Antonio de Nebrija was the most influential Spanish humanist of his era. He wrote poetry, commented on literary works, encouraged the study of classical languages and literature but his most important contributions were in the fields of grammar and lexicography. Nebrija was the author of the first Spanish grammar and the first dictionary of the Spanish language, his grammar is credited as the first published grammar of any Romance language. His chief works were published and republished many times during and after his life and his scholarship had a great influence for more than a century, both in Spain and in the expanding Spanish Empire. Nebrija was baptized Antonio Martínez de Cala. In typical Renaissance humanist fashion, he Latinized his name as Aelius Antonius Nebrissensis by taking Aelius from the Roman inscriptions of his native Lebrija, known in Roman times as Nebrissa Veneria, he was known as Antonio de Lebrija, Antonius Nebrissensis, Antonio de Lebrixa. Nebrija was born into a hidalgo family in Nebrixa, a town now called Lebrija in the province of Seville.

His parents were Catalina de Xarana. He was the second of five children. There is some uncertainty about his date of birth. Nebrija wrote that he was born the year before the Battle of Olmedo in 1445, putting his birthday in 1444 but elsewhere he makes other references that would contradict this date. Traditionally, 1444 has been accepted as his year of birth. At age fourteen Nebrija enrolled at the University of Salamanca, where he studied mathematics, philosophy and theology; these latter topics earned him a scholarship from the bishopric of Seville to study theology at the Royal College of Spain in Bologna. Little is known about his studies in Italy except that he was inspired by the works of the Italian humanists Lorenzo Valla. After ten years in Italy Nebrija returned to Spain armed with the new concepts of Renaissance humanism. Once back in Spain, Nebrija served Alonso de Fonseca y Ulloa, archbishop of Seville, for three years; when Fonseca died in 1473, Nebrija returned to the University of Salamanca as a lecturer.

In 1476 he was appointed First Chair of Grammar and in 1481 he published his first work, the Introductiones latinae, a textbook on Latin grammar and literature. The first printing of 1,000 copies sold out and was reprinted dozens of times in his lifetime, he married Isabel Montesino de Solís in 1487 and fathered seven children. When Juan de Zúñiga, the master of the Order of Alcántara, offered him patronage, Nebrija quit the university in Salamanca and moved to Badajoz, where he lived for the next twelve years. After the success of his Latin textbook, Nebrija's literary scholarship turned to focus on Castilian rather than classical languages. In 1492 he published Gramática de la lengua castellana, which he dedicated to Queen Isabella I of Castile, his book was one of the first to codify a European vernacular language, it had considerable political and scholarly influence. Nebrija recognized. In his dedication he wrote to Isabella that language was "the instrument of empire" and suggested that his grammar would prove useful as the Catholic Monarchs conquered peoples who spoke languages other than Castilian.

In 1492 Nebrija published the Diccionario latino-español. It was not the first Latin-Spanish dictionary but it would become hugely influential, in part because a few years he reversed the order and published his Vocabulario español-latino in 1495. For the next century, the Spanish-Latin vocabulary continued to evolve with new words and translations, it served as the basis for other authors developing non-Latin translating dictionaries including Spanish-Arabic, Spanish-Nahuatl and Spanish-Tagalog. After publishing his dictionaries Nebrija turned his attention to biblical scholarship, he wanted to improve the text and interpretation of the Bible by using the same critical analysis that Italian humanists had applied to classical literature. Around 1504 he fell under the suspicion of Diego de Deza, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, who confiscated and destroyed his work. In 1507 Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros succeeded Deza as inquisitor general. Cisneros allowed Nebrija to resume his biblical studies and he published a series of works that used the techniques of humanist scholarship to address problems of biblical translation and interpretation.

Nebrija served on the editorial committee assembled by Jiménez to prepare the Complutensian Polyglot Bible. He clashed with the more conservative editors, who resisted his humanist approach to translating the Bible. Jiménez supported the conservative viewpoint and Nebrija's input was ignored when the finished work was published in 1517. Nebrija wrote or translated a large number of other works on a variety of subjects, including theology, archaeology and commentaries on Sedulius and Persius. Nebrija died on 5 July 1522 in Acala de Spain, his possible grandson Antonio de Lebrija was conquistador in Colombia and treasurer of the Spanish conquest of the Muisca expedition. Introductiones latinae, 1481 Gramática de la lengua castellana, 1492 Diccionario latino-español, 1492 Vocabulario español-latino, ca. 1495 Iuris civilis lexicon 1506 Artis rhetoricae, 1515 Reglas de ortografía española, 1517 Posthumously published Reglas de ortografía en la lengua castellana, 1523 English Grendler, Paul F. ed..

"Antonio de Nebrija". Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Charles Scribner's Sons. Hamann, Byron Ellsworth (2015

Tidal Wave is a 2009 South Korean disaster film directed by Yoon Je-kyoon and starring Sol Kyung-gu, Ha Ji-won, Park Joong-hoon and Uhm Jung-hwa. Billed as South Korea's first disaster film, the film released theatrically on 22 July 2009 and received more than 11 million admissions nationwide; the film's English name is technically incorrect since its theme refers to a tsunami rather than a tidal wave. Located on the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula, the Haeundae district of Busan draws one million visitors to its beaches every year; the film follows the stories of many characters who all get caught up in a terrible tsunami in which they must make life-or-death decisions. Five years ago, Man-sik, a Haeundae local, lost Yeon-hee's father due to his mistake in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; because of this, he could not become involved with Yeon-hee, who runs an unlicensed seafood restaurant, despite her attempts to start a relationship. Dong-choon and Seung-hyun's grandma team up with Seung-hyun and get involved with some illegal activity to earn money, but end up getting caught by the police.

Man-sik plans to propose to Yeon-hee. Geologist Kim Hwi runs into Yoo-jin. Although Yoo-jin has a daughter named Ji-min and a new boyfriend Hae-chan, they decide not to tell their daughter that Hwi is her real father. A wealthy college student from Seoul, Hee-mi, accidentally falls into the sea from a yacht. Hyeong-sik, Man-sik's younger brother, is a lifeguard. Hee-mi becomes angered by the'violent' rescue annoys him by following him around and the two begin to fall in love. Hwi notices that the Sea of Japan is displaying similar activity to the Indian Ocean at the time of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; the Disaster Prevention Agency assures him that South Korea is at no risk, but a megatsunami soon forms near Japan and starts to travel towards Haeundae. Hwi realizes. There is a short earthquake at Haeundae; the sea starts receding from the shore, causing mass hysteria as people realize that a tsunami is coming. Thousands of people run for their lives. Dong-choon, Seung-hyun, his grandma, other people on the Gwangan Bridge are swept away by the sea.

A powerful electric shock from a telephone pole on a street where Man-sik and Yeon-hee are electrocutes everyone in the water, but the two survive. Dong-choon awakens on the bridge but when he tries to light a cigarette, his portable lighter falls into petrol leaking from a tanker. An explosion results. Hyeong-sik saves Hee-mi in the sea; when Hyeong-sik and the rest of the group are together on the rope, Hyeong-sik realizes that the rope is about to break and only one can go up to the helicopter. He falls into the violent sea; the elevator Yoo-jin is trapped in floods with water, she talks in tears to her daughter Ji-min on her phone. Yoo-jin is saved by a worker. On the roof, she meets Hwi; the two help their daughter get on a crowded rescue helicopter. Before the helicopter leaves, Hwi tells his daughter that he is her father. Yoo-jin and Hwi hug each other. After the tsunami, there is a funeral for the thousands of people who were killed. Among the dead is Hyeong-sik and Man-sik's uncle. Dong-choon finds out that his mother breaks into tears.

Many people help reconstruct the city. Man-sik, while cleaning the ruins of Yeon-hee's restaurant, finds the red ribbon which Yeon-hee said was a'yes' to his proposal; the movie in a hopeful atmosphere. Distribution rights for Haeundae was sold to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Czech Republic, Hungary, Quebec, United Kingdom and Turkey; the film was released in South Korea on 22 July 2009. As of 20 September 2009, Haeundae had received a total of 11,301,649 admissions in South Korean theatres. In English-speaking countries, the film was released as Tidal Wave. In the United Kingdom, the DVD was released on October 2009 from Entertainment One. Official website Haeundae at HanCinema Haeundae at the Korean Movie Database Haeundae on IMDb Tidal Wave at Rotten Tomatoes Tidal Wave at AllMovie

Optional Federal Charter is a proposal to streamline and simplify US insurance regulation by allowing insurance companies to choose between a current state-based regulatory system and a single federal regulatory agency. This would mean that insurance companies would be regulated something like banks: they could choose either a state charter or a federal one; the proposed new federal regulatory system would be housed within the United States Department of the Treasury. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson came out in favor of an Optional Federal Charter on March 31, 2008. Groups on both sides of the issue have offered numerous arguments against the concept. Proponents promise a freer, more open market for insurance that would benefit consumers, increase product innovation, help the economy. Opponents, on the other hand, believe that a new federal regulator will impose burdensome bureaucratic rules, squelch competition, needlessly increase federal power. Larger insurance companies which operate in multiple states favor the proposal, saying it would cut industry-wide costs by billions per year without reducing consumer protections and encourage free-market competition for insurance on the national level.

They say that the current state-run regulatory system makes it more difficult for insurers to bring innovative products to the market, consumers are the ones who pay the price for the inefficiencies of the state-run regulatory system through higher prices. Groups that support an OFC include Agents For Change, the American Insurance Association, the United States Chamber of Commerce, a variety of free-market groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute and FreedomWorks. Both the 2007 Bloomberg-Schumer Report and the Financial Services Roundtable’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Mega Catastrophes have called on Congress to enact Optional Federal Charter legislation. Opponents contend that insurers want an OFC because the current federal OFC bills would end the state practice of overseeing—and in some cases setting—the particular rates that insurance companies charge. Groups like the Consumer Federation of America argue that this process of government rate setting tends to provide lower prices for consumers.

Opponents argue that the state-based system does a more efficient job responding to local consumer needs and desires. Agents For Change American Consumer Institute American Insurance Association Competitive Enterprise Institute FreedomWorks National Association of Insurance Commissioners National Conference of Insurance Legislators Consumer Federation of America Optional Federal Charter Frequently Asked Questions News and Commentary on an Optional Federal Charter for Insurance