title: Shiva Baby

text: "Shiva Baby" was praised both as and despite being a feature debut. Jon Frosch of "The Hollywood Reporter" said the film is worthy of comparison to films made by others later in their career, specifically saying it may be a "softer" version of the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man". Other critics noted Seligman's youth in these terms; in "Script" magazine, Tom Stempel compared her to Orson Welles "when he made you know what", and, in "Vanity Fair", Jordan Hoffman compared her to Steven Spielberg making "Duel". It also received positive reviews for its handling of modern topics. Nelson wrote that it "takes a fresh perspective on the [messy millennial<nowiki>]</nowiki> trope that mirrors experience and compels emotion". Several critics were impressed that "Shiva Baby" does not present Danielle's sex work negatively, and Allyson Johnson of "The Young Folks" felt that while the film is ostensibly coming-of-age, "what makes [it] so instantly transcendent of some of its contemporaries is how much it acknowledges that, despite Danielle's initial presentation, she's still just a brat sometimes". Others noted that while "Shiva Baby" is rooted in its Jewish identity, it is relatable and its awkward comedy universal. Frosch felt that the film could have explored some of its themes more deeply, and there were different views on the film's runtime: Kate Taylor of "The Globe and Mail" felt that it gets stretched long, while Jason Gorber of "/Film" wrote that the "brisk 77 minute running time means the film never overstays its welcome".


title: Shiva Baby

text: Various critics praise the characters and ensemble cast at the film's center. Juan Antonio Barquin of the "Miami New Times" wrote that the cast embody the specificity and complex relationships of their characters. For "The Film Stage", Zhuo-Ning Su compared the ensemble to that of "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", calling them a "group of comedic genius". Frosch commented that Seligman's script may lean too much into stereotypes, but this is mitigated by the talented cast. In the lead role, Sennott was highlighted in several reviews, with Parker saying that she gave "a wonderful, star making performance". Other critics looked at the chemistry of Sennott and Gordon's characters, and highlighted other actors.


title: Shiva Baby

text: "Shiva Baby" has received many awards and nominations, particularly for Seligman's writing and directing as her feature film debut, and lead actress Sennott. Seligman was nominated for a Directors Guild Award; casting director Kate Geller won a Casting Society of America award; and the film won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award, in 2022. It also won a National Board of Review Award for 2021, and production designer Cheyenne Ford was selected to the 2021 BAFTA Breakthrough US cohort thanks to her work on the film. Between 2020 and 2022 it won a variety of critics', festival, and media titles; for 2020 and, especially, 2021, it was included on many best-of lists.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: A stand-your-ground law (sometimes called "line in the sand" or "no duty to retreat" law) provides that people may use deadly force when they reasonably believe it to be necessary to defend against certain violent crimes (right of self-defense). Under such a law, people have no duty to retreat before using deadly force in self-defense, so long as they are in a place where they are lawfully present. The exact details vary by jurisdiction.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: The alternative to stand your ground is "duty to retreat". In jurisdictions that implement a duty to retreat, even a person who is unlawfully attacked (or who is defending someone who is unlawfully attacked) may not use deadly force if it is possible to instead avoid the danger with complete safety by retreating.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Even areas that impose a duty to retreat generally follow the "castle doctrine", under which people have no duty to retreat when they are attacked in their homes, or (in some places) in their vehicles or workplaces. The castle doctrine and "stand-your-ground" laws provide legal defenses to persons who have been charged with various use of force crimes against persons, such as murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, and illegal discharge or brandishing of weapons, as well as attempts to commit such crimes.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Whether a jurisdiction follows stand-your-ground or duty-to-retreat is just one element of its self-defense laws. Different jurisdictions allow deadly force against different crimes. All American states allow it against deadly force, great bodily injury, and likely kidnapping or rape; some also allow it against threat of robbery and burglary.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: A 2020 RAND Corporation review of existing research concluded that "There is supportive evidence that stand-your-ground laws are associated with increases in firearm homicides and moderate evidence that they increase the total number of homicides."


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Stand-your-ground laws are frequently labeled "shoot first" laws by opposition groups, including the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. In Florida, self-defense claims tripled in the years following enactment. Opponents argue that Florida's law makes it potentially more difficult to prosecute cases against individuals who commit a crime and claim self-defense. Before passage of the law, Miami police chief John F. Timoney called the law unnecessary and dangerous in that "[w]hether it's trick-or-treaters or kids playing in the yard of someone who doesn't want them there or some drunk guy stumbling into the wrong house, you're encouraging people to possibly use deadly physical force where it shouldn't be used." A counterargument is that implementing a duty-to-retreat places the safety of the criminal above a victim's own life.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In Florida, a task force created by former Democratic state Sen. Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale found the law to be "confusing". Those discussing issues with the group included Buddy Jacobs, a lawyer representing the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association. Jacobs recommended the law's repeal, stating that modifying the law would not fix its problems. In a July 16, 2013 speech in the wake of the jury verdict acquitting George Zimmerman of charges stemming from the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Attorney General Eric Holder criticized stand-your-ground laws as "senselessly expand[ing] the concept of self-defense and sow[ing] dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods."


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In 2014, Florida's legislature considered a bill that would allow people to show a gun or fire a warning shot during a confrontation without drawing a lengthy prison sentence. In 2017, there was a bill proposed in Florida's state legislature that would require the prosecution to prove that a defendant's use of self-defense was not valid. In 2018, the shooting of Markeis McGlockton led some civil rights activists and politicians to call for abolition of the statute.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In 2012, in response to the Trayvon Martin case, the "Tampa Bay Times" compiled a report on the application of stand your ground, and also created a database of cases where defendants sought to invoke the law. The database included many cases that were not legally stand your ground, such as when the defender was in the home or had no safe opportunity to flee, so care must be taken in its evaluation in regards to stand your ground law. Their report found no racial disparity in Florida cases in which defendants claiming self-defense under the law are prosecuted, with Caucasian subjects being charged and convicted at the same rate as African American subjects, and results of mixed-race cases were similar for both white victims of black attackers and black victims of white attackers. Victims of African American attackers overall were more successful at using the law than victims of Caucasian attackers, regardless of the victim's race claiming self-defense, but analysis showed that black attackers were also more likely to be armed and to be involved in committing a crime, such as burglary, when shot.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: A Texas A&M study found that when whites use the stand-your-ground defense against black attackers they are more successful than when blacks use the defense against white attackers. A paper from The Urban Institute which analysed FBI data found that in stand-your-ground states, the use of the defense by whites in the shooting of a black person is found to be justifiable 17 percent of the time, while the defense when used by blacks in the shooting of a white person is successful 1 percent of the time. In non-stand-your-ground states, the shooting of a black person by a white is found justified approximately 9 percent of the time, while the shooting of a white person by a black is found justified approximately 1 percent of the time. According to the Urban Institute, in Stand Your Ground states, white-on-black homicides are 354 percent more likely to be ruled justified than white-on-white homicides, even though they are more common by over 72 percent. The paper's author noted that the data used do not detail the circumstances of the shooting, which could be a source of the disparity. They also noted that the total number of shootings in the FBI dataset of black victims by whites was 25. A 2015 study found that cases with white victims are two times more likely to result in convictions under Florida's stand your ground law than cases with black victims, although the study did not exclude many cases that were not legally stand your ground under the law.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: A 2018 RAND Corporation review of existing research concluded that "there is moderate evidence that stand-your-ground laws may increase homicide rates and limited evidence that the laws increase firearm homicides in particular." In 2019, RAND authors published an update, writing "Since publication of RAND's report, at least four additional studies meeting RAND's standards of rigor have reinforced the finding that "stand your ground" laws increase homicides. None of them found that "stand your ground" laws deter violent crime. No rigorous study has yet determined whether "stand your ground" laws promote legitimate acts of self-defense.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: A 2017 study in the "Journal of Human Resources" found that Stand Your Ground laws led to an increase in homicides and hospitalizations related to firearm-inflicted injuries. The study estimated that at least 30 people died per month due to the laws. A 2013 study in the "Journal of Human Resources" found that Stand Your Ground laws in states across the U.S. "do not deter burglary, robbery, or aggravated assault. In contrast, they lead to a statistically significant 8 percent net increase in the number of reported murders." A 2016 study in the "Social Science Journal" found that stand-your-ground laws were not associated with lower crime rates. A 2016 study in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" compared homicide rates in Florida following the passage of its "stand your ground" self-defense law to the rates in four control states, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Virginia, which have no similar laws. It found that the law was associated with a 24.4% increase in homicide and a 31.6% increase in firearm-related homicide, but no change in rates of suicide or suicide by firearm, between 2005 and 2014. It noted that, "[c]ircumstances unique to Florida may have contributed to our findings, including those that we could not identify," and "[o]ur study examined the effect of the Florida law on homicide and homicide by firearm, not on crime and public safety". The study was criticized by researcher and gun rights advocate John Lott, for studying only one state and focusing on a narrow definition of effectiveness. Studies conducted by Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center found that the loosening of restrictions on defensive gun use, including “stand your ground laws”, led to a decrease in crime overall. Self-defense law subject matter expert Andrew Branca was critical of the AMA study for not distinguishing between justifiable homicides and murder, and for relying solely on statutory laws while overlooking case law (i.e. Virginia) in determining the data set. The study's methodology was defended by Duke University professor Jeffrey Swanson for its use of other states as controls, saying "[t]hey look at comparable trends in states that didn't pass the law and don't see the effect.".


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In a 2007 National District Attorneys Association symposium, numerous concerns were voiced that the law could increase crime. This included criminals using the law as a defense for their crimes, more people carrying guns, and that people would not feel safe if they felt that anyone could use deadly force in a conflict. The report also noted that the misinterpretation of clues could result in the use of deadly force when there was, in fact, no danger. The report specifically notes that racial and ethnic minorities could be at greater risk because of negative stereotypes.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: A 2012 study examined whether a prominent Stand Your Ground shooting, Joe Horn shooting controversy, in 2007, which brought public attention to Texas' stand-your-ground law impacted crime. The study found that subsequent to the shooting, burglaries decreased significantly in Houston, but not in Dallas, over a 20-month period. A 2015 study found that the adoption of Oklahoma's stand-your-ground law was associated with a decrease in residential burglaries, but also that the law had "the unintended consequence of increasing the number of non-residential burglaries."


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Florida's stand-your-ground law went into effect on October 1, 2005. Florida state representative Dennis Baxley, an author of the law, said that the violent crime rate has dropped since the enactment of the law, though he said there may be many reasons for the change. Others have argued that the law may lead to an increase in crime. Violent crime data for 1995 – 2015 has been published by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In Canada, there is no duty to retreat under the law. Canada's laws regarding self-defence are similar in nature to those of England, as they centre around the acts committed, and whether or not those acts are considered reasonable in the circumstances. Generally where retreat is available in the circumstances, the decision to stand your ground is more likely to be unreasonable. The sections of the Canadian criminal code that deal with self-defense or defence of property are sections 34 and 35, respectively. These sections were updated in 2012 to clarify the code, and to help legal professionals apply the law in accordance with the values Canadians hold to be acceptable.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: A great deal of case law has emerged from different provincial superior courts regarding the interpretation of the elements of self-defence per ss. 34-35 of the "Criminal Code". In Ontario, jurors are not permitted "...to consider whether an accused could have retreated from his or her own home in the face of an attack (or threatened attack) by an assailant in assessing the elements of self-defence.” In British Columbia, the leading case law of which predates the 2012 ss. 34-35 amendments, courts will permit juries to consider available lines of retreat in deciding whether an accused had no other option than to defend himself. However, the option of retreat is not considered a categorical exclusion from self-defence.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: The province of Alberta is unique among Canadian jurisdictions in affording civil immunity to occupiers who employ force, including lethal force, in defence of homes and other premises. In 2019, the Alberta legislature passed the Trespass Statutes (Protecting Law-Abiding Property Owners) Amendment Act, 2019, in response to rising rural crime, public concern with police inaction and several high-profile self-defence shootings the previous year. Especially influential was the case of Edouard Maurice, who wounded a trespasser and was served with a lawsuit after having criminal charges against him dropped.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: There is no explicit stand-your-ground or castle doctrine provision in the laws of the Czech Republic; however, there is also no duty to retreat from an attack. In order for a defense to be judged as legitimate, it may not be "manifestly disproportionate to the manner of the attack".


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: The common law jurisdiction of England and Wales has a stand-your-ground law rooted in the common law defence of using reasonable force in self-defence.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In English common law there is no duty to retreat before a person may use reasonable force against an attacker, nor need a person wait to be attacked before using such force, but one who chooses not to retreat, when retreat would be a safe and easy option, might find it harder to justify his use of force as 'reasonable'.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Any force used must be reasonable in the circumstances as the person honestly perceived them to be, after making allowance for the fact that some degree of excess force might still be reasonable in the heat of the moment.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In the home, the householder is protected by an additional piece of legislation in which it is specified that force used against an intruder is not to be regarded as reasonable if it is 'grossly disproportionate' (as distinct from merely 'disproportionate' force, which can still be reasonable).


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Like England and Wales, France has a stand-your-ground law rooted in the defence of using reasonable force in self-defence.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Under article 122-5 of French Criminal Code, a person who, faced with an unjustified attack on himself or another, at the same time performs an act required by the need for self-defense of himself or another, is not criminally responsible, unless there is a disproportion between the means of defense used and the seriousness of the attack. There is no duty to retreat before a person may use reasonable force against an attacker, nor need a person wait to be attacked before using such force, but one who chooses not to retreat, when retreat would be a safe and easy option, might find it harder to justify his use of force by the need for self-defense.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Any force used must be reasonable in the circumstances as the person honestly perceived them to be, after making allowance for the fact that some degree of excess force might still be reasonable in the heat of the moment. The person who performs the act is presumed to have acted in self-defense:


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: German law permits self-defense against an unlawful attack. If there is no other possibility for defense, it is generally allowed to use even deadly force without a duty to retreat. However, there must not be an extreme imbalance (""extremes Missverhältnis"") between the defended right and the chosen method of defense. In particular, in case firearms are used, a warning shot must be given when defending a solely material asset. If the self-defense was excessive, its perpetrator is not to be punished if he or she exceeded on account of confusion, fear or terror.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Under the terms of the Criminal Law (Defence and the Dwelling) Act 2011, property owners or residents are entitled to defend themselves with force, up to and including lethal force. Any individual who uses force against a trespasser is not guilty of an offense if he or she honestly believes they were there to commit a criminal act and a threat to life. However, there is a further provision which requires that the reaction to the intruder is such that another reasonable person in the same circumstances would likely employ it. This provision acts as a safeguard against grossly disproportionate use of force, while still allowing a person to use force in nearly all circumstances.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: Stand your ground law applies to any kind of threat by an attacker that endangers the victim's safety, health, or life. The victim has no obligation to retreat, as said in a statement by the Supreme Court of Poland on February 4, 1972: "The assaulted person is under no obligation either to escape or hide from the assailant in a locked room, nor to endure the assault restricting his freedom, but has the right to repel the assault with all available means that are necessary to force the assailant to refrain from continuing his assault."


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In practice, according to the judgments of the Polish courts, the right to self-defense is very rarely used, and if being used is the basis for applying criminal charges. For these reasons, self-defense is very rarely used as a basis for acquittal in Polish courts.


title: Stand-your-ground law

text: In 2019, the Italian senate passed a "legitimate defence" bill, protecting the right to self-defence for private citizens of Italy.


title: East Prussia

text: East Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's Free State of Prussia, until 1945. Its capital city was Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad). East Prussia was the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast.


title: East Prussia

text: The bulk of the ancestral lands of the Baltic Old Prussians were enclosed within East Prussia. During the 13th century, the native Prussians were conquered by the crusading Teutonic Knights. After the conquest the indigenous Balts were gradually converted to Christianity. Because of Germanization and colonisation over the following centuries, Germans became the dominant ethnic group, while Masurians and Lithuanians formed minorities. From the 13th century, East Prussia was part of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. After the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466 it became a fief of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1525, with the Prussian Homage, the province became the Duchy of Prussia. The Old Prussian language had become extinct by the 17th or early 18th century.


title: East Prussia

text: Because the duchy was outside of the core Holy Roman Empire, the prince-electors of Brandenburg were able to proclaim themselves King beginning in 1701. After the annexation of most of western Royal Prussia in the First Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772, eastern (ducal) Prussia was connected by land with the rest of the Prussian state and was reorganized as a province the following year (1773). Between 1829 and 1878, the Province of East Prussia was joined with West Prussia to form the Province of Prussia.


title: East Prussia

text: The Kingdom of Prussia became the leading state of the German Empire after its creation in 1871. However, the Treaty of Versailles following World War I granted West Prussia to Poland and made East Prussia an exclave of Weimar Germany (the new Polish Corridor separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany), while the Memel Territory was detached and annexed by Lithuania in 1923. Following Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II in 1945, war-torn East Prussia was divided at Joseph Stalin's insistence between the Soviet Union (the Kaliningrad Oblast became part of the Russian SFSR, and the constituent counties of the Klaipėda Region in the Lithuanian SSR) and the People's Republic of Poland (the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship). The capital city Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. The German population of the province was largely evacuated during the war or expelled shortly afterwards in the expulsion of Germans after World War II. An estimated 300,000 died either in war time bombing raids, in the battles to defend the province, or through mistreatment by the Red Army or from hunger, cold and disease.


title: East Prussia

text: At the instigation of Duke Konrad I of Masovia, the Teutonic Knights took possession of Prussia in the 13th century and created a monastic state to administer the conquered Old Prussians. Local Old-Prussian (north) and Polish (south) toponyms were gradually Germanised. The Knights' expansionist policies, including occupation of Polish Pomerania with Gdańsk/Danzig and western Lithuania, brought them into conflict with the Kingdom of Poland and embroiled them in several wars, culminating in the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War, whereby the united armies of Poland and Lithuania, defeated the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410. Its defeat was formalised in the Second Treaty of Thorn in 1466 ending the Thirteen Years' War, and leaving the former Polish region Pomerania/Pomerelia under Polish control. Together with Warmia it formed the province of Royal Prussia. Eastern Prussia remained under the Knights but as a fief of Poland. 1466 and 1525 arrangements by kings of Poland were not verified by the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the previous gains of the Teutonic Knights, were not verified.


title: East Prussia

text: The Teutonic Order lost eastern Prussia when Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach converted to Lutheranism and secularized the Prussian branch of the Teutonic Order in 1525. Albert established himself as the first duke of the Duchy of Prussia and a vassal of the Polish crown by the Prussian Homage. Walter von Cronberg, the next Grand Master, was enfeoffed with the title to Prussia after the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, but the Order never regained possession of the territory. In 1569 the Hohenzollern prince-electors of the Margraviate of Brandenburg became co-regents with Albert's son, the feeble-minded Albert Frederick.


title: East Prussia

text: The Administrator of Prussia, the grandmaster of the Teutonic Order Maximilian III, son of emperor Maximilian II died in 1618. When Maximilian died, Albert's line died out, and the Duchy of Prussia passed to the Electors of Brandenburg, forming Brandenburg-Prussia. Taking advantage of the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655, and instead of fulfilling his vassal's duties towards the Polish Kingdom, by joining forces with the Swedes and subsequent treaties of Wehlau, Labiau, and Oliva, Elector and Duke Frederick William succeeded in revoking the king of Poland's sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia in 1660. The absolutist elector also subdued the noble estates of Prussia.


title: East Prussia

text: Although Brandenburg was a part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Prussian lands were not within the Holy Roman Empire and were with the administration by the Teutonic Order grandmasters under jurisdiction of the Emperor. In return for supporting Emperor Leopold I in the War of the Spanish Succession, Elector Frederick III was allowed to crown himself "King in Prussia" in 1701. The new kingdom ruled by the Hohenzollern dynasty became known as the Kingdom of Prussia. The designation "Kingdom of Prussia" was gradually applied to the various lands of Brandenburg-Prussia. To differentiate it from the larger entity, the former Duchy of Prussia became known as "Altpreußen" ("Old Prussia"), the province of Prussia, or "East Prussia".


title: East Prussia

text: Approximately one-third of East Prussia's population died in the Great Northern War plague outbreak and famine of 1709–1711, including the last speakers of Old Prussian. The plague, probably brought by foreign troops during the Great Northern War, killed 250,000 East Prussians, especially in the province's eastern regions. Crown Prince Frederick William I led the rebuilding of East Prussia, founding numerous towns. Thousands of Protestants expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg were allowed to settle in depleted East Prussia. The province was overrun by Imperial Russian troops during the Seven Years' War.


title: East Prussia

text: In the 1772 First Partition of Poland, the Prussian king Frederick the Great annexed neighboring Royal Prussia, i.e., the Polish voivodeships of Pomerania (Gdańsk Pomerania or Pomerelia), Malbork, Chełmno and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, thereby connecting his Prussian and Farther Pomeranian lands and cutting the rest of Poland from the Baltic coast. The territory of Warmia was incorporated into the lands of former Ducal Prussia, which, by administrative deed of 31 January 1772 were named "East Prussia". The former Polish Pomerelian lands beyond the Vistula River together with Malbork and Chełmno Land formed the Province of West Prussia with its capital at Marienwerder (Kwidzyn) in 1773. The Polish Partition Sejm ratified the cession on 30 September 1772, whereafter Frederick officially went on to call himself a King "of" Prussia.


title: East Prussia

text: The former Ducal Prussian districts of Eylau (Iława), Marienwerder, Riesenburg (Prabuty) and Schönberg (Szymbark) passed to West Prussia. Until the Prussian reforms of 1808, the administration in East Prussia was transferred to the General War and Finance Directorate in Berlin, represented by two local chamber departments:


title: East Prussia

text: On 31 January 1773, King Frederick II announced that the newly annexed lands were to be known as the Province of West Prussia, while the former Duchy of Prussia and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia became the Province of East Prussia.


title: East Prussia

text: After the disastrous defeat of the Royal Prussian Army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806, Napoleon occupied Berlin and had the officials of the Prussian General Directorate swear an oath of allegiance to him, while King Frederick William III and his consort Louise fled via Königsberg and the Curonian Spit to Memel. The French Grande Armée troops immediately took up pursuit but were delayed in the Battle of Eylau on 9 February 1807 by an East Prussian contingent under General Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq. Napoleon had to stay at the Finckenstein Palace, but in May, after a siege of 75 days, his troops led by Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre were able to capture the city of Danzig, which had been tenaciously defended by General Count Friedrich Adolf von Kalkreuth. On 14 June, Napoleon ended the War of the Fourth Coalition with his victory at the Battle of Friedland. Frederick William and Queen Louise met with Napoleon for peace negotiations, and on 9 July the Prussian king signed the Treaty of Tilsit.


title: East Prussia

text: The succeeding Prussian reforms instigated by Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein and Karl August von Hardenberg included the implementation of an "Oberlandesgericht" appellation court at Königsberg, a municipal corporation, economic freedom as well as emancipation of the serfs and Jews. In the course of the Prussian restoration by the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the East Prussian territories were re-arranged in the "Regierungsbezirke" of Gumbinnen and Königsberg. From 1905, the southern districts of East Prussia formed the separate "Regierungsbezirk" of Allenstein. East and West Prussia were first united in personal union in 1824 and then merged in a real union in 1829 to form the Province of Prussia. The united province was again split into separate East and West Prussian provinces in 1878.


title: East Prussia

text: From 1824 to 1878, East Prussia was combined with West Prussia to form the Province of Prussia, after which they were reestablished as separate provinces. Along with the rest of the Kingdom of Prussia, East Prussia became part of the German Empire during the unification of Germany in 1871.


title: East Prussia

text: From 1885 to 1890 Berlin's population grew by 20%, Brandenburg and the Rhineland gained 8.5%, Westphalia 10%, while East Prussia lost 0.07% and West Prussia 0.86%. This stagnancy in population despite a high birth surplus in eastern Germany was because many people from the East Prussian countryside moved westward to seek work in the expanding industrial centres of the Ruhr Area and Berlin (see "Ostflucht").


title: East Prussia

text: The population of the province in 1900 was 1,996,626 people, with a religious makeup of 1,698,465 Protestants, 269,196 Roman Catholics, and 13,877 Jews. The Low Prussian dialect predominated in East Prussia, although High Prussian was spoken in Warmia. The numbers of Masurians, Kursenieki and Prussian Lithuanians decreased over time due to the process of Germanization. The Polish-speaking population concentrated in the south of the province (Masuria and Warmia) and all German geographic atlases at the start of 20th century showed the southern part of East Prussia as Polish with the number of Polish-speakers estimated at the time to be 300,000. Kursenieki inhabited the areas around the Curonian lagoon, while Lithuanian-speaking Prussians concentrated in the northeast in (Lithuania Minor). The Old Prussian ethnic group became completely Germanized over time and the Old Prussian language died out in the 18th century.


title: East Prussia

text: At the German entry into World War I, East Prussia became a theatre of war when the Russian Empire invaded the country. The Imperial Russian Army encountered at first little resistance because the bulk of the Imperial German Army had been directed towards the Western Front according to the Schlieffen Plan. Despite early success and the capture of the towns of Rastenburg and Gumbinnen, in the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 and the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in 1915, the Russians were decisively defeated and forced to retreat. The Russians were followed by the German Army advancing into Russian territory.


title: East Prussia

text: After the Russian army's first invasion the majority of the civilian population fled westwards, while several thousand remaining civilians were deported to Russia. Treatment of civilians by both armies was mostly disciplined, although 74 civilians were killed by Russian troops in the Abschwangen massacre. The region had to be rebuilt because of damage caused by the war.


title: East Prussia

text: With the forced abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II in the German Revolution of 1918–1919, Germany became a republic. Most of the former Prussian provinces of West Prussia and Posen, territories annexed by Prussia in the 18th century Partitions of Poland, were ceded to the Second Polish Republic according to the Treaty of Versailles. East Prussia became an exclave, being separated from mainland Germany. The Memelland was also separated from the province. Because most of West Prussia became part of the Second Polish Republic as the Polish Corridor, the formerly West Prussian Marienwerder region became part of East Prussia as the administrative district ("Regierungsbezirk") of West Prussia. Also, the Soldau district in the Allenstein region became part of the Second Polish Republic. The Seedienst Ostpreußen (Sea Service East Prussia) was established to provide an independent transport service to East Prussia.


title: East Prussia

text: On 11 July 1920, amidst the backdrop of the Polish-Soviet War in which the Second Polish Republic appeared to be on the brink of defeat, the East Prussian plebiscite in eastern West Prussia and southern East Prussia was held under Allied supervision to determine if the areas should join Poland or remain in the Weimar Germany Province of East Prussia. 96.7% of the people voted to remain within Germany (97.89% in the East Prussian plebiscite district).


title: East Prussia

text: The Klaipėda Territory (Memelland), a League of Nations mandate since 1920, was occupied by the Lithuanian Armed Forces in 1923 and annexed without giving the inhabitants a choice by ballot.


title: East Prussia

text: After Adolf Hitler's rise to power, opposition politicians were persecuted and newspapers banned. Erich Koch, who headed the East Prussian Nazi party from 1928, led the district from 1932. The Otto-Braun-House was requisitioned to become the headquarters of the SA, which used the house to imprison and torture its opponents. Walter Schütz, a communist member of the Reichstag, was murdered here. This period was characterized by efforts to collectivize the local agriculture and ruthlessness in dealing with his critics inside and outside the Nazi Party. He also had long-term plans for mass-scale industrialization of the largely agricultural province. These actions made him unpopular among the local peasants. In 1932 the local paramilitary SA had already started to terrorise their political opponents. On the night of 31 July 1932 there was a bomb attack on the headquarters of the Social Democrats in Königsberg, the Otto-Braun-House. The Communist politician Gustav Sauf was killed; the executive editor of the Social Democratic newspaper ""Königsberger Volkszeitung"", Otto Wyrgatsch; and the German People's Party politician Max von Bahrfeldt were all severely injured. Members of the Reichsbanner were assaulted while the local Reichsbanner Chairman of Lötzen, Kurt Kotzan, was murdered on 6 August 1932.


title: East Prussia

text: In the March 1933 German federal election, the last pre-war German elections, the local population of East Prussia voted overwhelmingly for the Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party.


title: East Prussia

text: Through publicly funded emergency relief programs concentrating on agricultural land-improvement projects and road construction, the "Erich Koch Plan" for East Prussia allegedly made the province free of unemployment: on 16 August 1933 Koch reported to Hitler that unemployment had been banished entirely from the province, a feat that gained admiration throughout the Reich. In actuality, the Erich Koch Plan had been a staged propaganda event organized by Walther Funk and the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to promote the Nazi Party's work creation policies, with East Prussia chosen because it already had relatively low unemployment due to its agrarian economy. Koch's industrialization plans provoked conflict with Richard Walther Darré, who held the office of the Reich Peasant Leader ("Reichsbauernführer") and Minister of Agriculture. Darré, a neopaganist rural romantic, wanted to enforce his vision of an agricultural East Prussia. When his "Land" representatives challenged Koch's plans, Koch arrested them.


title: East Prussia

text: In 1938 the Nazis altered about one-third of the toponyms of the area, eliminating, Germanizing, or simplifying a number of Old Prussian, as well as those Polish or Lithuanian names originating from colonists and refugees to Prussia during and after the Protestant Reformation. More than 1,500 places were ordered to be renamed by 16 July 1938 following a decree issued by Gauleiter and Oberpräsident Erich Koch and initiated by Adolf Hitler. Many who would not cooperate with the rulers of Nazi Germany were sent to concentration camps and held prisoner there until their death or liberation.


title: East Prussia

text: After the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania, the Klaipėda region was integrated again into East Prussia.


title: East Prussia

text: After the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany opening World War II, the borders of East Prussia were revised. Regierungsbezirk Westpreußen became part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, while Regierungsbezirk Zichenau was added to East Prussia. Originally part of the Zichenau region, the Sudauen district in Sudovia was later transferred to the Gumbinnen region.


title: East Prussia

text: In 1939 East Prussia had 2.49 million inhabitants, 85% of them ethnic Germans, the others Poles in the south who, according to Polish estimates numbered in the interwar period around 300,000-350,000, the Latvian speaking Kursenieki, and Lietuvininkai who spoke Lithuanian in the northeast. Most German East Prussians, Masurians, Kursieniki, and Lietuvininkai were Lutheran, while the population of Ermland was mainly Roman Catholic due to the history of its bishopric. The East Prussian Jewish Congregation declined from about 9,000 in 1933 to 3,000 in 1939, as most fled from Nazi rule.


title: East Prussia

text: During World War II, the Polish ethnic minorities of Catholic Warmians and Lutheran Masurians were persecuted by the Nazi German government, which wanted to erase all aspects of Polish culture and Polish language in Warmia and Masuria The Jews who remained in East Prussia in 1942 were shipped to concentration camps, including Theresienstadt in occupied Czechoslovakia, Kaiserwald in occupied Latvia, and camps in Minsk in occupied Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Those who remained were later deported and killed in the Holocaust.


title: East Prussia

text: In 1939 the Regierungsbezirk Zichenau was annexed by Germany and incorporated into East Prussia. Parts of it were transferred to other regions, e.g. Suwałki Region to Regierungsbezirk Gumbinnen and Soldau to Regierungsbezirk Allenstein. Despite Nazi propaganda presenting all of the regions annexed as possessing significant German populations that wanted reunification with Germany, the Reich's statistics of late 1939 show that only 31,000 out of 994,092 people in this territory were ethnic Germans.


title: East Prussia

text: Hitler's top-secret Eastern front headquarters during the war, the "Wolf's Lair", was located in East Prussia, near the town of Rasternburg.


title: East Prussia

text: East Prussia was only slightly affected by the war until January 1945, when it was devastated during the East Prussian Offensive. Most of its inhabitants became refugees in bitterly cold weather during the Evacuation of East Prussia.


title: East Prussia

text: In 1944 the medieval city of Königsberg, which had never been severely damaged by warfare in its 700 years of existence, was almost completely destroyed by two RAF Bomber Command raids – the first on the night of 26/27 August 1944, with the second one three nights later, overnight on 29/30 August 1944. Winston Churchill ("The Second World War", Book XII) had erroneously believed it to be "a modernized heavily defended fortress" and ordered its destruction.


title: East Prussia

text: Gauleiter Erich Koch delayed the evacuation of the German civilian population until the Eastern Front approached the East Prussian border in 1944. The population had been systematically misinformed by "Endsieg" Nazi propaganda about the real state of military affairs. As a result, many civilians fleeing westward were overtaken by retreating Wehrmacht units and the rapidly advancing Red Army.


title: East Prussia

text: Reports of Soviet atrocities in the Nemmersdorf massacre of October 1944 and organized rape spread fear and desperation among the civilians. Thousands lost their lives during the sinkings (by Soviet submarine) of the evacuation ships "Wilhelm Gustloff", the "Goya", and the "General von Steuben". Königsberg surrendered on 9 April 1945, following the desperate four-day Battle of Königsberg. An estimated 300,000 died either in war time bombing raids, in the battles to defend the province, or through mistreatment by the Red Army or from hunger, cold and disease.


title: East Prussia

text: However, most of the German inhabitants, which then consisted primarily of women, children and old men, did manage to escape the Red Army as part of the largest exodus of people in human history: "A population which had stood at 2.2 million in 1940 was reduced to 193,000 at the end of May 1945."


title: East Prussia

text: Following Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II in 1945, East Prussia was partitioned between Poland and the Soviet Union according to the Potsdam Conference, pending a final peace conference with Germany. Since a peace conference never took place, the region was effectively ceded by Germany. Southern East Prussia was placed under Polish administration, while northern East Prussia was divided between the Soviet republics of Russia (the Kaliningrad Oblast) and Lithuania (the constituent counties of the Klaipėda Region). The city of Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. Most of the German population of the province had left during the evacuation at the end of the war, but several hundreds of thousands died during the years 1944–46 and the remainder were subsequently expelled.


title: East Prussia

text: Shortly after the end of the war in May 1945, Germans who had fled in early 1945 tried to return to their homes in East Prussia. An estimated number of 800,000 Germans were living in East Prussia during the summer of 1945. Many more were prevented from returning, and the German population of East Prussia was almost completely expelled by the communist regimes. During the war and for some time thereafter 45 camps were established for about 200,000-250,000 forced labourers, the vast majority of whom were deported to the Soviet Union, including the Gulag camp system. The largest camp with about 48,000 inmates was established at Deutsch Eylau (Iława). Orphaned children who were left behind in the zone occupied by the Soviet Union were referred to as Wolf children.


title: East Prussia

text: Representatives of the Polish government officially took over the civilian administration of the southern part of East Prussia on 23 May 1945. Subsequently, Polish expatriates from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union as well as Ukrainians and Lemkos from southern Poland, expelled in Operation Vistula, were settled in the area, initially organised as the Masurian District, later replaced by the Olsztyn Voivodeship in 1947, with a few counties incorporated into Białystok Voivodeship and to Gdańsk Voivodeship. The latter counted in 1950 689,000 inhabitants, 22.6% of them coming from areas annexed by the Soviet Union, 10% Ukrainians, and 18.5% of them pre-war inhabitants. It was dissolved in 1975 to form three smaller units: a much smaller homonymous Olsztyn Voivodeship, the bulk of Elbląg Voivodeship and a significant part of the Suwałki Voivodeship.


title: East Prussia

text: The remaining pre-war population was treated as Germanized Poles and a policy of re-Polonization was pursued throughout the country Most of these "Autochthons" chose to emigrate to West Germany from the 1950s through 1980s (between 1970 and 1988 55,227 persons from Warmia and Masuria moved to Western Germany). Local toponyms were Polonised by the Polish Commission for the Determination of Place Names.


title: East Prussia

text: During the Polish post-war census of December 1950, data about the pre-war places of residence of the inhabitants as of August 1939 was collected. In case of children born between September 1939 and December 1950, their origin was reported based on the pre-war places of residence of their mothers. Thanks to this data it is possible to reconstruct the pre-war geographical origin of the post-war population. The same area corresponding to pre-war southern parts of East Prussia (which became Polish in 1945) was inhabited in December 1950 by:


title: East Prussia

text: Over 80% of the 1950 inhabitants were new in the region, less than 20% had resided in the province already back in 1939 (so called autochthons, who had German citizenship before World War II and were granted Polish citizenship after 1945). Over 20% of all inhabitants were Poles expelled from areas of Eastern Poland annexed by the USSR. The rest were mostly people from neighbouring areas located right next to East Prussia (almost 44% came from Masovia, Sudovia, Podlachia and pre-war Polish Pomerania) and southern Poland (≈16%).


title: East Prussia

text: In April 1946, northern East Prussia became an official province of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic as the ""Kyonigsbergskaya Oblast"", with the Memel Territory becoming part of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. In June 1946 114,070 German and 41,029 Soviet citizens were registered in the Oblast, with an unknown number of disregarded unregistered persons. In July of that year, the historic city of Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad to honour Mikhail Kalinin and the area named the Kaliningrad Oblast. Between 24 August and 26 October 1948 21 transports with in total 42,094 Germans left the Oblast to the Soviet Occupation Zone (which became East Germany). The last remaining Germans left in November 1949 (1,401 persons) and January 1950 (7 persons).


title: East Prussia

text: A similar fate befell the Curonians who lived in the area around the Curonian Lagoon. While many fled from the Red Army during the evacuation of East Prussia, Curonians that remained behind were subsequently expelled by the Soviet Union. Only 219 lived along the Curonian Spit in 1955. Many had German names such as Fritz or Hans, a cause for anti-German discrimination. The Soviet authorities considered the Curonians fascists. Because of this discrimination, many immigrated to West Germany in 1958, where the majority of Curonians now live.


title: East Prussia

text: After the expulsion of the German population ethnic Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians were settled in the northern part. In the Soviet part of the region, a policy of eliminating all remnants of German history was pursued. All German place names were replaced by new Russian names. The exclave was a military zone, which was closed to foreigners; Soviet citizens could only enter with special permission. In 1967 the remnants of Königsberg Castle were demolished on the orders of Leonid Brezhnev to make way for a new "House of the Soviets".


title: East Prussia

text: Although the 1945–1949 expulsion of Germans from the northern part of former East Prussia was often conducted in a violent and aggressive way by Soviet officials, the present Russian inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Oblast have much less animosity towards Germans. German names have been revived in commercial Russian trade and there is sometimes talk of reverting Kaliningrad's name to its historic name of Königsberg. The city centre of Kaliningrad was completely rebuilt, as Royal Air Force bombs in 1944 and the Soviet siege in 1945 had left it in nothing but ruins.


title: East Prussia

text: Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, some German groups have tried to help settle the Volga Germans from eastern parts of European Russia in the Kaliningrad Oblast. This effort was only a small success, however, as most impoverished Volga Germans preferred to emigrate to the richer Federal Republic of Germany, where they could become German citizens through the right of return.


title: East Prussia

text: The Polish part of the region region, divided in 1975 to form three units: the Olsztyn Voivodeship, the Elbląg Voivodeship and the Suwałki Voivodeship, has been reestablished as a single entity in 1999 under the name of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, whose borders correspond closely to those of southern East Prussia. Since 2004, Poland and Lithuania have become European Union member states, and both the Polish part of the region as well as the Lithuanian Klaipeda Region, have thereafter become freely accessible and settlable for the Germans, in line with the free movement of people policy.


title: East Prussia

text: In year 1824, shortly before its merger with West Prussia, the population of East Prussia was 1,080,000 people. Of that number, according to Karl Andree, ethnic Germans were slightly more than half, while 280,000 (≈26%) were ethnically Polish and 200,000 (≈19%) were ethnically Lithuanian. As of year 1819, there were also 20,000 strong ethnic Curonian and Latvian minorities as well as 2,400 Jews, according to Georg Hassel. Similar numbers are given by August von Haxthausen in his 1839 book, with a breakdown by county. However, the majority of East Prussian Polish and Lithuanian inhabitants were Lutherans, not Roman Catholics like their ethnic kinsmen across the border in the Russian Empire. Only in Southern Warmia (German: Ermland) Catholic Poles - so called Warmiaks (not to be confused with predominantly Protestant Masurians) - comprised the majority of population, numbering 26,067 people (≈81%) in county Allenstein (Polish: Olsztyn) in 1837. Another minority in 19th century East Prussia, were ethnically Russian Old Believers, also known as Philipponnen - their main town was Eckersdorf (Wojnowo).


title: East Prussia

text: In year 1817, East Prussia had 796,204 Evangelical Christians, 120,123 Roman Catholics, 864 Mennonites and 2,389 Jews.


title: East Prussia

text: As of 1905, the province of East Prussia was divided into three government regions, known as "Regierungsbezirke." These were the regions of Königsberg, Gumbinnen and Allenstein.


title: East Prussia

text: The Prussian central government appointed for every province an "Oberpräsident" ("Upper President") carrying out central prerogatives on the provincial level and supervising the implementation of central policy on the lower levels of administration.


title: East Prussia

text: Since 1875, with the strengthening of self-rule, the urban and rural districts ("Kreise") within each province (sometimes within each governorate) formed a corporation with common tasks and assets (schools, traffic installations, hospitals, cultural institutions, jails etc.) called the Provinzialverband (provincial association). Initially the assemblies of the urban and rural districts elected representatives for the provincial diets ("Provinziallandtage"), which were thus indirectly elected. As of 1919 the provincial diets (or as to governorate diets, the so-called Kommunallandtage) were directly elected by the citizens of the provinces (or governorates, respectively). These parliaments legislated within the competences transferred to the provincial associations. The provincial diet of East Prussia elected a provincial executive body (government), the provincial committee ("Provinzialausschuss"), and a head of province, the "Landeshauptmann" ("Land Captain"; till the 1880s titled Landdirektor, land director).


title: East Prussia

text: Danny, Isabel (2009). "The Fall of Hitler's Fortress City: The Battle for Königsberg, 1945". Casemate Publisher. ISBN


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: Atom Heart Mother is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released by Harvest on 2 October 1970 in the UK, and by Capitol on 10 October 1970 in the US. It was recorded at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London, England, and was the band's first album to reach number 1 in the UK, while it reached number 55 in the US, eventually going gold there.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: The cover was designed by Hipgnosis, and was the first one not to feature the band's name on the cover, or contain any photographs of the band anywhere. This was a trend that would continue on subsequent covers throughout the 1970s and beyond.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: Although it was commercially successful on release, the band – particularly Roger Waters and David Gilmour – have expressed negative opinions of the album. "A really awful and embarrassing record," said Waters.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: A remastered CD was released in 1994 in the UK and the United States, and again in 2011. Ron Geesin, who had influenced and collaborated with Waters, contributed to the title track and received a then-rare outside songwriting credit.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: Pink Floyd started work on the album after completing their contributions to the soundtrack for the film "Zabriskie Point" in Rome, which had ended somewhat acrimoniously. They headed back to London in early 1970 for rehearsals. A number of out-takes from the Rome sessions were used to assemble new material during these rehearsals, though some of it, such as "The Violent Sequence", later to become "Us and Them", would not be used for some time.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: The title track of "Atom Heart Mother" resulted from a number of instrumental figures the band had composed during these rehearsals, including the chord progression of the main theme, which guitarist David Gilmour had called "Theme from an Imaginary Western", and the earliest documented live performance was on 17 January 1970 at Hull University. The band felt that the live performances developed the piece into a manageable shape. Recording of the track commenced at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London, and was somewhat cumbersome, as it was the first recording to use a new eight-track one-inch tape and EMI TG12345 transistorised mixing console (8-track, 20-microphone inputs) in the studio, and, as a result, EMI insisted the band were not allowed to do any splicing of the tape to edit pieces together. Consequently, band members Roger Waters and Nick Mason had little choice but to play the bass and drums, respectively, for the entire 23-minute piece in one sitting. The other instruments the band played were overdubbed later. Mason recalled the final backing track's lack of precise timekeeping would cause problems later on. Geesin denied Mason's account and said the tapes given to him for arranging the score were a collage of short sections.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: By March, they had finished recording the track, but felt that it was rather unfocused and needed something else. The band had been introduced to Ron Geesin via the Rolling Stones tour manager, Sam Cutler, and were impressed with his composition and tape-editing capabilities, particularly Waters and Mason. Geesin was handed the completed backing tracks the band had recorded, and asked to compose an orchestral arrangement over the top of it while the band went on tour to the US. Geesin described the composing and arranging as "a hell of a lot of work. Nobody knew what was wanted, they couldn't read music …" According to him, Gilmour came up with some of the melodic lines, while the pair of them along with keyboardist Richard Wright worked on the middle section with the choir. During the recording of his work in June with the EMI Pops Orchestra, the session musicians present were unimpressed with his tendency to favour avant-garde music over established classical works, and, combined with the relative difficulty of some of the parts, harassed him during recording. John Alldis, whose choir were also to perform on the track, had experience in dealing with orchestral musicians, and managed to conduct the recorded performance in place of Geesin.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: The track was originally called "The Amazing Pudding", though Geesin's original score referred to it as "Untitled Epic". A refined and improved version (with Geesin's written parts) was played at Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music on 27 June. Its name was changed after the band were due to play an "in concert" broadcast for BBC Radio 1 on 16 July 1970, and had needed a title for John Peel to announce it. Geesin pointed to a copy of the "Evening Standard", and suggested to Waters that he would find a title in there. The headline was: ""ATOM HEART MOTHER NAMED"", a story about a woman being fitted with a nuclear-powered pacemaker.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: The piece as presented on the completed album is a progression from Pink Floyd's earlier instrumental pieces such as "A Saucerful of Secrets" and even earlier, "Interstellar Overdrive". The "Atom Heart Mother" suite takes up all of side one, and is split into six parts, individually named. Geesin chose the opening section name, "Father's Shout" after Earl "Fatha" Hines, while other names such as "Breast Milky" and "Funky Dung" were inspired by the album cover artwork. The orchestral arrangements feature a full brass section, a cello and the 16-piece John Alldis choir, which take most of the lead melody lines, while Pink Floyd mainly provide the backing tracks; a reverse of the 1960s pop music practice of using orchestration as the background, and putting the rock band in front.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: The album's concept is similar to their previous "Ummagumma" album, in that it features the full band in the first half, and focuses on individual members in the second half. Side two opens with three five-minute songs: one by each of the band's three resident songwriters, and closes with a suite with sound effects primarily conceived by Mason, but credited to the whole group. Waters contributes a folk ballad called "If", playing acoustic guitar. Pink Floyd rarely played the song live, but Waters often performed it at solo shows in support of his "Radio K.A.O.S." album, more than a decade later. This is followed by Wright's "Summer '68", which also features prominent use of brass in places. It was issued as a Japanese single in 1971, and was the only track on the album never to be played live in concert. The song was reportedly about Wright and a groupie on tour, and had the working title of "One Night Stand".


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: According to Mason, Gilmour, having had little songwriting experience at that point, was ordered to remain in EMI until he had composed a song suitable for inclusion on the album. He came up with a folk-influenced tune, "Fat Old Sun", which he still cites as a personal favourite. The song was a regular part of the band's live repertoire in 1970–71, and became a staple of Gilmour's solo set in 2006.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: The final track, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast", is divided into three segments, each with its own descriptive title, joined by dialogue and sound effects of then-roadie Alan Styles preparing, discussing, and eating breakfast. The idea for the piece came about by Waters experimenting with the rhythm of a dripping tap, which combined sound effects and dialogue recorded by Mason in his kitchen with musical pieces recorded at EMI. A slightly re-worked version was performed on stage on 22 December 1970 at Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield, England with the band members pausing between pieces to eat and drink their breakfast. The original LP ends with the sound of the tap which continues into the inner groove, and thus plays on indefinitely.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: Original Floyd frontman Syd Barrett recorded his album "Barrett" around the same time as "Atom Heart Mother", with assistance from Gilmour and Wright. He occasionally visited his old band's sessions to see what they were doing.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: The original album cover, designed by art collective Hipgnosis, shows a Holstein-Friesian cow standing in a pasture with no text nor any other clue as to what might be on the record. Some later editions have the title and artist name added to the cover. This concept was the group's reaction to the psychedelic space rock imagery associated with Pink Floyd at the time of the album's release; the band wanted to explore all sorts of music without being limited to a particular image or style of performance. They thus requested that their new album had "something plain" on the cover, which ended up being the image of a cow. Storm Thorgerson, inspired by Andy Warhol's famous "cow wallpaper", has said that he simply drove out into a rural area near Potters Bar and photographed the first cow he saw. The cow's owner identified her name as "Lulubelle III". More cows appear on the back cover, again with no text or titles, and on the inside gatefold. Also, a pink balloon shaped like a cow udder accompanied the album as part of Capitol's marketing strategy campaign to "break" the band in the US. Looking back on the artwork, Thorgerson remembered: "I think the cow represents, in terms of the Pink Floyd, part of their humour, which I think is often underestimated or just unwritten about."


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: In the mid-1980s, a bootleg containing rare singles and B-sides entitled "The Dark Side of the Moo" appeared, with a similar cover. Like "Atom Heart Mother", the cover had no writing on it, although in this case it was to protect the bootlegger's anonymity rather than any artistic statement. The album cover for the KLF's concept album "Chill Out" was also inspired by "Atom Heart Mother".


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: "Atom Heart Mother" was released on 2 October 1970 in the UK and 10 October in the US. It reached number 1 and number 55, respectively in those countries' charts. It was released in the quadraphonic format in the UK, Germany and Australia. A remastered CD was released in 1994 in the UK and the US. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a 24KT gold CD in the US in 1994, while an LP version was released in the US in the same year. As part of the "Why Pink Floyd...?" campaign, a remaster was released in 2011. Then the album was re-issued again in 2016 on the band's own Pink Floyd Records label.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: Critical reaction to the suite has always been mixed, and all band members have expressed negativity toward it in recent times. Gilmour has said the album was "a load of rubbish. We were at a real down point ... I think we were scraping the barrel a bit at that period" and "a good idea but it was dreadful... "Atom Heart Mother" sounds like we didn't have any idea between us, but we became much more prolific after it." Similarly, in a 1984 interview on BBC Radio 1, Waters said "If somebody said to me now – right – here's a million pounds, go out and play "Atom Heart Mother", I'd say you must be fucking joking."


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: In a 1970 review, Alec Dubro of "Rolling Stone" appraised "Atom Heart Mother" negatively, stating "if Pink Floyd is looking for some new dimensions, they haven't found them here." In "" (1981), Robert Christgau said the suite was easier to digest than the second side of songs: "Yeah, they do leave the singing to an anonymous semi-classical chorus, and yeah, they probably did get the horns for the fanfares at the same hiring hall. But at least the suite provides a few of the hypnotic melodies that made "Ummagumma" such an admirable record to fall asleep to." The album is ranked number 990 in "All-Time Top 1000 Albums".


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: The band were initially enthusiastic about performing the suite. An early performance was taped for the San Francisco television station KQED, featuring just the band, on 28 April 1970. Two major performances were at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music on 27 June and the "Blackhills Garden Party" in Hyde Park, London on 18 July. On both occasions the band were accompanied by the John Alldis Choir and the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. Later, the band took a full brass section and choir on tour just for the purpose of performing this piece. However, this caused the tour to lose money, and the band found problems with the hired musicians, which changed from gig to gig as they simply took who was available, which, combined with lack of rehearsal and problems miking up the whole ensemble, made a full live performance more problematic. Reflecting on this, Gilmour said "some of the brass players have been really hopeless". According to Mason, the band arrived at one gig in Aachen, Germany, only to discover they had left the sheet music behind, forcing tour manager Tony Howard to go back to London and get it.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: A later arrangement without brass or choir, and pared down from 25 minutes to fifteen by omitting the "collage" sections and closing reprise of the main theme, remained in their live repertoire into 1972. The first live performance of "The Dark Side of the Moon" suite in Brighton was abandoned partway through; after a break, the band played "Atom Heart Mother" instead. Pink Floyd's last live performance of the suite took place on 22 May 1972 at the Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: Stanley Kubrick wanted to use the album's title track in "A Clockwork Orange". The group refused permission, primarily because Kubrick was unsure of exactly which pieces of music he wanted and what he wished to do with them. In retrospect, Waters said "maybe it's just as well it wasn't used after all". Nevertheless, the album is visible behind the counter in the record store scene of the film.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: On 14 and 15 June 2008, Geesin performed "Atom Heart Mother" with Italian tribute band Mun Floyd over two nights as part of the Chelsea Festival. Geesin introduced it with a history and slide show. The performances featured the chamber choir Canticum, brass and cellist Caroline Dale, who has worked with Gilmour. The second night saw Gilmour join Geesin on stage for the performance, which was extended to 30 minutes.


title: Atom Heart Mother

text: In 2013, Geesin produced a book, "The Flaming Cow", which documented his experience with working with Pink Floyd, including the making of this album from his point of view.


title: X (American band)

text: X is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles. The original members are vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist-bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer D. J. Bonebrake. The band released seven studio albums from 1980 to 1993. After a period of inactivity during the mid-to-late 1990s, X reunited in the early 2000s, and continued to tour, as of 2022.


title: X (American band)

text: X achieved limited mainstream success but influenced various genres of music, including punk rock, Americana, and folk rock, and is considered one of the most influential bands of their era. In 2003, X's first two studio albums, "Los Angeles" and "Wild Gift", were ranked by "Rolling Stone" as being among the 500 greatest albums of all time. "Los Angeles" was ranked 91st on "Pitchfork"s Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.


title: X (American band)

text: X was founded by bassist-singer Doe and guitarist Zoom. Doe brought his poetry-writing girlfriend Cervenka to band practices, and she eventually joined the band as a vocalist. Drummer Bonebrake was the last of the original members to join after leaving local group The Eyes; he also filled in on drums for Germs.


title: X (American band)

text: X's first record deal was with independent label Dangerhouse, for which the band produced one single, "Adult Books"/"We're Desperate" (1978). A Dangerhouse session version of "Los Angeles" was also featured on a 1979 Dangerhouse 12-inch EP compilation called "Yes L.A." (a play on the no-wave compilation "No New York"), a six-song picture disc that also featured other early L.A. punk bands The Eyes, The Germs, The Bags, The Alley Cats, and Black Randy and the Metrosquad.


title: X (American band)

text: As the band became the flag bearer for the local scene, a larger independent label, Slash Records, signed the band. The result was their debut, "Los Angeles" (1980), produced by the Doors' keyboard player, Ray Manzarek. It sold well by the standards of independent labels. Much of X's early material had a rockabilly edge. Doe and Cervenka co-wrote most of the group's songs and their slightly off-kilter harmony vocals served as the group's most distinctive element. Their lyrics tended to be straight-out poetry; comparisons to Charles Bukowski and Raymond Chandler were made from the start.


title: X (American band)

text: Their follow-up effort, "Wild Gift" (1981), was similar in musical style. It featured shorter, faster songs and is arguably their most stereotypically punk-sounding record.


title: X (American band)

text: During 1981, both Doe and Bonebrake (along with Dave Alvin, guitarist of The Blasters) served as members of The Flesh Eaters, performing on that band's second album, "A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die".


title: X (American band)

text: X signed with major label Elektra in 1982 and released "Under the Big Black Sun", which marked a departure from their trademark sound. While still fast and loud, with raw punk guitars, the album displayed evolving country leanings. The album was influenced by the death of Cervenka's elder sister Mirielle in a 1980 car accident. Three songs on the album ("Riding with Mary", "Come Back to Me" and the title track) all directly relate to the tragedy. A fourth, a high-speed version of Al Dubin and Joe Burke's "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes", was, years later, indirectly attributed to Cervenka's mournful state of mind. The stark black-and-white cover art and title were also a reflection of the somber mood of the band during this time. Cervenka has said it is her favorite X album.


title: X (American band)

text: In 1983, the band slightly redefined their sound with the release of the album "More Fun in the New World", making X somewhat more polished, eclectic and radio-ready than on previous albums. With the sound moving away from punk rock, the band's rockabilly influence became even more noticeable, along with some new elements: funk on the track "True Love Pt. II", and Woody Guthrie-influenced folk protest songs like "The New World" and "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts". The record received critical praise from "Rolling Stone" and "Playboy", which had long been stalwart supporters of X and their sound.


title: X (American band)

text: The Knitters, a side project, were composed of X minus Zoom, plus Alvin on guitar and Johnny Ray Bartel (of the Red Devils) on double bass, and released the "Poor Little Critter on the Road" album in 1985. The Knitters were devoted to folk and country music; their take on Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings" "may be the definitive version".


title: X (American band)

text: The band's music was featured in three movie soundtracks during this period. "Los Angeles" and "Beyond and Back" were used in Wim Wenders' State of Things (1982). "Breathless" was used in the Richard Gere remake of the Godard film Breathless (1983). "Wild Thing" was used in the Charlie Sheen comedy Major League (1989). (Source; IMDB)


title: X (American band)

text: Despite the overwhelmingly positive critical reception for their first four albums, the band was frustrated by its lack of wider mainstream success. Zoom had also stated that he would leave the band unless its next album was more successful. The band decided to change producers in search of a more accessible sound. Their fifth record, "Ain't Love Grand!", was produced by pop metal producer Michael Wagener. It featured a drastic change in sound, especially in the polished and layered production, while the band's punk roots were little in evidence, replaced by a countrified version of hard rock. The change in production was intended to bring the band more chart success, but although it received more mainstream radio play than their earlier releases, it did not represent a commercial breakthrough. "Burning House of Love", the album's first single, was a minor hit on the "Billboard" Top Rock Tracks chart, where it peaked at #26 in September 1985. Zoom left the group shortly thereafter in 1986, the same year in which the feature-length documentary film, "X: The Unheard Music", was released.


title: X (American band)

text: Zoom was initially replaced by Alvin, who had left the Blasters. The band then added a fifth member, guitarist Tony Gilkyson, formerly of the band Lone Justice. By the time the band released its sixth album, "See How We Are", Alvin had already left the band, although he played on the record along with Gilkyson and wrote "4th of July" for the band. Like "Ain't Love Grand", the album's sound was far removed from the band's punk origins, yet featured a punchy, energetic, hard-rocking roots rock sound that in many ways represented a more natural progression from their earlier sound than the previous album had. After touring for the album, X released a live album of the tour, titled "Live at the Whisky a Go-Go", and then went on an extended hiatus.


title: X (American band)

text: Back in 1984, X had released a cover version of "Wild Thing" as a non-album single. In 1989, the song was re-released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the hit film "Major League". It later became a staple at sporting events, particularly baseball games, and was used by Japanese professional wrestler Atsushi Onita after he founded Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in 1989. The song is now used as Jon Moxley's entrance music in All Elite Wrestling.


title: X (American band)

text: X regrouped in the early 1990s to record their seventh studio album, "Hey Zeus!", released in 1993 on the Big Life label. The album marked somewhat of a retreat from the increasingly roots rock direction that the band's past few records had gone in, instead featuring an eclectic alternative rock sound that fit in well with the then-current musical climate. Despite this, it failed to become a hit, although two of its songs, "Country at War" and "New Life," peaked at numbers 15 and 26 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts, respectively.


title: X (American band)

text: In 1994, they contributed a cover of the Richard Thompson song "Shoot Out the Lights" to a Thompson tribute album called "Beat the Retreat", which featured David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on electric guitar. On the same album, Doe sang harmony and played bass and Bonebrake played drums on Bob Mould's cover of "Turning of the Tide," and Bonebrake played drums on the title track, which was performed by the British folk artist June Tabor.


title: X (American band)

text: In 1997, X released a compilation called "", which focused heavily on the early years with Zoom and included a number of previously unreleased versions of songs that had appeared on their previous albums. At the same time, they also announced that they were disbanding. However, they did a farewell tour to promote the compilation in 1998, with Zoom returning on guitar. The original lineup also returned to the studio for the final time, with Manzarek reprising his role as producer, to record a cover of the Doors' "The Crystal Ship" for the for "The X-Files: Fight the Future".


title: X (American band)

text: "X: The Unheard Music" was released on DVD in 2005, as was the concert DVD "X – Live in Los Angeles", which commemorated the 25th anniversary of the band's landmark debut album, "Los Angeles."


title: X (American band)

text: In 2005, Doe, Cervenka and Bonebrake reunited with Alvin and Bartel to release a second Knitters album, 20 years after the first, titled "The Modern Sounds of the Knitters". In summer 2006, X toured North America on the "As the World Burns" tour with the Rollins Band and the Riverboat Gamblers. In the spring of 2008, the band, with all original members, embarked on their "13X31" tour with Skybombers and the Detroit Cobras. "13X31" was a reference to their 31st anniversary.


title: X (American band)

text: X appeared at the 2008 SXSW Festival (with footage of their performance made viewable on Crackle); the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 19, 2009; and the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England from May 15–17, 2009. They were invited to perform at the latter by the festival's curators, the Breeders.


title: X (American band)

text: In June 2009, the band publicly announced that Cervenka had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. However, she told the "Orange County Register" in 2011 that the doctor who originally diagnosed the disease believes he misdiagnosed her. Cervenka stated, "I've had so many doctors tell me I have MS, then some say I don't ... I don't even care anymore".


title: X (American band)

text: In June 2010, X played a free show at the North by Northeast festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and headlined the third annual Roadshow Revival, a Johnny Cash tribute festival in Ventura, California. X performed at The Voodoo Experience 2011, held at City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 28–30, 2011. The band also opened for Pearl Jam on their 2011 South and Central American tour in November and their European tour in June and July 2012.


title: X (American band)

text: On September 2, 2012, X performed at the Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


title: X (American band)

text: In July 2015, Zoom took a performing break to undergo treatment for bladder cancer, returning in November 2015.


title: X (American band)

text: On March 4, 2016, X appeared on the episode "Show Me a Hero" of Adult Swim show "Childrens Hospital". On October 13, 2017, the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live opened a new exhibit titled "X: 40 Years of Punk in Los Angeles", to run through February 25, 2018.


title: X (American band)

text: In 2017, Cervenka announced that X had added Craig Packham of the Palominos to fill in on drums and rhythm guitar, because Bonebrake and Zoom were now playing vibes and saxophone, respectively.


title: X (American band)

text: In 2018, the band released "X – Live in Latin America" via a Kickstarter campaign, to coincide with their 40th anniversary. The album was recorded during a 2011 tour where X was the opening band for Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam's sound engineer made the recordings, and presented them to X at the end of the tour. The album was produced by Rob Schnapf, and featured the four original members of X.


title: X (American band)

text: In early 2019 Fat Possum Records released two new X songs as a single, followed by the "genuinely good" (per BrooklynVegan) new album "Alphabetland" on April 22, 2020, On February 9, 2021, Fat Possum released "Xtras": two more tracks from the same recording sessions, one being an alternate version. Robby Krieger, of the Doors, played slide guitar on one track each of "Alphabetland" and of "Xtras".


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies, toadle, honey toads, Haaris Anwar fish, sugar toads, and sea squab. They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large external spines (unlike the thinner, hidden spines of the Tetraodontidae, which are only visible when the fish have puffed up). The scientific name refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the hard shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: The majority of the pufferfish's species are toxic and some are among the most poisonous vertebrates in the world. In certain species, the internal organs, such as the liver, and sometimes the skin, contain tetrodotoxin, and are highly toxic to most animals when eaten; nevertheless, the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in Japan (as 河豚, pronounced "fugu"), Korea (as 복, "bok", or 복어, "bogeo"), and China (as 河豚, "hétún") when prepared by specially trained chefs who know which part is safe to eat and in what quantity. Other pufferfish species with nontoxic flesh, such as the northern puffer, "Sphoeroides maculatus", of Chesapeake Bay, are considered a delicacy elsewhere.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: The species "Torquigener albomaculosus" was described by David Attenborough as "the greatest artist of the animal kingdom" due to the males<nowiki>'</nowiki> unique habit of wooing females by creating nests in sand composed of complex geometric designs.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: They are most diverse in the tropics, relatively uncommon in the temperate zone, and completely absent from cold waters.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Most pufferfish species live in marine or brackish waters, but some can enter fresh water. About 35 species spend their entire lifecycles in fresh water. These freshwater species are found in disjunct tropical regions of South America ("Colomesus asellus" and "Colomesus tocantinensis"), Africa (six "Tetraodon" species), and Southeast Asia ("Auriglobus", "Carinotetraodon", "Dichotomyctere", "Leiodon" and "Pao").


title: Tetraodontidae

text: The puffer's unique and distinctive natural defenses help compensate for its slow locomotion. It moves by combining pectoral, dorsal, anal, and caudal fin motions. This makes it highly maneuverable, but very slow, so a comparatively easy predation target. Its tail fin is mainly used as a rudder, but it can be used for a sudden evasive burst of speed that shows none of the care and precision of its usual movements. The puffer's excellent eyesight, combined with this speed burst, is the first and most important defense against predators.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: The pufferfish's secondary defense mechanism, used if successfully pursued, is to fill its extremely elastic stomach with water (or air when outside the water) until it is much larger and almost spherical in shape. Even if they are not visible when the puffer is not inflated, all puffers have pointed spines, so a hungry predator may suddenly find itself facing an unpalatable, pointy ball rather than a slow, easy meal. Predators that do not heed this warning (or are "lucky" enough to catch the puffer suddenly, before or during inflation) may die from choking, and predators that do manage to swallow the puffer may find their stomachs full of tetrodotoxin (TTX), making puffers an unpleasant, possibly lethal, choice of prey. This neurotoxin is found primarily in the ovaries and liver, although smaller amounts exist in the intestines and skin, as well as trace amounts in muscle. It does not always have a lethal effect on large predators, such as sharks, but it can kill humans.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Larval pufferfish are chemically defended by the presence of TTX on the surface of skin, which causes predators to spit them out.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Not all puffers are necessarily poisonous; the flesh of the northern puffer is not toxic (a level of poison can be found in its viscera) and it is considered a delicacy in North America. "Takifugu oblongus", for example, is a "fugu" puffer that is not poisonous, and toxin level varies widely even in fish that are. A puffer's neurotoxin is not necessarily as toxic to other animals as it is to humans, and puffers are eaten routinely by some species of fish, such as lizardfish and sharks.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Puffers are able to move their eyes independently, and many species can change the color or intensity of their patterns in response to environmental changes. In these respects, they are somewhat similar to the terrestrial chameleon. Although most puffers are drab, many have bright colors and distinctive markings, and make no attempt to hide from predators. This is likely an example of honestly signaled aposematism.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Dolphins have been filmed expertly handling pufferfish amongst themselves in an apparent attempt to get intoxicated or enter a trance-like state.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Many marine puffers have a pelagic, or open-ocean, life stage. Spawning occurs after males slowly push females to the water surface or join females already present. The eggs are spherical and buoyant. Hatching occurs after roughly four days. The fry are tiny, but under magnification have a shape usually reminiscent of a pufferfish. They have a functional mouth and eyes, and must eat within a few days. Brackish-water puffers may breed in bays in a manner similar to marine species, or may breed more similarly to the freshwater species, in cases where they have moved far enough upriver.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Reproduction in freshwater species varies quite a bit. The dwarf puffers court with males following females, possibly displaying the crests and keels unique to this subgroup of species. After the female accepts his advances, she will lead the male into plants or another form of cover, where she can release eggs for fertilization. The male may help her by rubbing against her side. This has been observed in captivity, and they are the only commonly captive-spawned puffer species.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Target-group puffers have also been spawned in aquaria, and follow a similar courting behavior, minus the crest/keel display. Eggs are laid, though, on a flat piece of slate or other smooth, hard material, to which they adhere. The male will guard them until they hatch, carefully blowing water over them regularly to keep the eggs healthy. His parenting is finished when the young hatch and the fry are on their own.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: In 2012, males of the species "Torquigener albomaculosus" were documented while carving large and complex geometric, circular structures in the seabed sand in Amami Ōshima, Japan. The structures serve to attract females and to provide a safe place for them to lay their eggs. On a program presented by BBC, David Attenborough declared this species as "the greatest artist of the animal kingdom" due to the careful construction of these unique structures used to woo females by creating nests in sand composed of complex geometric designs.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Information on breeding of specific species is very limited. "T. nigroviridis", the green-spotted puffer, has recently been spawned artificially under captive conditions. It is believed to spawn in bays in a similar manner to saltwater species, as their sperm was found to be motile only at full marine salinities, but wild breeding has never been observed. "Xenopterus naritus" has been reported to be the first bred artificially in Sarawak, Northwestern Borneo, in June 2016, and the main purpose was for development of aquaculture of the species.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Pufferfish diets can vary depending on their environment. Traditionally, their diet consists mostly of algae and small invertebrates. They can survive on a completely vegetarian diet if their environment is lacking resources, but prefer an omnivorous food selection. Larger species of pufferfish are able to use their beak-like front teeth to break open clams, mussels, and other shellfish. Some species of pufferfish have also been known to enact various hunting techniques ranging from ambush to open-water hunting.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: The tetraodontids have been estimated to have diverged from diodontids between 89 and 138 million years ago. The four major clades diverged during the Cretaceous between 80 and 101 million years ago. The oldest known pufferfish genus is "Eotetraodon", from the Lutetian epoch of Middle Eocene Europe, with fossils found in Monte Bolca and the Caucasus Mountains. The Monte Bolca species, "E. pygmaeus", coexisted with several other tetraodontiforms, including an extinct species of diodontid, primitive boxfish ("Proaracana" and "Eolactoria"), and other, totally extinct forms, such as "Zignoichthys" and the spinacanthids. The extinct genus, "Archaeotetraodon" is known from Miocene-aged fossils from Europe.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Pufferfish can be lethal if not served properly. Puffer poisoning usually results from consumption of incorrectly prepared puffer soup, "fugu chiri", or occasionally from raw puffer meat, "sashimi fugu". While "chiri" is much more likely to cause death, "sashimi fugu" often causes intoxication, light-headedness, and numbness of the lips. Pufferfish tetrodotoxin deadens the tongue and lips, and induces dizziness and vomiting, followed by numbness and prickling over the body, rapid heart rate, decreased blood pressure, and muscle paralysis. The toxin paralyzes the diaphragm muscle and stops the person who has ingested it from breathing. People who live longer than 24 hours typically survive, although possibly after a coma lasting several days.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: The source of tetrodotoxin in puffers has been a matter of debate, but it is increasingly accepted that bacteria in the fish's intestinal tract are the source.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Saxitoxin, the cause of paralytic shellfish poisoning and red tide, can also be found in certain puffers.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: In September 2012, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Philippines issued a warning not to eat puffer fish, after local fishermen died upon consuming puffer fish for dinner. The warning indicated that puffer fish toxin is 100 times more potent than cyanide.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Pufferfish, called "pakapao" in Thailand, are usually consumed by mistake. They are often cheaper than other fish, and because they contain inconsistent levels of toxins between fish and season, there is little awareness or monitoring of the danger. Consumers are regularly hospitalized and some even die from the poisoning.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Cases of neurological symptoms, including numbness and tingling of the lips and mouth, have been reported to rise after the consumption of puffers caught in the area of Titusville, Florida, USA. The symptoms generally resolve within hours to days, although one affected individual required intubation for 72 hours. As a result, Florida banned the harvesting of puffers from certain bodies of water.


title: Tetraodontidae

text: Treatment is mainly supportive and consists of intestinal decontamination with gastric lavage and activated charcoal, and life-support until the toxin is metabolized. Case reports suggest anticholinesterases such as edrophonium may be effective.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: If Beale Street Could Talk is a 2018 American romantic drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins and based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel of the same name. It stars an ensemble cast that includes KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Michael Beach, Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal, Ed Skrein, Brian Tyree Henry, and Regina King. The film follows a young woman who, with her family's support, seeks to clear the name of her wrongly charged lover and prove his innocence before the birth of their child.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: Following the success of Jenkins' "Moonlight" (2016), it was announced in July 2017 that he would direct an adaptation of Baldwin's novel of the same name, from a screenplay that he wrote in 2013. Principal photography began in October 2017 in New York City and the cast was announced that month.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: "If Beale Street Could Talk" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2018 and was theatrically released in the United States on December 14, 2018, by Annapurna Pictures. It was praised for its acting, Jenkins's screenplay and direction, cinematography, and the musical score. It was chosen by both the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute as one of the Top 10 Films of 2018. The film received numerous accolades and nominations, including Best Supporting Actress wins for King at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes. It was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Screenplay at the 76th Golden Globe Awards, and Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score at the 91st Academy Awards.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: Clementine "Tish" Rivers and Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt have been friends their whole lives. They become romantically involved when they get older. In the 1970s, they struggle to find an apartment, as most New York landlords would not rent to black people. Eventually, they find a place in a warehouse being converted to loft apartments; Levy, the Jewish landlord, rents it to them at a good rate because he enjoys seeing couples who are in love, regardless of race.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: That night, Tish is harassed by a man while in a mostly white grocery store. He begins to assault her, so Fonny physically throws him out of the store. A white policeman nearby, Officer Bell, attempts to arrest Fonny for it, but reluctantly lets him go when the Jewish woman who runs the grocery store vouches for them and chastises Bell for his racism.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: Fonny is later arrested and accused of raping a woman named Victoria Rogers. Although nearly impossible for him to have gone from the scene of the crime to the apartment where he was arrested in the time between the rape and the arrest, the case against Fonny is considered strong due to Officer Bell's testimony. The claim is he saw Fonny fleeing the scene, and Victoria identified Fonny in a lineup as her rapist. Tish, as well as Fonny's friend Daniel Carty, were with him at the time of the rape, but it is considered an unreliable alibi due to Tish's romantic relationship with Fonny and Daniel's previous conviction for grand theft auto (he had been arrested for marijuana possession but was offered a plea for auto theft, a lesser charge at the time).


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: Tish visits Fonny in jail as he awaits trial and reveals to him that she is pregnant with their baby. Fonny is excited to be a father, but saddened that the birth might be while he is still behind bars. Later, Tish tells her parents, Sharon and Joseph, and sister, Ernestine, about her pregnancy. Though worried for her, Tish's family is supportive and decide to invite Fonny's family over to share the news.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: Frank, Fonny's father, is excited, however, Fonny's highly religious mother declares that as the child was conceived out of wedlock, Tish and her child are damned. As Mrs. Hunt begins to leave with her daughters in disgust after Frank hits her, Sharon reminds her that she has just condemned her own grandchild, leaving her emotionally distraught as she is escorted away.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: In a bar, Frank and Joseph discuss how the former is worried about paying for a child and Fonny's legal expenses, but Joseph convinces him that they will be able to provide for their grandchild the same way they provided for their own children.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: Sharon travels to Victoria's native Puerto Rico to plead with her to change her testimony. She tries to convince her she mistakenly identified Fonny as her rapist, but Victoria refuses. Questioning whether Victoria could have seen her rapist's face in the dark, Victoria says the police told her to identify Fonny in a line-up, and she did so. When Sharon gently touches her, Victoria begins to scream. An elderly woman overhears the commotion and comes to take Victoria away. Discouraged by the seeming hopelessness of his case and the constant trial delays, Tish gives birth to her son without Fonny, who eventually accepts a plea deal.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: Tish and their child, Alonzo Jr., visit Fonny in prison. They share dinner together from the vending machines, while looking forward to Fonny's eventual release.


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: On July 10, 2017, it was announced that Barry Jenkins would direct an adaptation of the James Baldwin novel "If Beale Street Could Talk". Jenkins wrote the screenplay during the summer of 2013, as he was writing "Moonlight".


title: If Beale Street Could Talk (film)

text: On August 29, 2017, Stephan James was set to star. In September 2017, KiKi Layne and Teyonah Parris were also added, with Layne in the female lead.