into the abstract. But the fact is that STOP MAKING SENSE creates a life world in its own right experienced and shared by millions who view music videos. Michael Jackson has been accused of "evading reality" and seeking an "occult solution",¹⁷ but his streetwise dialogue is meant to overcome a ghetto reality by stylization. This creates an artificial lifeworld in which communication is split and re-split in an interchange rather than the writing of differences, the play of non-elimination, and changes in perspectives are needed in a lifeworld shaped by the violence of identity.¹⁸

Even the concept videos which have a message do not usually preach it, as we can see in "Dear God"; it is not a straight forward theodicy, but a tricky process of thinking without abstraction.

5. ICONS, PERSONS, AND LIFE HAPPENING
Commonly understood, a person is defined as a certain life history, developing an identity in an intersubjective communication. Perhaps the most startling observation in music videos is that despite the personal iconographic power of the performers, the process of identification is not encouraged. This is not to say that there is no strong business interest in repeating the hero identification attributed to youth culture. The popularity of the "Madonna Style" was notorious and visible through the USA.¹⁹ But there are some significant differences worth noting. Icons such as David Bowie, Prince, Michael Jackson, attempt to diffuse their role model and obliterate (to some extent) race, sex, and age. Icons celebrate the bad and ugly, scorning the dictates of a traditional aesthetic. Michael Jackson looks very much like a yelling women! Involvement in a peer group becomes non-personal; it is no longer an interpersonal but an interfunctional relation, an interchange of performer, viewer, producer, engineer. Music videos suggest a life as life happening, and the icons offer keys to this lifeworld of music videos much closer to art than to so-called reality, that which we conceive to be reality. Make it happen, let it happen! Without history, without future, without present, only happenings exist.

6. THE EXPOSURE OF TRUTH
The play of the revealed and the unrevealed (and the never to be revealed) is the play of truth as disclosure, according to Heidegger.²⁰ Music videos do not intend to be true, and in their elusive concreteness reveal what a direct approach would miss. When our interpretational models of meaning disappear quite a different view of things open up to us. Music videos expose a lifeworld which already exists but is still hidden from a knowledge which knows too much. Does this mean Michael Jackson is exposing the bad as a fundamental, Prince the ambiguity of appearance, and XTC the absurdity of the human condition? Much too simple. Music videos can not be utilised for meaningful messages. The creative how is the "message". Music videos offer an exciting example of a concrete comprehension and critical thinking of a kind which leads to discovery not meaning. Amazement and wonder are not eliminated from this process, on the contrary, they are "traces"(Derrida) of and toward a world on the horizon of technology.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

Should mankind live to see its future (which is not very likely) music videos can be considered as the first hints of a lifeworld shaped by the conditions of a fully developed technology. We pride ourselves on our state-of-art technologies, blind to the actual primitiveness of these advancements. Present technology is still in its earliest development stages. The high technology of coming generations is a self-evident life technology functioning as naturally and imperceptibly as the techniques of breathing and walking. Outwardly this technological world organized by a computer society, urban living, automated production, genetically engineered organisms, etc. will appear much more the same as our world today. But the human attitude will be totally different. That which compells us to live in unrecognition, as instruments, that which makes our life inhuman, can by the same token develop our authentic human potential, given the opertunity to enfold within a non-instrumental manner of living. Human beings will be considered — as were the ancient greeks — to be able to assume responsibility for their "bios" and act free as artists, whatever their work may actually be. This life would be a truely artificial life and the fulfillment of humanity. This life style will be characterized by a wider range of life techniques which we cannot yet imagine — but it is likely that music videos will expose to us some of the future modes of living. Like Moses, we shall never set foot in that promised land, but music videos, although only an accompanying phenomenon of contemporary life, give us a strobe-light glimpse of a lifeworld already here but not ours.

Notes

• ¹ Marshall McLuhan: îUnderstanding Media. New York : Signet books 1964.
  
• ² Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death. New York: Viking Books, 1985.
  
• ³ E.Ann Kaplan: "History, the Historical Spectator and Gender Address", in : Music Television. Journal of Communication Inquiry, Winter 1980(10/1), p.6.
  
• ⁴ This term is used to describe the unity of film, television, music, photography, and video. Cf. Gilles Deleuze: Cinema 1,Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,1986, chap 4.
  
• ⁵ Maurice Merleau-Ponty : Phenomenology of Preception, trans. Colin Smith, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962.
  
• ⁶ Maurice Merleau-Ponty : "Film and the New Psychology", in:Sense and non-Sense, ed. Dreyfus, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1964, p.48ff.
  
• ⁷ Carl Mitcham: "Responsibility and Technology: The Expanding Relationship", in: Technology and Resposibility, ed.Paul Durbin,Dordrecht: Reidel, 1987, p. 5-39 ; cf. now: Wolfgang Schirmacher: "Homo Generator: The Challenge of Gene Technology", in the same volume, p. 203-205.
  
• ⁸ Barry Walters: "Like it or Not : MTV Lives", in: The Village Voice, June 2, 1987, p.39.
  
• ⁹ US, March 9, 1987, p.54.
  
• ¹⁰ Allan Bloom: The Closing of the American Mind, New York:Simon & Schuster, 1987.
  
• ¹¹ Kuan-Hsing Cheng: "MTV: The (Dis)Appearance of Postmodern Semiosis, or the Cultural Politics of Resistance", in: Journal of Communication Inquiry, Winter 1986 (10/1), p.66
  
• ¹² Lisa A. Lewis: "Female Address in Music Videos", in: Journal of Communication Inquiry, Winter 1987 (11/1), p.74.
  
• ¹³ Cf. Deleuze : Cinema 1, op. cit.
  
• ¹⁴ Cf. B. Walters: "Like it or Not: MTV lives", op. cit.
  
• ¹⁵ David J. Tetzlaff: "MTV and the Politics of Postmodern Pop", in: Journal of Communication Inquiry, Winter 1986 (10/1), p.83.
  
• ¹⁶ Cf. Merleau-Ponty: "Film and the New Psychology", op. cit.
  
• ¹⁷ Stephan Holden: "The Dark Side of Peter Pan", in: The New YorkTimes, Sunday, Sept. 13, 1987 (Pop View).
  
• ¹⁸ Jaques Derrida: Margins of Philosophy, ed. A. Bass, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1982, p.3f.
  
• ¹⁹ Lewis, op. cit.,p.80.
  
• ²⁰ Martin Heidegger: " The Turning", in: Heidegger: The Question Concerning Technology, trans. William Lovitt, New York: Harper & Row, 1977, p. 36-49.
  

My special thanks to Carol Froehlich, Producer, BMG New York, for her assistance in the selection and editing of music videos discussed in this paper.

MEDIA AS LIFE WORLD(pART1)

I. MEDIA AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY

When speaking or writing about media we still tend to think in terms of channels to which sender and receiver are connected, a temptingly simple but inadequate definition. Current media theory proposes the "Gutenberg Galaxy" has run its course,that the electronic media itself has become the "message" and its forms are to be understood as "extensions of man"¹ Following Marshall McLuhan and considering the stunning developments of the "new media" theorists such as Neil Postman, media is analyzed not only as a metaphor and representation of knowledge, but as an activity, one shaping our social envoirment and subject to media ecology.² This shift in understanding necessitates a fundamental change in our relation to media, and in our thinking. Yet although the distinctions between reality and imagination, truth and fantasy seem to vanish, and the acceptance of media as an authentic lifeworld the next step, media theory is still reluctant to face this consequence. Signification, representation, the ideology of an independent reality as the measure of truth — these are compelling and long-held presuppositions not easily cast aside.

A phenomenological view, however, allows us to skip over the question of whether the world of new media is real or not and instead describe how the new media shows itself to us. We then become aware of the seductive intensity, the speedy flow, and the open audio-visual textuality with which music videos, for example, "blur previously distinct separations and boundaries, such as those between popular and avant©garde art, between different genres and artistic modes, between past,present and future".³ Artistic media have long been considered as possessing a reality of their own, and the artist's work is often viewed as autobiography. In the new media of cinema⁴ the trend toward self-potrayal is perhaps most obvious. Phenomenologically, such 'writing' of one's life in media reveals its structure as an in-between which is neither subjective nor objective. It fulfills an intentionality which transforms 'objective' material and 'subjective' goals into a living process. A lifeworld is commonly "lived through"⁵ silently, the need to acknowledge is largely unfelt; in the case of mass media however only we can be held responsible for its superficiality. The model of nature with its self-evident presence is replaced by the model of technology which has to constantly give evidence and defend its presence anew.

In the technological age we can not simply live our lives, we have to write — and rewrite — them, or others will do it for us. Having been changed into this autobiographical 'writing', communication can now be defined as authentic, as a responsible style of media. The difference between the "life lived through" and the world of media is still a sharp one in terms of perception, as Maurice Merleau-Ponty indicates,⁶ but is an abstraction in terms of intersubjectivity as the basis of communication. In a lifeworld shaped by technology we consider as humane that for which we as artificial beings can and must take reponsibility.⁷ That society and mass media usually live our lives for us is entirely our own fault and not due to any flaw in the structure of these modes of our existence. We are, by nature, the artificial ones; rejecting our artificiality for a more 'natural' mode of being is a naive denial of our potential as well. Consequently our search need be for the authentic mode of artificiality. The artificial lifeworld created by us in the new media is of itself a fulfillment of humanness — a frightening outlook if one regards American prime time televesion as an example.

II. MUSIC VIDEOS: FROM YOUTH CULTURE TO ARTIFICIAL LIFE

McLuhan's pragmatic children use music videos as their "own comfy space" and as a "radio station for the eyes",⁸ enjoying the pleasure and magic of their youth culture. With the start of 24™hour cable MTV in 1981, music videos became the life style of an entire generation. Dweezil Zapa, the gifted son of a famous father "watches hours of MTV every day",⁹ and he is neither uneducated nor unemployed. MTV alone plays 75-110 clips a week, each with a life span of 9-18 weeks; other channels (Black entertainment Television, to name just one) add to this number. Performers like Michael Jackson and Madonna have attained a personal iconographic power apparent on any street.

In the eyes of one shocked admirer of Plato, the "ambition" of these young people seems to be "to win fame and wealth in imitating the drag queen who makes the music". Professor Bloom denounces music videos for turning life into " a nonstop, comercially prepackaged, masturbational fantasy".¹⁰ And Kuan Hsing Chan, an observer even more knowledgeable in video culture shows deep concern when he writes: "If ecstasy of communication, fascination, desire, schizophrenic corruption of temporality and spatiality, obscenity (of sexuality), collage, quotation, fragmentation and non-unity are the key terms to describe MTV, then we have moved from the question of 'what does it mean' to 'what does it do?'"¹¹

Since music videos are at the core of todays youth culture, such harsh reaction to their seeming corruptive influence is predictable. Every youth culture antagonizes mainstream culture, criticizes the parent generation, and develops its own language and gestures, invents its own style and idols. Undeterred by the intended shock effect of the new and unfamiliar, by the strangeness of certain appearances, a phenomenological approach will continue asking how the phenomenon of music videos shows itself to us, as long as it remains unknown. It should be noted that music videos are appreciated outside the youth culture as well. Station VH-1, for instance, is geared specifically to adult audience. Music television is one of the few media hybrids interactively using other telecommunications media and live events for two-way communication in order to spark imagination and interest of its viewers. These channels are continually re-evaluating and re-defining themselves, and in so doing retain the vitality of the avant-garde.

What are Structured Settlements?

Historically, personal injury or product liability lawsuits were settled by the exchange of a single lump sum cash payment in return for the release of claim in a lawsuit. Under this arrangement, it was up to the individual and their families to manage the large initial sum and to use it to provide for the victim's medical and income needs over their entire lifetime. Structured settlements laws were created to help reduce the difficulties faced in these types of situations and to help provide the claimant and their families with long-term financial security.

Structured settlement payment agreements are unique in that they focus more on the beneficiary's financial needs and may provide payments for a certain period of time or throughout the injured persons life time. Formally recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1982, structured settlements are voluntary compensation agreements between the injured person and a defendant(s).

Structured settlements enable the beneficiary to receive a series of periodic payments instead of a cash lump sum. Most settlement agreements are entered into privately (e.g., a pre-trial settlement) while others, usually involving minors or persons deemed mentally unfit, may be created by a court order.

Structured settlements are a creative solution in that the payment amounts and the future annuity timetable are completely up to the parties negotiating the structured agreement. Rather than receiving a single lump sum, victims can receive a customized stream of annuity payments. Using structured settlements, annuity payments may be in equal amounts at regular intervals, or they may be paid in periodic lump sums. Larger intermittent payments are sometimes used to provide for anticipated future needs such as funding; a college education, medical equipment replacement (motorized wheelchairs), or planning for retirement. It is important to note however, once the parties have agreed to the structured settlement annuity amounts and timetable, the plaintiff cannot make changes. When unexpected financial emergencies arise individuals may consider selling all or some of their payments for a lump sum of cash. To receive more information please fill out the form on the right.

Properly structuring payment benefits is very important. Most victims and their lawyers know that structured settlements are tax-free to the injured party. There are other factors however that you and your financial advisor should consider. Special tax ramifications on the investment income of the settlement proceeds need to be considered. In some cases, receipt of a large sum can result in loss of public benefits. It is important for the victim that the structured settlement benefits are properly structured so that the principal can be invested, and that the investment income remains tax free to the injured party. Structuring payments properly can also avoid the loss of public benefits. These are all important financial considerations.

How To get Cash for Structured Settlements

If you have a structured settlement and you need a lump sum of cash right away, you may consider getting cash for your structured settlement. You can sell your settlement to a private note investor or a lending institution. But keep in mind that this move is not without some risk. Read on to discover some important information about how to get cash for a structured settlement.



When you apply to get cash for a structured settlement, you have to keep in mind that this can be a complicated process. You should have a structured settlement specialist help you. This person may be an attorney or a financial professional that has had specialized training.



Selling your annuity payments will assign all rights to future payments to the institution that you sell your payments to. But it is important to remember that in most cases you can choose to sell your annuity payments in parts or you can sell the whole thing. For example, if your annuity payments are set up over a period of thirty years, you may choose to sell only two years worth.



The very first thing you should do before getting cash for a structured settlement is to figure out how much money you need. What are you going to be using the money for? Do you need to pay off mounting medical bills? Do you have high interest credit cards that are eating up your budget? Once you determine the amount that you need and what you need it for, you will have a clearer picture of how much of your annuity payments to sell.



The next thing you need to do is to get all of your structured settlement details together. You need to have the name of the life insurance company that backs your annuity payments. You also need to know the exact dates of payment disbursement, how much the payment is going to be and how many payments you have left.



When you meet with your investor you need to let him know how much money that you need and how many payments your are going to sell. He will take this information, calculate the present day value of your settlement and connect you with those individuals or organizations that can give you the most money for your annuity payments.



Before you try to get cash for a structured settlement, carefully weigh the pros and cons. Make absolutely sure it is something that you want to do. When you sell your structured settlement you are giving up future income. If you do opt to get cash for your structured settlement, use the money wisely.

Annuities After Retirement

The difference between people who look forward to their retirement and those who wonder if they will ever retire is the fact that the former group has made investments in annuities. There are two phases in an annuity investment, the accumulation phase or the period when you pay a premium or premiums and the pay out phase when you begin to receive income from the investment.

Annuities are designed to help people live independently and comfortably in their retired years and truly make them the golden years. Insurance companies offer individuals a chance to buy an annuity by making a one-time payment or several premium payments and assure them a certain rate of return that may be revised from time to time. There are many types of annuities that can be used to plan for your retirement and to ensure that little changes in your lifestyle after you stop working. The different types of annuities include deferred annuities, equity-indexed annuities and immediate annuities.

The income received from the annuity would depend on many factors such as the age of the investor, rate of return, etc. Women usually receive less income than men because they have a longer life expectancy. Also if partners hold the annuity jointly then the income received is lower.

Some features of annuities after retirement:

* Tax is deferred on annuities and is paid on the gains one receives as income from the annuity. Since one is in a lower tax bracket, the tax is thus affected. Also the gains from the annuity are taxed as ordinary income.

* Only the part of the income that is considered as gains are taxed and not the rest of the investment.

* After your working years you can decide to receive income from the annuity for the rest of your life or for a fixed period of time.

* The income can be received as the investor wishes, on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.

* In cases where people have not invested in annuities before their retirement they may choose to do so later. There is no age limit on investment in annuities. For such investors the immediate annuity may be the most appealing. The immediate annuity begins paying income to the investor virtually as soon as the annuity is bought.

* If required payment from an annuity can also be deferred until the investor is ready to receive it.

* If the retired person has a bulk sum of money then investment in an immediate annuity will supplement the other sources of income.

Your retirement can be secure and enjoyable by investing in an annuity. If you haven’t created a personal retirement plan with an annuity, it is never too late to start. Buy an annuity today!

Retirement Income Annuities

Retirement Income Annuities are ordinary deferred annuities, but with an additional feature...a decreasing term life insurance rider that provides term life insurance with a face amount that decreases each year the policy is in force.

The effect is that if the annuitant reaches retirement age...for example, 65...the decreasing term insurance death benefit expires and annuity payments begin providing long term income. If, however the annuitant dies before reaching this age, the decreasing term insurance death benefit is combined with the value of the annuity and then paid to the annuitant's beneficiary in any settlement option chosen.

A number of financial products now offer significant security for retirees. Consider annuity policies, which allow you to invest a chunk of your savings in return for regular payouts. Annuities got a famously bad rap in the 1990s because of their unfamiliar - and surprisingly steep - fees. Since then, the variety of products has grown and some of the fees are down, especially if you shop around. Moreover, today there is an annuity to suit every stripe, and many are "unbundled," allowing consumers to customize their annuity just as they might tweak a new car purchase to add side-curtain airbags.

Even with all the bells and whistles, annuities still roll out of the factory on one of two basic chassis. Fixed annuities yield a steady stream of income for a set number of years or the rest of your life. Variable annuities can also provide regular checks, but they tie the amount of your payouts to the performance of an investment portfolio. Both types allow you to choose whether to begin receiving payouts immediately (in monthly, quarterly, or annual installments) or at a later date. And both varieties pay out partly taxable money - you are taxed only on your gains, not your original investment - at regular income-tax rates, an important fact to weigh when considering annuities for your financial plan.

Just like a new-car purchase, you then start adding options. You can buy fixed annuities and tack on inflation protection for your payouts; you can choose to add a death benefit - or not. Some policies offer an option for long-term-care insurance, which raises your payouts if you become disabled. On certain variable annuities, you can opt to have your portfolio value (and thus your payouts) reflect your performance only in neutral or good years.

Structured Settlement

Prior to 1982, if you were injured in accident and awarded a settlement, you had to take it in one lump sum. This one time payment caused a lot of problems for people who did not know how to manage the money correctly. After the injured party spent all of the money on things that were not related to their medical care or injuries, they were left wondering how they were going to pay for their future medical needs.

In 1982, the law was changed to a personal injury structured settlement plan. This type of payment plan consists of sending the injured party a monthly or annual payment over a period of time. This type of settlement plan gave people the security of having income on a regular basis.

When a structured settlement payment plan is in place, the injured party will be able to receive the funds necessary to pay for their medical care. If the injured party is confined to a bed or even to a nursing home, the monthly payment from the structured settlement will alleviate the worries that the family may have about how to afford care for their loved one.

The decision to change from lump sum payments to structured settlement payments was not made without careful deliberation. Studies have shown that about 30% who received a lump sum payment due to an accident spent all of the money within two months. Further studies revealed that 90% of the people spent all of the money within five years.

For a lump sum payment to be beneficial for the injured party for future medical expenses it must be invested and administered over time. Since most people do not have experience in investing money, the injured party must hire a financial advisor to invest the money for them. When a huge sum of money is invested, the returns on the investment are taxable. In addition, when you hire a financial advisor you run the risk of getting the wrong person and having your money disappear due to theft or just plain mismanagement of the funds.

A personal injury structured settlement can be beneficial because it is tax free. The money is backed by a life insurance company and delivered to the injured party in annuities or smaller monthly or yearly payments. The reasons that personal injury structured settlements are beneficial are many. For example, if a victim dies and leaves behind minor children, the personal injury structured settlement payments can provide for food, housing and education for these minors.

So as you can see, personal injury structured settlements are a good thing. The money will be there if needed. The injured party and family members will not have to worry about financing future medical expenses. If you are ever injured in an accident and your attorney suggests structured settlements, it may be a good idea to take him up on this offer.

The Benefits of Structured Settlement Annuity Payments

The Benefits of Structured Settlement Annuity Payments

Getting injured in an accident or becoming disabled due to medical malpractice can ruin your life and the lives of your loved ones. But if you have taken it to court and won your case then there is hope. This hope comes in the form of structured settlement annuity payments. Read on to discover a little more about this type of payment structure and how it will benefit you and your family.

Structured settlement annuity payments are the payments that you will receive after you win a lawsuit. These annuities are an alternative to getting a one time lump sum from your settlement.

So why are structured settlement annuity payments better than a single lump sum? The reasons can be as diverse as the person receiving them. Let’s look at a few of the benefits of structured payments.

1. Structured settlement annuity payments will allow you to have income over a lifetime. You will be guaranteed a monthly or yearly check for the duration of your life.

2. These payments can be used for living expenses, medical bills or medical equipment, education or however else that you see fit.

3. A structured settlement payment plan will prevent you from spending your whole settlement in just a few short years. Unfortunately, a lot of people have no constraint when it comes to spending, so a payment plan will do away with the temptation to spend your money foolishly.

4. A payment plan also deters friends and relatives from asking for a loan or a handout. It is amazing how many friends you will discover when you come into some money.

5. Money received from structured settlement annuities are not taxable. This simply means that this is not considered income and will not be taxed at the end of the year.

6. If the recipient of a structured settlement is already receiving social security, the income generated from these payments will not affect your social security benefits. Social security cannot decrease your benefits because you are receiving structured settlement payments.

7. Structured settlement payments can be customized on a yearly basis to factor in for cost of living or additional expenses that may become apparent. That means that you can request that your payment amount be raised.

8. Structured settlements are protected from creditors and divorce. You cannot lose any amount of your settlement to a creditor that sues you or to your spouse in a divorce proceeding.

So if you are injured and have won the case, your attorney may talk to you about structured settlement annuity payments. Listen to his advice and the advice of a good financial advisor. A structured settlement may be the best way for you to receive your payments.

Structured Settlement Broker

The Importance of Choosing a Good Structured Settlement Broker

If you have won an case where you were awarded a large sum of money, you may be offered the money in payments over a specific period of time. This is called a structured settlement. This type of payment system will provide you with a guaranteed income on a regular basis until the whole settlement is paid. But for this whole process to work properly, you need the services of an experienced structured settlement broker.

It is the job of the structured settlement broker to help the parties understand the costs involved and to come up with a proper financial analysis. An experienced structured settlement broker will be able to develop the best payment plan that will best benefit the recipient.

A structured settlement is paid out by annuities that are backed by a life insurance company. These annuities can be paid in several different ways. The payee may choose to get a partial lump sum initially and then receive payments on a monthly basis, a quarterly basis or a yearly basis.

The payment structure can be changed over the life of the payment schedule in some cases. If the payee has medical needs arise, he can request an increase in payments to cover these costs. It is vital to have an experienced structure settlement broker working with you if this becomes the case.

Structured settlements can also be sold to get a cash payout. People may opt to do this if they need a large sum of cash right away. But it is important to keep in mind that selling a structured settlement will decrease the amount of money that you will get because you are given only a fraction of the total settlement sum.

If you sell your structured settlement, you are also giving up a guaranteed monthly income. These structured settlement payments are tax exempt and protected from creditors and divorce settlements. So you need to positive that the annuity payments are something that you want to part with.

Selling your structured settlement payments is a complex process and will take the advice of a good structured settlement broker. You should also consult your attorney before you decide to sell. You must be very careful in who you choose to sell your settlement to. Like everything else out there, there are unscrupulous companies that will take control of your settlement and not pay you. Some companies will not want to give you a fair price for your structured settlement. Therefore, it is critical that you have your attorney or structured settlement broker guide you when selling your structured settlement.

So never hesitate to employ the services of a structured settlement broker.

Why Sell a Structured Settlement?

A structured settlement is a payment that you will receive monthly, quarterly or yearly if you have been injured in an accident and are entitled to compensation. These payments may come for a few years or they may be set up to come over a lifetime. A structured payment is a guaranteed check to help support you and your family. But sometimes people want to sell a structured settlement. You may be asking yourself why someone would want to do this. Keep reading to uncover a few good reasons for selling a structured settlement.

The reasons that someone will sell a structured settlement are different for each individual. But one of the biggest reasons for selling is that money may be needed for a major operation or for medical equipment that can help enhance the life of the recipient. Sometimes, money is needed for other family members that have a health crisis.

For some people, selling off a structured settlement will allow them to purchase a home. Having a place to live without the worry of a mortgage or being evicted is enough of a reason for certain individuals to sell a structured settlement.

There are those that may be particularly savvy with the stock markets. These people may choose to sell a structured settlement to invest in stocks or bonds that will make them more money in the long run. This is probably the smartest reason to sell a structured settlement. But you must know what you are doing to make this work.

Older adults that have been involved in an accident and are getting structured settlements may choose to sell so that they can help their children or grandchildren. An older adult who receives a structured settlement for life realizes that they may not have many years left and may decide to use the money to enhance the lives of their children.

Regardless of the reason that someone may choose to sell a structured settlement they must do so carefully. They need to enlist the aid of a lawyer or financial specialist who is trained to sell structured settlements. Make sure that the individual that buys the settlement is on the up and up. You should also shop around for buyers, because one buyer may offer a higher price than the other.

Selling a structured settlement is a big decision and should not be taken lightly. When you sell a structured settlement you are virtually giving up a lifetime of steady income for a fraction of the price. But if you are positive that it is the best route to take, then by all means, go for it!

Annuity Payments

Sell Structured Settlement Annuity Payments

Structured settlement annuity recipients receiving payments over time can convert their future payments into cash.

You can choose to receive a lump sum cash payment for all or just some of your structured settlement annuity payments to:

• Eliminate debt
• Pay off high-interest credit cards
• Reduce your medical bills

Stone Street Capital is a leading lump sum structured settlement annuity company that can convert your future payments to cash.

The Lump Sum Option

The lump sum option gives you flexibility to sell your structured settlement annuity payments and get the up-front cash you need now. Life changes happen fast. Even though a structured settlement may have been the right choice at the time, things may have changed and you need money now.

Structured Settlement Annuity Buyer

Stone Street Capital will purchase your future payments for your settlement annuity payments resulting from a:

• Personal Injury Settlement
• Medical Malpractice Settlement
• Wrongful Death Settlement
• Lawsuit Settlement

About Stone Street Capital

Stone Street Capital is America's leading structured settlement annuity buyer. We are the oldest, most respected firm in the lump sum industry. For nearly 20 years, we have helped thousands of structured settlement annuity recipients convert some or all of their annuity payments into cash. We can help you too.

Cash for Annuity Payments

Do you own an annuity but need to access cash now? Stone Street Capital can turn some or all of your annuity cash payments into one lump sum of cash if you:

• Inherited an annuity payments and prefer cash
• Prefer a different investment vehicle
• Need a large amount of money but do not want a high interest loan

Whatever the reason, Stone Street Capital makes it easy to get cash for annuity payments.

The Lump Sum Option

A lot can happen during the time that you chose an annuity and today. It’s for this simple reason Stone Street Capital began offering the lump sum option nearly 20 years ago. Choosing the lump sum option with Stone Street Capital means you have the ability to turn some or all of your annual annuity cash payments into one large lump sum of cash.

How Do I Sell Annuity Payments?

If you are interested in converting some or all of your annuity into cash, or simply want to know how much you can get right now, call us today at 1-800-LUMP-SUM (800-586-7786).

About Stone Street Capital

In 1989, Stone Street Capital was created to give annuity owners, like you, financial options. Our unique programs allow you to tap into finances that would otherwise be out of reach. It's for this reason that so many annuity owners contact us again and again - because we get you access to the money you need. It's that simple.

Sell Annuity Settlement Payments

Structured settlements are set up for a reason - to provide you with income over time. However, things change and your situation may require you to access cash now.

Stone Street Capital offers annuity settlement recipients the option to receive a lump sum cash payment for all or some of your structured settlement annuity payments to:

• Pay off your home mortgage
• Reduce or eliminate debt
• Pay medical bills
• Pay off credit cards or other loans

The Lump Sum Option

Choosing the lump sum option with Stone Street Capital can give you the flexibility to sell annuity settlement payments and get the up-front cash you need now. Receiving annuity settlement payments over time may have been the right choice previously, but your situation may have changed. Even the best prepared person can face financial hardships.

Immediate Cash When You Sell Annuity Settlement Payments

You may sell annuity settlement payments resulting from a:

• Structured Settlement Personal Injury
• Wrongful Death Settlement
• Medical Malpractice Settlement
• Lawsuit Settlement
• Annuity

Let Us Help You

You may have many questions about the lump sum option. Our staff of experienced professionals understands your concerns. Whether you are ready for a free quote, or have additional questions about a lump sum transaction, we are here to help.

About Stone Street Capital

For almost 20 years, Stone Street Capital has been a leader in the specialty finance industry. With over $1 billion in originated transactions, we have helped thousands of clients nationwide. We can help you too.

Sell Annuity Information

If you are one of the many annuity owners looking for information on selling annuity payments, you are not alone. For almost 20 years, Stone Street Capital has helped thousands of annuity owners or recipients cash in their annuity payments for a large lump sum.

Why Cash in Now?

There are many reasons that cashing in your annuity makes sense.

• You may want to invest the cash into other products
• Your tax situation may have changed
• You need access to a large amount of money and a loan does not make sense

Whatever the reason, Stone Street Capital makes selling annuity payments fast and easy.

Sell Annuity Information

There are many reasons why cashing in some or all of your annuity payments makes sense. It could be an unexpected expense or change in your financial situation has occurred, or perhaps you were not the original owner of your annuity and would rather free up your money that would otherwise be out of reach.

Whatever the reason, Stone Street Capital makes it easy to convert some or all of your annuity payments into cash.

How Much Will You Get?

Fill out the quote form on this page or call 1-800-LUMP-SUM and one of our Annuity Lump Sum Experts will present you with customized lump sum options that match your needs.

Not ready for a quote just yet? Call 1-800-LUMP-SUM (800-586-7786) to receive more information on selling annuity payments and explore your options.

There is no cost and no obligation of any kind.

Why choose Stone Street Capital?

• We are the annuity lump sum experts: Founded in 1989 we have been helping settlement and annuity recipients for nearly 20 years.
• We have closed over $1 Billion in transactions
• Stone Street Capital puts annuity owners' rights first - We've lobbied to change restrictive laws and open up new financial alternatives for annuity owners.

Get Cash For Structured Settlement Payments

Structured settlement recipients: you can choose to receive lump sum cash for your structured settlement payments to:

• Pay off credit cards and other bills
• Eliminate debt
• Reduce your medical bills

Whether you are ready to receive cash for structured settlement payments or simply have questions about the lump sum option, call us today.

1-800-LUMP-SUM
(800-586-7786)
Free Call. Free Quote.

Receiving structured settlement payments is an excellent way for people to protect their financial security. But what happens when there are unexpected life changes? Isn't it great to know that you have an option to get cash for your:

• Structured settlement payments
• Personal injury structured settlement payments
• Structured settlement annuity payments

The Lump Sum Option

The lump sum option gives you flexibility to turn structured settlement payments into the immediate cash you need now. Even though a structured settlement may have made sense previously, life changes. No matter how prepared you are, sometimes you need cash to handle unforeseen circumstances. Accessing cash for structured settlement annuity payments may be the answer.

Immediate Cash When You Sell Structured Settlement Payments

You can sell structured settlement payments resulting from a:

• Lawsuit Settlement
• Medical Malpractice Settlement
• Personal Injury Structured Settlement
• Wrongful Death Settlement
• Structured Settlement Annuity

We Can Help You

The decision to sell structured settlement payments should not be taken lightly. While many times, the lump sum option makes sense, sometimes it doesn't. Our staff of experienced professionals understands you may have questions about the lump sum option. We will work with you to help you decide if getting cash for structured settlement payments makes sense for you.

About Stone Street Capital

Stone Street Capital has been a leader in the specialty finance industry for almost 20 years. In that time we have helped thousands of people receive immediate money for their future payment streams. Since 1989, we've paid over $1 Billion to people all across America and we are focused on helping our customers. We can help you too.

Eastern Colonial India

The Settlement of Structure of Eastern Colonial India/Paramita Majumdar. Delhi, Gagandeep Pub., 2007, xvi, 272 p., tables, maps, diagrams, ISBN 81-88865-01-X.

Contents: Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. 2. Settlement structure. 3. Economic structure. 4. Migration. 5. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

"The form of settlement in any particular region reflects Man's relationship with the environment. The pattern and structure of settlement in a space along with the organization of population provides fair idea about the levels of development achieved by that region. The history of Bengal presidency and the province of Bihar and Orissa have been most significant in the context of colonial rule in India. It went through most turbulent periods in terms of economic casualty, political instability, social transformation and cultural syntheses. The perceive the vicissitudes of changes in every sphere, the region is one of the best. Being a highly involved and complex area and the scene of many political events which shaped the society and economy, it is interesting to know how these forces played a decisive role in shaping the settlement structure of the region. The present study is an attempt towards understanding the settlement structure of the two provinces during 1901 and 1931. The main objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To observe the temporal variation in settlement structure in terms of density, distribution, growth and size of settlements.

2. To analyse the occupational distribution of the population in order to understand the economic structure of the settlements.

3. To analyse the difference in the density of population and settlement growth by observing the pattern and trend of migration.

Well illustrated with tables, maps and diagrams the book would meet the requirements of geographers, sociologists, historian, researchers and all others interested in the subject." (jacket)

the view of US. structured settlement

Structured Settlements in the United States

The United States has enacted structured settlement laws and regulations at both the federal and state levels. Federal structured settlement laws include sections of the (federal) Internal Revenue Code^[1]. State structured settlement laws include structured settlement protection statutes and periodic payment of judgment statutes. Medicaid and Medicare laws and regulations affect structured settlements. To preserve a claimant’s Medicare and Medicaid benefits, structured settlement payments may be incorporated into “Medicare Set Aside Arrangements” “Special Needs Trusts."

Structured settlements have been endorsed by many of the nation's largest disability rights organizations, including the American Association of People with Disabilities ^[2] and the National Organization on Disability ^[3].

[edit] Definitions

The United States definition of “structured settlement” for federal income taxation purposes, found in Internal Revenue Code Section 5891(c)(1) (26 U.S.C. § 5891(c)(1)), is an "arrangement" that meets the following requirements:

• A structured settlement must be established by:
  • A suit or agreement for periodic payment of damages excludable from gross income under Internal Revenue Code Section 104(a)(2) (26 U.S.C. § 104(a)(2)); or
  • An agreement for the periodic payment of compensation under any workers’ compensation law excludable under Internal Revenue Code Section 104(a)(1) (26 U.S.C. § 104(a)(1)); and
• The periodic payments must be of the character described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of Internal Revenue Code Section 130(c)(2) (26 U.S.C. § 130(c)(2))) and must be payable by a person who:
  • Is a party to the suit or agreement or to a workers' compensation claim; or
  • By a person who has assumed the liability for such periodic payments under a qualified assignment in accordance with Internal Revenue Code Section 130 (26 U.S.C. § 130).

[edit] Legal Structure

The typical structured settlement arises and is structured as follows: An injured party (the claimant) settles a tort suit with the defendant (or its insurance carrier) pursuant to a settlement agreement that provides that, in exchange for the claimant's securing the dismissal of the lawsuit, the defendant (or, more commonly, its insurer) agrees to make a series of periodic payments over time. The insurer, a property/casualty insurance company, thus finds itself with a long-term payment obligation to the claimant. To fund this obligation, the property/casualty insurer generally takes one of two typical approaches: It either purchases an annuity from a life insurance company (an arrangement called a "buy and hold" case) or it assigns (or, more properly, delegates) its periodic payment obligation to a third party which in turn purchases an annuity (which arrangement is called an "assigned case").

In an unassigned case, the property/casualty insurer retains the periodic payment obligation and funds it by purchasing an annuity from a life insurance company, thereby offsetting its obligation with a matching asset. The payment stream purchased under the annuity matches exactly, in timing and amounts, the periodic payments agreed to in the settlement agreement. The property/casualty company owns the annuity and names the claimant as the payee under the annuity, thereby directing the annuity issuer to send payments directly to the claimant. If any of the periodic payments are life-contingent (i.e., the obligation to make a payment is contingent on someone continuing to be alive), then the claimant (or whoever is determined to be the measuring life) is named as the annuitant or measuring life under the annuity.

In an assigned case, the property/casualty company does not wish to retain the long-term periodic payment obligation on its books. Accordingly, the property/casualty insurer transfers the obligation, through a legal device called a qualified assignment, to a third party. The third party, called an assignment company, will require the property/casualty company to pay it an amount sufficient to enable it to buy an annuity that will fund its newly accepted periodic payment obligation. If the claimant consents to the transfer of the periodic payment obligation (either in the settlement agreement or, failing that, in a special form of qualified assignment known as a qualified assignment and release), the defendant and/or its property/casualty company has no further liability to make the periodic payments. This method of substituting the obligor is desirable for property/casualty companies that do not want to retain the periodic payment obligation on their books. Typically, an assignment company is an affiliate of the life insurance company from which the annuity is purchased.

An assignment is said to be "qualified" if it satisfies the criteria set forth in Internal Revenue Code Section 130. Qualification of the assignment is important to assignment companies because without it the amount they receive to induce them to accept periodic payment obligations would be considered income for federal income tax purposes. If an assignment qualifies under Section 130, however, the amount received is excluded from the income of the assignment company. This provision of the tax code was enacted to encourage assigned cases; without it, assignment companies would owe federal income taxes but would typically have no source from which to make the payments.