document_title: Conscription in the United States

question_text: when was the last person drafted in the us

question_tokens: when was the last person drafted in the us

root

text: Conscription in the United States

text: History[edit]

text: Colonial to 1862[edit]

text: In colonial times, the Thirteen Colonies used a militia system for defense. Colonial militia laws—and after independence those of the United States and the various states—required able-bodied males to enroll in the militia, to undergo a minimum of military training, and to serve for limited periods of time in war or emergency. This earliest form of conscription involved selective drafts of militiamen for service in particular campaigns. Following this system in its essentials, the Continental Congress in 1778 recommended that the states draft men from their militias for one year's service in the Continental army; this first national conscription was irregularly applied and failed to fill the Continental ranks.

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text: For long-term operations, conscription was occasionally used when volunteers or paid substitutes were insufficient to raise the needed manpower. During the American Revolutionary War, the states sometimes drafted men for militia duty or to fill state Continental Army units, but the central government did not have the authority to conscript except for purposes of naval impressment. President James Madison and his Secretary of War James Monroe unsuccessfully attempted to create a national draft of 40,000 men during the War of 1812.[3] This proposal was fiercely criticized on the House floor by antiwar Congressman Daniel Webster of New Hampshire.[4]

text:
"The administration asserts the right to fill the ranks of the regular army by compulsion...Is this, sir, consistent with the character of a free government? Is this civil liberty? Is this the real character of our Constitution? No, sir, indeed it is not...Where is it written in the Constitution, in what article or section is it contained, that you may take children from their parents, and parents from their children, and compel them to fight the battles of any war, in which the folly or the wickedness of government may engage it? Under what concealment has this power lain hidden, which now for the first time comes forth, with a tremendous and baleful aspect, to trample down and destroy the dearest rights of personal liberty?

Daniel Webster (December 9, 1814 House of Representatives Address)

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text: Civil War[edit]

text: The United States first employed national conscription during the American Civil War. The vast majority of troops were volunteers; of the 2,100,000 Union soldiers, about 2% were draftees, and another 6% were substitutes paid by draftees.[5][6]

text: The Confederacy had far fewer inhabitants than the Union, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis proposed the first conscription act on March 28, 1862; it was passed into law the next month.[7] Resistance was both widespread and violent, with comparisons made between conscription and slavery.

text: Both sides permitted conscripts to hire substitutes to serve in their place. In the Union, many states and cities offered bounties and bonuses for enlistment. They also arranged to take credit against their draft quota by claiming freed slaves who enlisted in the Union Army.

text: Although both sides resorted to conscription, the system did not work effectively in either.[8] The Confederate Congress on April 16, 1862, passed an act requiring military service for three years from all males aged eighteen to thirty-five not legally exempt; it later extended the obligation. The U.S. Congress followed with the Militia Act of 1862 authorizing a militia draft within a state when it could not meet its quota with volunteers.[citation needed] This state-administered system failed in practice and in 1863 Congress passed the Enrollment Act, the first genuine national conscription law, setting up under the Union Army an elaborate machinery for enrolling and drafting men between twenty and forty-five years of age. Quotas were assigned in each state, the deficiencies in volunteers required to be met by conscription.

text: Still, men drafted could provide substitutes, and until mid-1864 could even avoid service by paying commutation money. Many eligible men pooled their money to cover the cost of any one of them drafted. Families used the substitute provision to select which member should go into the army and which would stay home. The other popular means of procuring a substitute was to pay a soldier whose period of enlistment was about to expire - the advantage of this method was that the Army could retain a trained veteran in place of a raw recruit. Of the 168,649 men procured for the Union Army through the draft, 117,986 were substitutes, leaving only 50,663 who had their personal services conscripted. There was much evasion and overt resistance to the draft, and the New York City draft riots were in direct response to the draft and were the first large-scale resistance against the draft in the United States.

text: The problem of Confederate desertion was aggravated by the inequitable inclinations of conscription officers and local judges. The three conscription acts of the Confederacy exempted certain categories, most notably the planter class, and enrolling officers and local judges often practiced favoritism, sometimes accepting bribes. Attempts to effectively deal with the issue were frustrated by conflict between state and local governments on the one hand and the national government of the Confederacy.[9]

text: World War I[edit]

text: In 1917 the administration of President Woodrow Wilson decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower for World War I when only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1 million target in the first six weeks of the war.[10] One claimed motivation was to head off the former President, Theodore Roosevelt, who proposed to raise a volunteer division, which would upstage Wilson. However, there is no evidence that even Roosevelt had the popularity to overcome the unpopular war, also, since Wilson had just started his second term in office the former President's prospects for substantial political gain would seem dubious.

text: The Selective Service Act of 1917 was carefully drawn to remedy the defects in the Civil War system and—by allowing exemptions for dependency, essential occupations, and religious scruples—to place each man in his proper niche in a national war effort. The act established a "liability for military service of all male citizens"; authorized a selective draft of all those between 21 and 31 years of age (later from 18 to 45); and prohibited all forms of bounties, substitutions, or purchase of exemptions. Administration was entrusted to local boards composed of leading civilians in each community. These boards issued draft calls in order of numbers drawn in a national lottery and determined exemptions.

text: In 1917 10 million men were registered. This was deemed to be inadequate, so age ranges were increased and exemptions reduced, and so by the end of 1918 this increased to 24 million men that were registered with nearly 3 million inducted into the military services, with little of the resistance that characterized the Civil War, thanks to a huge campaign by the government to build support for the war, and shut down newspapers and magazines that published articles against the war.[11][12]

text: The draft was universal and included blacks on the same terms as whites, although they served in different units. In all 367,710 black Americans were drafted (13.0% of the total), compared to 2,442,586 white (86.9%). Along with a general opposition to American involvement in a foreign conflict, Southern farmers objected to unfair conscription practices that exempted members of the upper class and industrial workers.

text: Draft boards were localized and based their decisions on social class: the poorest were the most often conscripted because they were considered the most expendable at home. African-Americans in particular were often disproportionately drafted, though they generally were conscripted as laborers and not sent into combat to avoid the tensions that would arise from mixing races in military units. Forms of resistance ranged from peaceful protest to violent demonstrations and from humble letter-writing campaigns asking for mercy to radical newspapers demanding reform. The most common tactics were dodging and desertion, and many communities sheltered and defended their draft dodgers as political heroes.

text: Nearly half a million immigrants were drafted, which forced the military to develop training procedures that took ethnic differences into account. Military leaders invited Progressive reformers and ethnic group leaders to assist in formulating new military policies. The military attempted to socialize and Americanize young immigrant recruits, not by forcing "angloconformity", but by showing remarkable sensitivity and respect for ethnic values and traditions and a concern for the morale of immigrant troops. Sports activities, keeping immigrant groups together, newspapers in various languages, the assistance of bilingual officers, and ethnic entertainment programs were all employed.[13]

text: Opposition[edit]

text: The Conscription Act of 1917 was passed in June. Conscripts were court-martialed by the Army if they refused to wear uniforms, bear arms, perform basic duties, or submit to military authority. Convicted objectors were often given long sentences of 20 years in Fort Leavenworth.[14] In 1918 Secretary Baker created the Board of Inquiry to question the conscientious objectors' sincerity.[15] Military tribunals tried men found by the Board to be insincere for a variety of offenses, sentencing 17 to death, 142 to life imprisonment, and 345 to penal labor camps.[15]

text: In 1917, a number of radicals and anarchists, including Emma Goldman, challenged the new draft law in federal court, arguing that it was a direct violation of the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition against slavery and involuntary servitude. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the draft act in the Selective Draft Law Cases on January 7, 1918. The decision said the Constitution gave Congress the power to declare war and to raise and support armies. The Court, relying partly on Vattel's The Law of Nations, emphasized the principle of the reciprocal rights and duties of citizens:[16]

text: It may not be doubted that the very conception of a just government and its duty to the citizen includes the reciprocal obligation of the citizen to render military service in case of need, and the right to compel it. To do more than state the proposition is absolutely unnecessary in view of the practical illustration afforded by the almost universal legislation to that effect now in force.

text: Conscription was unpopular from left-wing sectors at the start, with many Socialists jailed for "obstructing the recruitment or enlistment service". The most famous was Eugene Debs, head of the Socialist Party of America, who ran for president in 1920 from his Atlanta prison cell. He had his sentence commuted to time served and was released on December 25, 1921, by President Warren G. Harding.

text: The Industrial Workers of the World mobilized to obstruct the war effort through strikes in war-related industries and not registering.

text: Conscientious objectors[edit]

text: Conscientious objector (CO) exemptions were allowed for the Amish, Mennonites, Quakers, and Church of the Brethren only. All other religious and political objectors were forced to participate. Some 64,700 men claimed conscientious objector status; local draft boards certified 57,000, of whom 30,000 passed the physical and 21,000 were inducted into the U.S. Army. About 80% of the 21,000 decided to abandon their objection and take up arms, but 3,989 drafted objectors refused to serve. Most belonged to historically pacifist denominations, especially Quakers, Mennonites, and Moravian Brethren, as well as a few Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses. About 15% were religious objectors from non-pacifist churches.[17]

text: Ben Salmon was a nationally known political activist who encouraged men not to register and personally refused to comply with the draft procedures. He rejected the Army Review Board proposal that he do noncombatant farm work. Sentenced to 25 years in prison, he again refused a proposed desk job. He was pardoned and released in November 1920 with a "dishonorable discharge".[18]

text: Interwar[edit]

text: The draft ended in 1918 but the Army designed the modern draft mechanism in 1926 and built it based on military needs despite an era of pacifism. Working where Congress would not, it gathered a cadre of officers for its nascent Joint Army-Navy Selective Service Committee, most of whom were commissioned based on social standing rather than military experience.[19] This effort did not receive congressionally approved funding until 1934 when Major General Lewis B. Hershey was assigned to the organization. The passage of a conscription act was opposed by some, including Dorothy Day and George Barry O'Toole, who were concerned that such conscription would not provide adequate protection for the rights of conscientious objectors. However, much of Hershey's work was codified into law with the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (STSA).[20]

text: World War II[edit]

text: By the summer of 1940, as Germany conquered France, Americans supported the return of conscription. One national survey found that 67% of respondents believed that a German-Italian victory would endanger the United States, and that 71% supported "the immediate adoption of compulsory military training for all young men".[21] Similarly, a November 1942 survey of American high-school students found that 69% favored compulsory postwar military training.[22]

text: The World War I system served as a model for that of World War II. The 1940 STSA instituted national conscription in peacetime, requiring registration of all men between 21 and 35, with selection for one year's service by a national lottery. The term of service was extended by one year in August 1941. After Pearl Harbor the STSA was further amended (December 19, 1941), extending the term of service to the duration of the war and six months and requiring the registration of all men 18 to 64 years of age. In the massive draft of World War II, 49 million men were registered, 36 million classified[not in citation given], and 10 million inducted.[23] President Roosevelt's signing of the STSA on September 16, 1940, began the first peacetime draft in the United States. It also established the Selective Service System as an independent agency responsible for identifying and inducting young men into military service. Roosevelt named Hershey to head the Selective Service on July 31, 1941, where he remained until 1969.[20] This preparatory act came when other preparations, such as increased training and equipment production, had not yet been approved. Nevertheless, it served as the basis for the conscription programs that would continue to the present. The act set a cap of 900,000 men to be in training at any given time and limited military service to 12 months. An amendment increased this 18 more months in August 1941. Later legislation on December 20, 1942 amended the act to require all men from 18 to 64 to register, with those aged 20 to 44 being able for induction. 18 and 19 year olds were made liable for induction and the upper age limit for the draft was reduced to 37 beginning on November 13, 1942. Service commitments for inductees were set at the length of the war plus six months.[24]

text: As manpower need increased during World War II, draftees were inducted into the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. The Navy and Marine Corps enlisted inductees and volunteers under the same service agreements, but with different service obligations, while the Army (and Army Air Forces) placed inductees into a special service component known as the Army of the United States, commonly known as the "AUS".[25]

text: By 1942, the Selective Service System moved away from administrative selection by its more than 6,000 local boards to a system of lottery selection. Rather than filling quotas by local selection, the boards now ensured proper processing of men selected by the national lottery.[19] On December 5, 1942, presidential Executive Order 9279 made it so that men from the ages of 18 to 37 could not voluntarily enlist even if they had not been drafted, providing protection for the nation's home front manpower pool. Paul V. McNutt, head of the War Manpower Commission, estimated that the changes would increase the ratio of men drafted from one out of nine to one out of five. The commission's goal was to have nine million men in the armed forces by the end of 1943.[26] This facilitated the massive requirement of up to 200,000 men per month and would remain the standard for the length of the war. The World War II draft operated from 1940 until 1947 when its legislative authorization expired without further extension by Congress. During this time, more than 10 million men had been inducted into military service. With the expiration, no inductions occurred in 1947.[27] However, the SSS remained intact.

text: Opposition[edit]

text: Scattered opposition was encountered especially in the northern cities where African-Americans protested the system. The young Nation of Islam was at the forefront, with many Black Muslims jailed for refusing the draft, and their leader Elijah Muhammed was sentenced to federal prison for 5 years for inciting draft resistance. Organized draft resistance also developed in the Japanese American internment camps, where groups like the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee refused to serve unless they and their families were released. 300 Nisei men from eight of the ten War Relocation Authority camps were arrested and stood trial for felony draft evasion; most were sentenced to federal prison.[28] American Communists also opposed the war until Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, whereupon they became supporters.[29]

text: Conscientious objectors[edit]

text: Of the more than 72,000 men registering as conscientious objectors (CO), nearly 52,000 received CO status. Of these, over 25,000 entered the military in noncombatant roles, another 12,000 went to civilian work camps, and nearly 6,000 went to prison. Draft evasion only accounted for about 4% of the total inducted. About 373,000 alleged evaders were investigated with just over 16,000 being imprisoned.[30]

text: Cold War[edit]

text: The second peacetime draft began with passage of the Selective Service Act of 1948 after the STSA expired. The new law required all men, ages 18 to 26, to register. It also created the system for the "Doctor Draft" aimed at inducting health professionals into military service.[31] Unless otherwise exempted or deferred, these men could be called for up to 21 months of active duty and five years of reserve duty service. Congress further tweaked this act in 1950 although the post–World War II surplus of military manpower left little need for draft calls until Truman's declaration of national emergency in December 1950.[32] Only 20,348 men were inducted in 1948 and only 9,781 in 1949.

text: Between the Korean War's outbreak in June 1950 and the armistice agreement in 1953, Selective Service inducted over 1.5 million men.[27] Another 1.3 million volunteered, usually choosing the Navy or Air Force.[19][30] Congress passed the Universal Military Training and Service Act in 1951 to meet the demands of the war. It lowered the induction age to 18½ and extended active-duty service commitments to 24 months. Despite the early combat failures and later stalemate in Korea, the draft has been credited by some as playing a vital role in turning the tide of war.[19] A February 1953 Gallup Poll showed 70 percent of Americans surveyed felt the SSS handled the draft fairly. Notably, Gallup reported that 64 percent of the demographic group including all draft age men (males 21 to 29) believed the draft to be fair.[33]

text: To increase equity in the system, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order on July 11, 1953, that ended the paternity deferment for married men.[34] In large part, the change in the draft served the purposes of the burgeoning Cold War. From a program that had just barely passed congressional muster during the fearful prelude to World War II, a more robust draft continued as fears now focused on the Soviet threat. Nevertheless, some dissenting voices in Congress continued to appeal to the history of voluntary American military service as preferable for a democracy.[35][36] The Korean War was the first time any form of student deferment was used. During the Korean War a student carrying at least twelve semester hours was spared until the end of his current semester.[37]

text: The United States breathed easier with the Korean War Armistice on July 27, 1953; however, technology brought new promises and threats. U.S. air and nuclear power fueled the Eisenhower doctrine of "massive retaliation". This strategy demanded more machines and fewer foot soldiers, so the draft slipped to the back burner. However, the head of the SSS, Maj. Gen. Hershey, urged caution fearing the conflict looming in Vietnam. In May 1953, he told his state directors to do everything possible to keep SSS alive in order to meet upcoming needs.[38]

text: Following the 1953 Korean War Armistice, Congress passed the Reserve Forces Act of 1955 with the aim of improving National Guard and federal Reserve Component readiness while also constraining its use by the president. Towards this end, it mandated a six-year service commitment, in a combination of reserve and active duty time, for every line military member regardless of their means of entry. Meanwhile, the SSS kept itself alive by devising and managing a complex system of deferments for a swelling pool of candidates during a period of shrinking requirements. The greatest challenge to the draft came not from protesters but rather lobbyists seeking additional deferments for their constituency groups such as scientists and farmers.[20]

text: Government leaders felt the potential for a draft was a critical element in maintaining a constant flow of volunteers. On numerous occasions Gen. Hershey told Congress for every man drafted, three or four more were scared into volunteering.[39] Assuming his assessment was accurate, this would mean over 11 million men volunteered for service because of the draft between January 1954 and April 1975.[19]

text: The policy of using the draft as a club to force "voluntary" enlistment was unique in U.S. history. Previous drafts had not aimed at encouraging individuals to sign up in order to gain preferential placement or less dangerous postings. However, the incremental buildup of Vietnam without a clear threat to the country bolstered this.[19] Some estimates suggest conscription encompassed almost one-third of all eligible men during the period of 1965–69.[40][41] This group represented those without exemption or resources to avoid military service. During the active combat phase, the possibility of avoiding combat by selecting their service and military specialty led as many as four out of 11 eligible men to enlist.[42][43] The military relied upon this draft-induced volunteerism to make its quotas, especially the Army, which accounted for nearly 95 percent of all inductees during Vietnam. For example, defense recruiting reports show 34% of the recruits in 1964 up to 50% in 1970 indicated they joined to avoid placement uncertainty via the draft.[44][45][46] These rates dwindled to 24% in 1972 and 15% in 1973 after the change to a lottery system. Accounting for other factors, it can be argued up to 60 percent of those who served throughout the Vietnam War did so directly or indirectly because of the draft.[42]

text: In addition, deferments provided an incentive for men to follow pursuits considered useful to the state. This process, known as channeling, helped push men into educational, occupational, and family choices they might not otherwise have pursued. Undergraduate degrees were valued. Graduate work had varying value over time, though technical and religious training received near constant support. War industry support in the form of teaching, research, or skilled labor also received deferred or exempt status. Finally, marriage and family were exempted because of its positive social consequences.[20][47] This included using presidential orders to extend exemptions again to fathers and others.[48] Channeling was also seen as a means of preempting the early loss of the country's "best and brightest" who had historically joined and died early in war.[49]

text: In the only extended period of military conscription of U.S. males during a major peacetime period, the draft continued on a more limited basis during the late 1950s and early 1960s. While a far smaller percentage of eligible males were conscripted compared to war periods, draftees by law served in the Army for two years. Elvis Presley and Willie Mays were two of the most famous people drafted during this period.

text: Public protests in the United States were few during the Korean War. However, the percentage of CO exemptions for inductees grew to 1.5% compared to a rate of just 0.5% in the past two wars. The Justice Department also investigated more than 80,000 draft evasion cases.[41][50][51]

text: Vietnam War[edit]

text: President Kennedy's decision to send military troops to Vietnam as "advisors" was a signal that Selective Service Director Lewis B. Hershey needed to visit the Oval Office. From that visit emerged two wishes of JFK with regard to conscription. The first was that the names of married men with children should occupy the very bottom of the callup list. Just above them should be the names of men who are married. This Presidential policy, however, was not to be formally encoded into Selective Service Status. Men who fit into these categories became known as Kennedy Husbands. When President Lyndon Johnson decided to rescind this Kennedy policy, there was a last-minute rush to the altar by thousands of American couples.[citation needed]

text: Many early rank-and-file anti-conscription protesters had been allied with the National Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy. The completion in 1963 of a Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty left a mass of undirected youth in search of a cause. Syndicated cartoonist Al Capp portrayed them as S.W.I.N.E, (Students Wildly Indignant About Nearly Everything). The catalyst for protest reconnection was the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

text: Consequently, there was some opposition to the draft even before the major U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began. The large cohort of Baby Boomers who became eligible for military service during the Vietnam War was responsible for a steep increase in the number of exemptions and deferments, especially for college students. Besides being able to avoid the draft, college graduates who volunteered for military service (primarily as commissioned officers) had a much better chance of securing a preferential posting compared to less-educated inductees.

text: As U.S. troop strength in South Vietnam increased, more young men were drafted for service there, and many of those still at home sought means of avoiding the draft. Since only 15,000 National Guard and Reserve soldiers were sent to South Vietnam, enlistment in the Guard or the Reserves became a popular means of avoiding serving in a war zone. For those who could meet the more stringent enlistment standards, service in the Air Force, Navy, or Coast Guard was a means of reducing the chances of being killed. Vocations to the ministry and the rabbinate soared, because divinity students were exempt from the draft[citation needed]. Doctors and draft board members found themselves being pressured by relatives or family friends to exempt potential draftees.[citation needed]

text: The marriage deferment ended suddenly on August 26, 1965. Around 3:10pm President Johnson signed an order allowing the draft of men who married after midnight that day, then around 5pm he announced the change for the first time.[52]

text: Some conscientious objectors objected to the war based on the theory of Just War. One of these, Stephen Spiro, was convicted of avoiding the draft, but given a suspended sentence of five years. He was later pardoned by President Gerald Ford.[53]

text: There were 8,744,000 servicemembers between 1964 and 1975, of whom 3,403,000 were deployed to Southeast Asia.[54] From a pool of approximately 27 million, the draft raised 2,215,000 men for military service (in the United States, South Vietnam, and elsewhere) during the Vietnam War era. The majority of servicemembers deployed to South Vietnam were volunteers, even though hundreds of thousands of men opted to join the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard (for three or four year terms of enlistment) rather than risk being drafted, serve for two years, and have no choice over their military occupational specialty (MOS).[55]

text: Of the nearly 16 million men not engaged in active military service, 57% were exempted (typically because of jobs including other military service), deferred (usually for educational reasons), or disqualified (usually for physical and mental deficiencies but also for criminal records including draft violations).[19] The requirements for obtaining and maintaining an educational deferment changed several times in the late 1960s. For several years, students were required to take an annual qualification test. In 1967 educational deferments were changed for graduate students. Those starting graduate studies in the fall of 1967 were given two semester deferments becoming eligible in June of 1968. Those further along in their graduate study who entered prior to the summer of 1967 could continue to receive a deferment until they completed their studies. Peace Corps Volunteers were no longer given deferments and their induction was left to the discretion of their local boards. However most boards allowed Peace Corps Volunteers to complete their two years assignment before inducting them into the service. On December 1, 1969, a lottery was held to establish a draft priority for all those born between 1944 and 1950. Those with a high number no longer had to be concerned about the draft. Nearly 500,000 men were disqualified for criminal records, but less than 10,000 of them were convicted of draft violations.[30] Finally, as many as 100,000 draft eligible men fled the country.[56][57]

text: End of conscription[edit]

text: During the 1968 presidential election, Richard Nixon campaigned on a promise to end the draft.[58] He had first become interested in the idea of an all-volunteer army during his time out of office, based upon a paper by Martin Anderson of Columbia University.[59] Nixon also saw ending the draft as an effective way to undermine the anti-Vietnam war movement, since he believed affluent youths would stop protesting the war once their own probability of having to fight in it was gone.[60] There was opposition to the all-volunteer notion from both the Department of Defense and Congress, so Nixon took no immediate action towards ending the draft early in his presidency.[59]

text: Instead, the Gates Commission was formed, headed by Thomas S. Gates, Jr., a former Secretary of Defense in the Eisenhower administration. Gates initially opposed the all-volunteer army idea, but changed his mind during the course of the 15-member commission's work.[59] The Gates Commission issued its report in February 1970, describing how adequate military strength could be maintained without having conscription.[58][61] The existing draft law was expiring at the end of June 1971, but the Department of Defense and Nixon administration decided the draft needed to continue for at least some time.[61] In February 1971, the administration requested of Congress a two-year extension of the draft, to June 1973.[62][63]

text: Senatorial opponents of the war wanted to reduce this to a one-year extension, or eliminate the draft altogether, or tie the draft renewal to a timetable for troop withdrawal from Vietnam;[64] Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska took the most forceful approach, trying to filibuster the draft renewal legislation, shut down conscription, and directly force an end to the war.[65] Senators supporting Nixon's war efforts supported the bill, even though some had qualms about ending the draft.[63] After a prolonged battle in the Senate, in September 1971 cloture was achieved over the filibuster and the draft renewal bill was approved.[66] Meanwhile, military pay was increased as an incentive to attract volunteers, and television advertising for the U.S. Army began.[58] With the end of active U.S. ground participation in Vietnam, December 1972 saw the last men conscripted, who were born in 1952[67] and who reported for duty in June 1973. On February 2, 1972, a drawing was held to determine draft priority numbers for men born in 1953, but in early 1973 it was announced by Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird that no further draft orders would be issued.[68][69] In March 1973, 1974, and 1975, the Selective Service assigned draft priority numbers for all men born in 1954, 1955, and 1956, in case the draft was extended, but it never was.[70]

text: Command Sergeant Major Jeff Mellinger, believed to be the last drafted enlisted ranked soldier still on active duty, retired in 2011.[71][72]

text: Chief Warrant Officer 5 Ralph E. Rigby, the last Vietnam War-era drafted soldier of Warrant Officer rank, retired from the army in November 10, 2014 after a 42-year career.[73]

text: Post-1980 draft registration[edit]

text: On July 2, 1980, President Carter issued Presidential Proclamation 4771 and re-instated the requirement that young men register with the Selective Service System.[74] At that time it was required that all males, born on or after January 1, 1960, register with the Selective Service System. Those now in this category are male U.S. citizens and male immigrant non-citizens between the ages of 18 and 25, who are required to register within 30 days of their 18th birthday even if they are not eligible to join the military.

text: The Selective Service System describes its mission as "to serve the emergency manpower needs of the Military by conscripting untrained manpower, or personnel with professional health care skills, if directed by Congress and the President in a national crisis".[75] Registration forms are available either online or at any U.S. Post Office.

text: The Selective Service registration form states that failure to register is a felony punishable by up to five years imprisonment or a $250,000 fine.[76] In practice, no one has been prosecuted for failure to comply with draft registration since 1986,[77] in part because prosecutions of draft resisters proved counter-productive for the government, and in part because of the difficulty of proving that noncompliance with the law was "knowing and wilful". In interviews published in U.S. News & World Report in May 2016, current and former Selective Service System officials said that in 1988, the Department of Justice and Selective Service agreed to suspend any further prosecutions of nonregistrants.[78] Many men do not register at all, register late, or change addresses without notifying the Selective Service System.[79] Registration is a requirement for employment by the federal government and some states, as well as for receiving some state benefits such as driver's licenses.[80] Refusing to register can also cause a loss of eligibility for federal financial aid for college.[81]

text: Health care personnel[edit]

text: On December 1, 1989, Congress ordered the Selective Service System to put in place a system capable of drafting "persons qualified for practice or employment in a health care and professional occupation", if such a special-skills draft should be ordered by Congress.[82] In response, Selective Service published plans for the "Health Care Personnel Delivery System" (HCPDS) in 1989 and has had them ready ever since. The concept underwent a preliminary field exercise in Fiscal Year 1998, followed by a more extensive nationwide readiness exercise in Fiscal Year 1999. The HCPDS plans include women and men ages 20–54 in 57 different job categories.[83] As of May 2003, the Defense Department has said the most likely form of draft is a special skills draft, probably of health care workers.[84]

text: Legality[edit]

text: In 1918, the Supreme Court ruled that the World War I draft did not violate the United States Constitution in the Selective Draft Law Cases. The Court summarized the history of conscription in England and in colonial America, a history that it read as establishing that the Framers envisioned compulsory military service as a governmental power. It held that the Constitution's grant to Congress of the powers to declare war and to create standing armies included the power to mandate conscription. It rejected arguments based on states' rights, the 13th Amendment, and other provisions of the Constitution.

text: Later, during the Vietnam War, a lower appellate court also concluded that the draft was constitutional. United States v. Holmes, 387 F.2d 781 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 391 U.S. 936 (1968).[85] Justice William O. Douglas, in voting to hear the appeal in Holmes, agreed that the government had the authority to employ conscription in wartime, but argued that the constitutionality of a draft in the absence of a declaration of war was an open question, which the Supreme Court should address.

text: During the World War I era, the Supreme Court allowed the government great latitude in suppressing criticism of the draft. Examples include Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919)[86] and Gilbert v. Minnesota, 254 U.S. 325 (1920).[87] In subsequent decades, however, the Court has taken a much broader view of the extent to which advocacy speech is protected by the First Amendment. Thus, in 1971 the Court held it unconstitutional for a state to punish a man who entered a county courthouse wearing a jacket with the words "F*ck the Draft" visible on it. Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971).[88] Nevertheless, protesting the draft by the specific means of burning a draft registration card can be constitutionally prohibited, because of the government's interest in prohibiting the "nonspeech" element involved in destroying the card. United States v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968).[89]

text: Since the reinstatement of draft registration in 1980, the Supreme Court has heard and decided four cases related to the Military Selective Service Act: Rostker v. Goldberg, 453 U.S. 57 (1981), upholding the Constitutionality of requiring men but not women to register for the draft; Selective Service v. Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG), 468 U.S. 841 (1984), upholding the Constitutionality of the first of the federal "Solomon Amendment" laws, which requires applicants for Federal student aid to certify that they have complied with draft registration, either by having registered or by not being required to register; Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598 (1985), upholding the policies and procedures which the Supreme Court thought the government had used to select the "most vocal" nonregistrants for prosecution, after the government refused to comply with discovery orders by the trial court to produce documents and witnesses related to the selection of nonregistrants for prosecution; and Elgin v. Department of the Treasury, 567 U.S. ____ (2012), regarding procedures for judicial review of denial of Federal employment for nonregistrants.[90]

text: In 1981, several men filed lawsuit in the case Rostker v. Goldberg, alleging that the Military Selective Service Act violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment by requiring that men only and not also women register with the Selective Service System. The Supreme Court upheld the act, stating that Congress's "decision to exempt women was not the accidental byproduct of a traditional way of thinking about women", that "since women are excluded from combat service by statute or military policy, men and women are simply not similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft, and Congress' decision to authorize the registration of only men therefore does not violate the Due Process Clause", and that "the argument for registering women was based on considerations of equity, but Congress was entitled, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to focus on the question of military need, rather than 'equity.'"[91]

text: The Rostker v. Goldberg opinion's dependence upon deference on decision of the executive to exclude women from combat has garnered renewed scrutiny since the Department of Defense announced its decision in January 2013 to do away with most of the federal policies that have kept women from serving in combat roles in ground war situations. Both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force had by then already opened up virtually all positions in sea and air combat to women. At least two lawsuits have been filed challenging the continued Constitutionality of requiring men but not women to register with the Selective service System: National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System (filed April 4, 2013, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California; dismissed by the District Court July 29, 2013 as not "ripe" for decision; appeal argued December 8, 2015 before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals;[92] reversed and remanded February 19, 2016[93]), and Kyle v. Selective Service System (filed July 3, 2015, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey), brought on behalf of Elizabeth Kyle-LaBell, who tried to register but was turned away because she is female.[94]

text: Conscientious objection[edit]

text: According to the Selective Service System,[95]

text: The Supreme Court has ruled in cases United States v. Seeger[96] (1965) and Welsh v. United States[97] (1970) that conscientious objection can be by non-religious beliefs as well as religious beliefs; but it has also ruled in Gillette v. United States (1971) against objections to specific wars as grounds for conscientious objection.[98]

text: There is currently no mechanism to indicate that one is a conscientious objector in the Selective Service system. According to the SSS, after a person is drafted, he can claim Conscientious Objector status and then justify it before the Local Board. This is criticized because during the times of a draft, when the country is in emergency conditions, there could be increased pressure for Local Boards to be more harsh on conscientious objector claims.

text: There are two types of status for conscientious objectors. If a person objects only to combat but not to service in the military, then the person could be given noncombatant service in the military without training of weapons. If the person objects to all military service, then the person could be ordered to "alternative service" with a job "deemed to make a meaningful contribution to the maintenance of the national health, safety, and interest".

text: Poverty Draft[edit]

text: The poverty draft is a controversial belief in some circles that low-income demographics are either intentionally targeted by the military for recruitment, or that their low socioeconomic status makes enlistment especially attractive, such that they are overrepresented in the armed forces. The "poverty draft" is a term describing U.S. military recruiters' purposeful tendency to focus their recruiting efforts on inner-city and poor rural schools. The low-income youth and young people of color who attend these schools generally have fewer good educational and job opportunities than middle-class and wealthy youth and are therefore more likely to enlist. Proponents of the poverty draft view often claim that because of this the U.S. armed forces are disproportionally men and women of color and from poor and working class backgrounds.[99] [100]

text: Selective Service reforms[edit]

text: The Selective Service System has maintained that they have implemented several reforms that would make the draft more fair and equitable.

text: Some of the measures they have implemented include:[101]

text:
Before and during the Vietnam War, a young man could get a deferment by showing that he was a full-time student making satisfactory progress towards a degree; now deferment only lasts to the end of the semester. If the man is a senior he can defer until the end of the academic year.
The government has said that draft boards are now more representative of the local communities in areas such as race and national origin.
A lottery system would be used to determine the order of people being called up. Previously the oldest men who were found eligible for the draft would be taken first. In the new system, the men called first would be those who are or will turn 20 years old in the calendar year or those whose deferments will end in the calendar year. Each year after, the man will be placed on a lower priority status until his liability ends.

tag: ul

text: Conscription controversies since 2003[edit]

text: The effort to enforce Selective Service registration law was abandoned in 1986. Since then, no attempt to reinstate conscription has been able to attract much support in the legislature or among the public.[79] Since early 2003, when the Iraq War appeared imminent, there had been attempts through legislation and campaign rhetoric to begin a new public conversation on the topic. Public opinion since 1973 has been largely negative.

text: In 2003, several Democratic congressmen (Charles Rangel of New York, Jim McDermott of Washington, John Conyers of Michigan, John Lewis of Georgia, Pete Stark of California, Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii) introduced legislation that would draft both men and women into either military or civilian government service, should there be a draft in the future. The Republican majority leadership suddenly considered the bill, nine months after its introduction, without a report from the Armed Services Committee (to which it had been referred), and just one month prior to the 2004 presidential and congressional elections. The Republican leadership used an expedited parliamentary procedure that would have required a two-thirds vote for passage of the bill. The bill was defeated on October 5, 2004, with two members voting for it and 402 members voting against.

text: In 2004, the platforms of both the Democratic and Republican parties opposed military conscription, but neither party moved to end draft registration. John Kerry in one debate criticized Bush's policies, "You've got stop-loss policies so people can't get out when they were supposed to. You've got a backdoor draft right now."

text: This statement was in reference to the U.S. Department of Defense use of "stop-loss" orders, which have extended the Active Duty periods of some military personnel. All enlistees, upon entering the service, volunteer for a minimum eight-year Military Service Obligation (MSO). This MSO is split between a minimum active duty period, followed by a reserve period where enlistees may be called back to active duty for the remainder of the eight years.[102] Some of these active duty extensions have been for as long as two years. The Pentagon stated that as of August 24, 2004, 20,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines had been affected.[103] As of January 31, 2006 it has been reported that more than 50,000 soldiers and reservists had been affected.[104]

text: Despite arguments by defense leaders that they had no interest in re-instituting the draft, Representative Neil Abercrombie's (D-HI) inclusion of a DOD memo in the Congressional Record which detailed a meeting by senior leaders signaled renewed interest. Though the conclusion of the meeting memo did not call for a reinstatement of the draft, it did suggest Selective Service Act modifications to include registration by women and self-reporting of critical skills that could serve to meet military, homeland-defense, and humanitarian needs.[105] This hinted at more targeted draft options being considered, perhaps like that of the "Doctor Draft" that began in the 1950s to provide nearly 66% of the medical professionals who served in the Army in Korea.[106] Once created, this manpower tool continued to be used through 1972. The meeting memo gave DOD's primary reason for opposing a draft as a matter of cost effectiveness and efficiency. Draftees with less than two years' retention were said to be a net drain on military resources providing insufficient benefit to offset overhead costs of using them.[19]

text: Mentions of the draft during the presidential campaign led to a resurgence of anti-draft and draft resistance organizing.[107] One poll of young voters in October 2004 found that 29% would resist if drafted.[108]

text: In November 2006, Representative Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) again called for the draft to be reinstated; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi rejected the proposal.[109]

text: On December 19, 2006, President George W. Bush announced that he was considering sending more troops to Iraq. The next day, the Selective Service System's director for operations and chief information officer, Scott Campbell, announced plans for a "readiness exercise" to test the system's operations in 2006, for the first time since 1998.[110]

text: On December 21, 2006, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, when asked by a reporter whether the draft should be reinstated to make the military more equal, said, "I think that our society would benefit from that, yes sir." Nicholson proceeded to relate his experience as a company commander in an infantry unit which brought together soldiers of different socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels, noting that the draft "does bring people from all quarters of our society together in the common purpose of serving". Nicholson later issued a statement saying he does not support reinstating the draft.[111]

text: On August 10, 2007, with National Public Radio on "All Things Considered", Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, National Security Adviser to the President and Congress for all matters pertaining to the United States Military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, expressed support for a draft to alleviate the stress on the Army's all-volunteer force. He cited the fact that repeated deployments place much strain upon one soldier's family and himself which, in turn, can affect retention.[112]

text: A similar bill to Rangel's 2003 one was introduced in 2007, called the Universal National Service Act of 2007 (H.R. 393), but it has not received a hearing or been scheduled for consideration.

text: At the end of June 2014 in Pennsylvania 14,250 letters of conscription were erroneously posted to men born in the 19th century calling upon them to register for the US military draft. This was attributed to a clerk at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation who failed to select a century during a transfer of 400,000 records to the Selective Service. The Selective Service identified 27,218 records of men born in the 19th century made errantly applicable by the change of century and began sending out notices to them on June 30.[113]

text: On June 14, 2016, the Senate voted to require women to register for the draft, though language requiring this was dropped from later versions of the bill.[114]

text: Non-citizens[edit]

text: The Selective Service (and the draft) in the United States is not limited to citizens. Howard Stringer, for example, was drafted six weeks after arriving from his native Britain in 1965.[115][116] Today, non-citizen males of appropriate age in the United States, who are permanent residents (holders of green cards), seasonal agricultural workers not holding an H-2A Visa, refugees, parolees, asylees, and illegal immigrants, are required to register with the Selective Service System.[117] Refusal to do so is grounds for denial of a future citizenship application. In addition, immigrants who seek to naturalize as citizens must, as part of the Oath of Citizenship, swear to the following:

text: ... that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law;[118]

text: The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website also states however:

text: However, since 1975, USCIS has allowed the oath to be taken without the clauses: ". . .that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by law...."

text: Non-citizens who serve in the United States military enjoy several naturalization benefits which are unavailable to non-citizens who do not, such as a waiver of application fees.[119] Permanent resident aliens who die while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces may be naturalized posthumously, which may be beneficial to surviving family members.[120]


document_title: BB&T

question_text: what is the full name of bb t bank

question_tokens: what is the full name of bb t bank

text: BB&T

text:
BB&T Corporation

Type

Public company

Traded as
NYSE: BBT
S&P 500 Index component

Industry
Financial services

Founded
1872; 145 years ago (1872)

Founder
Alpheus Branch
Thomas Jefferson Hadley

Headquarters
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Number of locations

2,100 branches

Area served

North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Texas, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C.

Key people

Kelly King, Chairman & CEO
Christopher L. Henson, President
Daryl N. Bible, CFO[1]

Products
Commercial and Consumer banking
Investment banking
Insurance
Mortgage

Revenue
 US$10.793 billion (2016)[1]

Net income

 US$2.442 billion (2016)[1]

Total assets
 US$219.276 billion (2016)[1]

Total equity
 US$29.355 billion (2016)[1]

Number of employees

37,500 (2016)[1]

Website
www.bbt.com

text: BB&T Corporation (Branch Banking and Trust Company) is a financial service holding company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Its bank operates over 2,100 branches in 15 states and Washington, D.C., and offers consumer and commercial banking, securities brokerage, asset management, mortgage and insurance products and services.[1] It is on the list of largest banks in the United States. Its subsidiary BB&T Insurance Services is one of the largest insurance brokers in the world.[2]

text: History[edit]

text: In 1872, Alpheus Branch and Thomas Jefferson Hadley founded the Branch and Hadley merchant bank in their hometown of Wilson, North Carolina. After many transactions, mostly with local barbers, Branch bought out Hadley's shares in 1887 and renamed the company to Branch and Company, Bankers. Two years later, Branch, his father-in-law Gen. Joshua Barnes, Hadley and three other men, secured a charter from the North Carolina General Assembly to operate the Wilson Banking and Trust Company. After several additional name changes, the company finally settled on the name Branch Banking and Trust Company. Branch remained an active member in the company until his death in 1893. The 1903 Branch Banking and Trust Company Building at Wilson was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[3]

text: BB&T sold Liberty Bonds during World War I and grew to have more than $4 million in assets by 1923. BB&T Insurance Services was added in 1922 and a mortgage division was added in 1923. Even though banks across the United States failed as a result of the 1929 Stock Market Crash, BB&T survived; it was the only one to do so in the town of Wilson.

text: In 1995, the bank merged with Southern National Bank, another bank with roots in the eastern part of the state. This gave BB&T 437 branches in 220 cities in the Carolinas and Virginia. The bank continued to expand nationwide through the 1990s, purchasing Fidelity Financial Bankshares,[4] First Financial of Petersburg, Maryland, Maryland Federal Bancorp,[5] and Franklin Bancorporation.[6] In 1998, BB&T acquired MainStreet Financial of Martinsville, Virginia,[7][8] and Mason-Dixon Bancshares of Westminster, Maryland,[9] and further expanded into Georgia and West Virginia after purchasing First Liberty of Macon, Georgia,[10] and Matewan Bancshares.[11]

text: In 2005, the bank acquired Main Street Banks of metro Atlanta for $622 million.[12]

text: In 2006, the bank acquired Coastal Federal Bank, based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[13]

text: In February 2008, the company acquired Burkey Risk Services.[14]

text: In April 2008, the company acquired UnionBanc Insurance Services.[15]

text: In late 2008, the bank accepted $3.1 billion in bailout money through the sale of preferred shares to the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. In June 2009, the bank repurchased the shares.[16] Also in June 2009, its chairman, John A. Allison IV delivered a keynote address to a meeting of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where he claimed to show how government regulation caused the financial crisis of 2007–2008.[17]

text: In July 2008, the company acquired Puckett, Scheetz & Hogan.[18]

text: On August 14, 2009, the bank acquired Colonial Bank after its seizure by the FDIC. This acquisition added more than 340 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas along with approximately $22 billion in assets.[19][20] BB&T sold the Nevada branch to U.S. Bancorp in January 2010.[21]

text: In December 2008, the company acquired J. Rolfe Davis.[22]

text: In November 2009, the company acquired Oswald Trippe.[23]

text: In September 2011, the company acquired Liberty Benefit Insurance Services, an agency operating in California.[24] The company also acquired Atlantic Risk Management.[25]

text: In November 2011, the company acquired Precept, an employee benefits consulting firm.[26]

text: In February 2012, the company acquired the life insurance and property and casualty insurance divisions of Crump Group.[27]

text: In July 2012, the bank acquired BankAtlantic, and its $2.1 billion in loans and $3.3 billion in deposits.[28] The company also began selling flood insurance online.[29]

text: In December 2013, the bank acquired 21 Citigroup branches in Texas for $36 million, adding $1.2 billion in deposits.[30]

text: In March 2014, the company acquired Woodbury & Co., an insurance broker operating in the Carolinas.[31]

text: In April 2014, the company acquired Caledonian Insurance Group, which specialized in insurance brokerage services for the aviation industry.[32]

text: In September 2014, the bank acquired 41 more Citigroup branches, which added 123 branches and $5.3 billion in deposits.[33]

text: In April 2015, BB&T subsidiary CRC Insurance Services acquired the assets of Napco LLC, a broker of catastrophic commercial insurance.[34]

text: In June 2015, the bank acquired Bank of Kentucky for $363 million, which added $1.9 billion in assets and gave BB&T a presence in the Northern Kentucky-Cincinnati market, and its first branches in Ohio.[35] The also company sold American Coastal Insurance and increased its ownership in AMRisc.[36]

text: In August 2015, the bank acquired Susquehanna Bank for $2.5 billion, adding 240 branches and $18.7 billion in assets, and marking the bank's entry into Pennsylvania and New Jersey.[37]

text: In April 2016, the company acquired Swett & Crawford, a wholesale insurance broker.[38]

text: In April 2016, the bank acquired National Penn for $1.8 billion, which added 124 branches in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland, $9.6 billion in assets, and $6.7 billion in deposits.[39]


document_title: List of Ed, Edd n Eddy characters

question_text: who owned plank in ed edd and eddy

question_tokens: who owned plank in ed edd and eddy

text: List of Ed, Edd n Eddy characters

text: Creation

text: According to cartoonist and Ed, Edd n Eddy creator Danny Antonucci, he based the characters on real people in his life; the personalities of Ed, Edd, and Eddy are based on his own traits, and the activities of his two sons while the cul-de-sac children and the Kanker sisters were all based on children he grew up with.[1] Rolf is based on himself and his cousins, since he was part of an immigrant family, and grew up in a first generation foreign household with different customs and ways of living, compared to those born in Canada.[2] Jimmy is based on one of his cousins, who spent most of his time playing with girls than boys and was rather feminine.[3] Jonny and Plank are inspired by one of Antonucci's childhood friends, a loner who spent most of his time outside with his blanket.[3] He stated that he believed it was important to add Plank, a board of wood, to the show, and that he "thought it would be really cool to do the show with Plank taking on a character of his own" and to cause Jonny to do things he would usually never do.[1] Some wanted Plank to be able to talk, smile and blink as if he was alive, but Antonucci insisted that it should be treated as a piece of wood, brought to life by Jonny's imagination.[3]

text: All the children have multicolored tongues; Antonucci said that the idea came after he saw his son and his friends with different-colored tongues because of eating different candy while he was working on a storyboard.[3] The characters went through a number of "walking cycles", a process used to determine how each character should walk or run, turn around, blink, etc. before the crew came up with the final product.[3]

text: Protagonists

text: Eddy

text: Eddy (Tony Sampson) is the self-appointed leader of the Eds. He is selfish, loud-mouthed, immature, greedy, and hot-tempered. He loves money, jawbreakers (which he likes to spend his ill-earned money on), dirty magazines (as hinted in "Luck of the Ed"), his room, and Chunky Puffs. Eddy ordinarily comes up with the plans for scamming people, but they usually fail, much to his frustration. Eddy will often, especially in the early seasons, slack off by suntanning or drinking a soda while his fellow Eds do all the work. His prized possessions include his magazines, king-sized bed, and disco ball. He also has a Barry White album and is a fan of Tom Jones. Eddy is the shortest of the Eds and takes this very seriously, hating the thought of people calling him short, suggesting he may have a Napoleon complex. Eddy sometimes boasts about his older brother and uses this to his advantage to gain respect. Like Kevin, Eddy can be cruel and acerbic, with a tendency to tease his peers, but deep down, Eddy only wants to be liked by everyone.

text: Edd (Double D)

text: Edd (Samuel Vincent) is the smartest of the Eds and the most polite, mature, and considerate of the three. As a result, he is more socially accepted by the rest of the kids than Ed and Eddy, usually acting as a peacemaker or offering the rest of the kids advice. To differentiate his homophonic name from Ed and Eddy, he is referred to as Double-D. Edd has a high IQ and is top of the class in most subjects at school, though he is the physically weakest of the Eds and despises P.E. and other sporting activities. As the most creative of the trio, he is able to construct things like planes, rocket cars, and roller coasters with junk he comes across and enjoys doing so. He also is able to play pedal steel guitar, but does not like to do so often. He often speaks using complex words and struggles to speak normally in high anxiety situations. His clothing usually consists of an red/orange shirt, purple shorts, red socks, cyan shoes, and a black ski hat with two white lines on it. He sleeps in a footed onesie, and in the later seasons and the movie, he wears a tie when going to school. Double D never willingly removes his hat (except while bathing), so it is unknown what lies under it; Ed and Eddy see him twice without it. Whatever his hat hides, Edd is self-conscious about it. He is also self-conscious about a gap in his front teeth thanks to Eddy poking fun at it. He is the only one of the trio to be an only child, and his parents leave sticky notes around his house as a means of communicating with him.

text: Like the other two Eds, Edd's personality is largely based upon series creator Danny Antonucci, who has said "there's my Edd side, neurotic, analytical, must be organized. Also if Eddy and Ed (single D) were not around, Edd would be happy with his own company, something that works for me too." Antonucci has also explained that the habit of Double Dee's parents to communicate with him through sticky notes was based on a habit of his own parents.[4]

text: Ed

text: Ed (Matt Hill) is the strong, airheaded, and usually quite random dogsbody of the group who has very short hair. He wears a red-and-white striped shirt, a green jacket with two white stripes on each sleeve and purple-blue jeans. His skin is yellow, unlike the other characters, and he is known to laugh a lot and is happy most of the time. Ed has amazing physical strength, which is humorously worked into many of the show's plots.[5] He has no chin and a unibrow, which is noted often by Eddy. His mind is a subculture grab-bag full of comics and monster movies,[5] which he often confuses with reality, and which leads him to speak in non sequiturs almost all the time. Ed (to the misfortune of many people) is utterly at the mercy of his tyrannical younger sister Sarah and is an easy target of her manipulations, with Sarah threatening to tell their mother if she does not get her way.

text: Ed is kindhearted, good-natured, and has a positive attitude towards almost everything and everyone, even to those who are not accommodating to him. He cares about the welfare of the other two Eds. He often sacrifices himself for his two best friends, the other cul-de-sac children, and even Sarah, for whom he cares deeply, though she treats him badly. He is absentminded and naive, making him the perfect candidate to help Eddy with his scams, as Ed hardly ever questions them. Even so, Ed never feels abused by Eddy.

text: Ed enjoys buttered toast, gravy, cereal (namely Chunky Puffs), pudding skin, chickens, comics and monster movies. Much to the dismay of mysophobic Edd, he has poor personal hygiene, even to the point of being terrified of soap and liking the smell of sweaty boots. Though the Eds were outcasts throughout the series, in the series' TV movie finale Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show, the three become friends with all the cul-de-sac children; even Sarah starts treating Ed nicely.[6]

text: Creator Danny Antonucci explained Ed's inspiration saying, "Ed is...me, following his own path and slightly dysfunctional, a daydreamer who while people are doing one thing, will be busy thinking of another."[4] He also described Ed as "slow, living in his own world and he really doesn't fit in with the rest of the crowd,"[7] and explained that it was hard to decide who would voice him.[8] Ed ended up being voiced by Matt Hill.[8]

text: Supporting characters

text: Jonny

text: Jonny, also known as Jonny 2x4 (David Paul Grove), is a loner and considered by his peers to be a nuisance.[5] Jonny is often made fun of for his big head (Eddy usually refers to him as "Melonhead") and has a tendency of getting his head caught in branches when climbing trees. He talks a lot, and frequently gets on the other kids' nerves. He is rarely seen without his imaginary friend, a 2x4 wooden board with drawn-on eyes and a mouth, aptly named Plank.[5] Jonny seems innocent and gullible, and often forgives people no matter what they do. He does not seem to mind the antics of the Eds, and is often the most friendly out of all the cul-de-sac kids towards them. He is very protective of Plank, and will burst into acts of bravery or extreme aggression if Plank is stolen or harmed in some way. He does not seem to acknowledge that Plank is just an inanimate, silent, 2x4 piece of wood, and when asked for help with an imaginary friend, he claimed to have no clue what the Eds are talking about. He and Plank both have superhero alter egos (Captain Melonhead and Splinter the Wonderwood, respectively), which they assumed twice throughout the series; first in "Robbin' Ed" to thwart Eddy's "Thingamajig" scam and to fight Eddy's own one-time only alter ego, Professor Scam, and then in "Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show" to hunt down and get revenge on the Eds. After "Big Picture Show," he and Plank become The Gourd and Timber the Dark Shard in order to take revenge on the entire cul-de-sac.

text: Jimmy

text: Jimmy (Keenan Christenson) is an insecure child, with a propensity to cry, and Sarah's best friend whom he is most often seen spending his time with.[5] Jimmy is highly accident-prone, often seen sporting bandages, casts, and braces (particularly headgear), and is considered the weakest kid in the cul-de-sac.[5] Though Jimmy has a cowardly, delicate, and effeminate personality, he truly wishes to be strong and muscular and many episodes demonstrate his desire for stardom. He can be crafty when motivated, and had twice made scams that were very successful. Jimmy has shown how deeply attached he is to Sarah when someone tries to take her away from him. For most of the series he wore a retainer to correct his teeth,[5] due to a bowling pin accident during one of Eddy's scams.

text: Sarah

text: Sarah (Janyse Jaud) is Ed's grouchy, spoiled, short-tempered younger sister who acts cute and kind to the Eds only when it suits her. She is commonly depicted with a disgruntled facial expression and treats her intimidated, trembling brother, frightened by his sister's constant threats of tattling on him, with complete disdain. Imposing, Sarah frequently orders people (sometimes even those of higher rightful authority than her) around, and her desires often have to be met or else she will fling herself into a violent temper tantrum or threaten the person in question. Throughout the course of the series, Sarah has been shown to possess an infatuation with Edd, but still occasionally subjects him to abuse due to guilt by association with the other Eds.

text: Kevin

text: Kevin (Kathleen Barr) is a stereotypical jock.[5] He is cynical, sarcastic and can be cruel at times.[5] Kevin has a garage full of jawbreakers, due to the fact that his father works at a jawbreaker factory. He loves customizing his bike, skateboards, and snowboards. When not riding his trusty bike, he usually hangs out with Rolf and Nazz in the Lane. He hates the Eds to the point of paranoia, but his animosity towards them is mostly geared towards Eddy. The two are mortal enemies and often go entirely out of their way to humiliate or physically harm each other at the first opportunity (with Eddy referring to Kevin as "Shovel Chin"). He tends to call the Eds "dorks" and has a habit of coming up with words merged with "dork" to suit the situation. Like Edd, Kevin normally wears a hat and rarely takes it off; in the episode "Boys Will be Eds", Kevin takes off his hat for the first time and is shown to be bald, though a flashback episode reveals that he used to have long hair. In some episodes, he is shown to have a great fear of Eddy's brother; Eddy knows this and frequently uses his brother as leverage against Kevin.

text: Rolf

text: Rolf (Peter Kelamis) is a quirky, odd, and usually happy immigrant[5] of an undetermined origin and culture with odd customs (which he displays frequently, and it often involves a wide variety of meat) and has a thick accent to match.[5] He works on his parents' small farm within the cul-de-sac, and leads a scouting group called the "Urban Rangers," which includes Jimmy, Plank, and Jonny. Rolf usually refers to himself in third person, as well as being the son of a shepherd, in which he takes pride. His faithful farm animals are three pigs (one named Wilfred), a goat named Victor, at least six chickens (two named Bridget and Gertrude), a cow named Beatrice, and five sheep. He appears to be friendly with the Eds (whom he calls the "Ed boys") unless they make a fool out of him or offend him in some way, after which he is not afraid to use brute force. He seems to be very muscular, but this is usually only shown when he is angry. Rolf confuses the rest of the kids to no end with his unusual customs and food-making.

text: Nazz

text: Nazz Van Bartonschmeer (Tabitha St. Germain; Jenn Forgie; Erin Fitzgerald) is a good-natured, sweet, mature yet somewhat ditzy, fashionable local girl who normally treats her peers (including the Eds) respectfully; however, when antagonized she will react violently to the cause of her agitation or partake in harming the Eds as discipline for an alleged misdeed that they have committed. A majority of the male characters featured in the series are smitten with her, and an entire episode once chronicled their many failed attempts at wooing her. She also possesses a number of humorous eccentricities, such as the ability to yodel, substandard skills at playing a rather large tuba and is often depicted with poor table etiquette. Edd seems to be the Ed that Nazz is closest to, as he was the first character she'd kissed in the series in "The Day the Ed Stood Still", took him trick-or-treating in the Halloween special, and got him to dance with her at the school dance in "May I Have this Ed?". She appears to have a crush on Kevin, though he is mostly oblivious to this; he favors his bike more. Although the most mature of the neighborhood kids, she occasionally displays traits of the stereotypical "dumb blonde".

text: Other characters

text: Kanker Sisters

text: Lee (Janyse Jaud), Marie (Kathleen Barr), and May (Erin Fitzgerald; Jenn Forgie) are three half-sisters who serve as the main antagonists towards the cul-de-sac and its inhabitants.[5] Lee is the leader with curly red hair that covers her eyes, Marie has blue hair, and May is the buck-toothed blonde. They live in the nearby trailer park[5] called Park 'n' Flush. The mere presence of the Kankers is enough to terrify the cul-de-sac residents, and they have been shown to have volatile and destructive tempers. While all the Kankers supposedly like the Eds,[5] it has been shown that May prefers Ed, Marie prefers Edd, and Lee prefers Eddy. Throughout the series, each of the Kankers repeatedly get the Eds and privately force themselves onto them with romantic intention, much to their horror.

text: Eddy's Brother

text: Eddy's Brother (Terry Klassen) is mentioned frequently throughout the series, mostly by Eddy, though his name is never revealed. Eddy mentions how his brother taught him much about how to scam, and to be a con artist, and throughout the series many of the children are shown to have a great fear and respect for him. He was previously an unseen character, but he finally makes an appearance in the movie Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show. Eddy's brother at first seems to be everything the other kids imagined, but it turns out that all of the folklore surrounding him was made up by Eddy to impress the other kids, and in reality he is a sadistic individual who refers to Eddy as a "pipsqueak" and bullies him mercilessly, which ultimately caused Eddy to become who he is. He works at the "Mondo a-Go Go" amusement park, but his specific job is unknown.

text: Reception, appearances in other media and merchandising

text: In 2004, the Eds also appeared in a short series of basketball commercials with NBA All-Star Steve Francis.[9] All three Eds have been the main roles in four Ed, Edd n Eddy-based video games, including Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers! (2002),[10] Ed, Edd n Eddy: Giant Jawbreakers (2004),[11] Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures (2005),[12] and Ed, Edd n Eddy: Scam of the Century (2007), [13] as well as appearing as playable characters in a number of Cartoon Network-based video games, including 2003's Cartoon Network: Block Party[14] and Cartoon Network Speedway.[15] All three Eds appear as Non-playable characters in the MMOG Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall.[16] They also appear as Nanos (items that help the user or his/her party).[16] The Eds and Sarah have also been free toys in children's meals for Subway.[17] The three have also appeared on a number of Ed, Edd n Eddy T-shirts available for purchase on the Cartoon Network Shop.[18] A series of Ed, Edd n Eddy DVDs have been released.[19][20][21][22] The three have made a cameo appearance in a Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode, along with Dexter of Dexter's Laboratory,[23] and in a crossover of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Codename: Kids Next Door entitled "The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door."[24] Ed appeared in the "Cartoon Network Elections 2004" with Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy as a team, and they ended up winning, due to the highest number of votes by viewers.[25]


document_title: Bottle opener

question_text: what is the hole in a bottle opener for

question_tokens: what is the hole in a bottle opener for

text: Bottle opener

text: Varieties[edit]

text: There are several distinct designs of such bottle openers. Wall mounted openers are typically found behind bars in pubs, whilst hand-tool bottle openers tend to be found and used in domestic environments. Whereas the functional elements of bottle openers (a tooth or lip to catch the underside of the cap, a fulcrum across which to exert the force that will remove the cap, and usually a lever for mechanical advantage) tend to be consistent (sometimes the lever is the bottle itself), their aesthetic design is subject to very great variety, and a great many decorative types are available.

text: The following varieties of bottle opener are used around the world used in a professional capacity.

text: The Crown Cork Opener[edit]

text: A specific style of bottle opener is known as a churchkey.

text: Invented at the same time as the crown cork, it is the original "bar blade". But as well as being portable it also comes as a fixed device to be attached to vertical surfaces, often with a tray to catch the bottle tops. It does not open wine bottles. It is class 2 fulcrum type.

text: Simple Bottle Opener[edit]

text: A simple opener is a piece of metal with a rectangular or rounded opening in one end and a solid handle large enough to be gripped between the thumb and forefingers on the other.  The opening contains a lip that is placed under the edge of the bottle top, pulling it off when upward force is applied to the handle end of the opener.  This type of opener is small and durable, so it is frequently used as a key fob.

text: Speed Opener ('Bar Blade')[edit]

text: The speed opener is a flat blade of steel approximately 4 cm wide and 16 cm long with a thumb hole at one end and a letterbox cut at the other to remove the crown seals from a bottle. They go under the names 'Speed Opener', 'Popper', 'Mamba', ‘Bar Key’, and most popularly 'Bar Blade'. The thumb hole may be used to pull bottles out of ice, by placing the hole over the neck of the bottle, then lifting it.  The speed opener is widely used by professional bartenders in Canada, the United States, and the UK. Carried in the pocket or against the body or on a zip string, it is both convenient and fast for the modern bartender. It is advantageous in that it is easy to open several bottles in rapid succession, and with more flair than other types of bottle opener. Consequently, 'bar blading' is often part of bar flair routines.

text: Wall-Mounted[edit]

text: Works the same as the lever variation, except that it is attached to the wall, to allow for simpler bottle-opening, which can be done with one hand. The bottle cap can fall into a bottle cap catcher mounted below the opener, or you can retrieve it after removal from the bottle.

text: A variant to this are similar types of openers mounted on older vending machines.

text: Magnetic Catch Bottle Opener[edit]

text: This is a bottle opener with a magnet to catch the lids.

text: Multi-Opener[edit]

text: Also known as a Beverage Opener, these usually includes a bottle opener of the Simple Bottle Opener Style but includes various other openers such as for plastic bottles or metal beverage cans.

text: Novelty/designer[edit]

text: In recent years[clarification needed] the bottle opener has taken many forms to appeal to young professionals. A few examples of the designer bottle opener include a surfboard shaped bottle opener, baseball cap with bottle opener in the visor, the inclusion of a bottle opener in the sole of a flip flop, in the form of a ring that can be worn, as part of a belt buckle, or in the different shapes for sports, a guitar, cowboy boot or car key. Recent[clarification needed] improvements come with the invent[clarification needed] of High Definition graphics[clarification needed] with epoxy dome on chrome plated versions of the bottle opener. Novelty bottle openers became a popular promotional product for many beer brands with the advent of the surfboard bottle opener by Jim Wysopal from Openers Plus in California 1990.[dubious  – discuss]

text: Technique[edit]

text: Under most use, a bottle opener functions as a second-class lever: the fulcrum is the far end of the bottle opener, placed on the top of the crown, with the output at the near end of the bottle opener, on the crown edge, between the fulcrum and the hand: in these cases, one pushes up on the lever.

text: However, one may instead use it as a first-class lever, by placing the near end on the top of the crown, and the far end under the crown edge, then pushing down on the lever (thus the output is on the opposite side of the fulcrum from the hand). This is particularly used with bar blades, which form an obtuse angle. Mechanically, this is a marginally less effective lever, as the effort arm is shorter, but the action of pushing down is marginally anatomically easier.

text: While most lever-type bottle openers can be used in either configuration, the designed use can be determined if one of the edges is curved, in which case this edge is designed to sit in the middle of the crown, as the curve concentrates pressure, deforming the crown, and a curved edge does not connect with as much of the crown edge, hence being suboptimal and slipping more frequently if used to connect with the crown edge. This difference can be seen in comparing the traditional opener and contemporary bar blade at right.

text: Corkscrews[edit]

text: Waiter's Friend or Wine Key[edit]

text: This common wine opener consists of a flat housing (often plastic covered) similar to a Swiss army knife with a corkscrew and lever (which doubles as crown cork opener) with either a knife or auto-foiler to remove the foil top of wine bottles and then the cork. Designed to be screwed in to within 1 full rotation before the end of the screw (more will pierce the bottom of the cork and result in extra flotsam on the surface of your wine) before levering out the cork.

text: Mounted corkscrew[edit]

text: This tool is used by businesses that need to open a large volume of wine efficiently and without waste or breakage. It is a large brass tubular device, fixed at a 45° angle to the bar, with a lever pivoted halfway and extending towards the user. The bottle's neck is inserted firmly in the lower aperture of the tube and the lever pulled down firmly and steadily to the bottom. This drives a corkscrew into the cork at a regular depth each time. When the lever is returned to its original position it extracts the cork. When the bottle is removed pull the lever to expose the cork at the bottom, it loosens the cork and returns the lever firmly to its starting position, whereupon the cork will then fall out.

text: Twin prong cork puller[edit]

text: The twin prong cork puller, also called the Butler's Friend, is shaped like a large key with a squared oval handle about 5 cm × 8 cm, and two thin metal strips, approximately 10 cm long, 5 mm wide, and 0.5 mm thick, descending in tandem from the center of the handle. The two strips are spread open and then wiggled into the space between the cork and the bottle on either side. Once fully in place, a turn and pull of the handle causes friction to turn the cork and pull it out of the bottle.


document_title: 40 (number)

question_text: what is the meaning of 40 years in the bible

text: 40 (number)

text: In mathematics[edit]

text:
Forty is a composite number, an octagonal number,[3] and as the sum of the first four pentagonal numbers, it is a pentagonal pyramidal number.[4] Adding up some subsets of its divisors (e.g., 1, 4, 5, 10 and 20) gives 40, hence 40 is a semiperfect number.[5]
Given 40, the Mertens function returns 0.[6] 40 is the smallest number n with exactly 9 solutions to the equation φ(x) = n.
Forty is the number of n-queens problem solutions for n = 7.
40 is a repdigit in base 3 (1111, i.e. 30 + 31 + 32 + 33) and a Harshad number in base 10.[7]

text: In science[edit]

text:
The atomic number of zirconium.
Negative forty is the unique temperature at which the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales correspond; that is, −40 °F = −40 °C. It is referred to as either "minus forty" or "forty below".

text: Astronomy[edit]

text:
Messier object M40, a magnitude 9.0 double star in the constellation Ursa Major
The New General Catalogue object[8] NGC 40, a magnitude 12.4 planetary nebula in the constellation Cepheus

text: In religion[edit]

text: The number 40 is used in Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and other Middle Eastern traditions to represent a large, approximate number, similar to "umpteen".

text: Judaism[edit]

text:
In the Hebrew Bible, forty is often used for time periods, forty days or forty years, which separate "two distinct epochs".[9]
Rain fell for "forty days and forty nights" during the Flood. (Genesis 7:4)
Spies were sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (promised to the children of Israel) for "forty days." (Numbers 13:2,25)
The Hebrew people lived in the lands outside of the promised land for "forty years". This period of years represents the time it takes for a new generation to arise. (Numbers 32:13)
Several Jewish leaders and kings are said to have ruled for "forty years", that is, a generation. Examples include Eli (1 Samuel 4:18), Saul (Acts 13:21), David (2 Samuel 5:4), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:42).
Goliath challenged the Israelites twice a day for forty days before David defeated him. (1 Samuel 17:16)
Moses spent three consecutive periods of "forty days and forty nights" on Mount Sinai:

text:
He went up on the seventh day of Sivan, after God gave the Torah to the Jewish people, in order to learn the Torah from God, and came down on the seventeenth day of Tammuz, when he saw the Jews worshiping the Golden Calf and broke the tablets. (Deuteronomy 9:11)
He went up on the eighteenth day of Tammuz to beg forgiveness for the people's sin and came down without God's atonement on the twenty-ninth day of Av. (Deuteronomy 9:25)
He went up on the first day of Elul and came down on the tenth day of Tishrei, the first Yom Kippur, with God's atonement. (Deuteronomy 10:10)

tag: ol

text:
A mikvah consists of 40 se'ah (approximately 200 gallons) of water
The prophet Elijah had to walk 40 days and 40 nights before arriving to mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8)
40 lashes is one of the punishments meted out by the Sanhedrin (Deuteronomy 25:3), though in actual practice only 39 lashes were administered.[10]
Biblical verse Numbers 14:33-34 alludes to the same with ties to the prophecy in The Book of Daniel. "For forty years--one year for each of the forty days you explored the land--you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.'"
One of the prerequisites for a man to study Kabbalah is that he is forty years old.
"The registering of these men was carried on cruelly, zealously, assiduously, from the rising of the sun to its going down, and was not brought to an end in forty days" - (3 Maccabees 4:15)

text: Christianity[edit]

text: Christianity similarly uses forty to designate important time periods.[9]

text:
Before his temptation, Jesus fasted "forty days and forty nights" in the Judean desert. (Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2)
Forty days was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus. (Acts 1:3)
According to Stephen, Moses' life is divided into three 40-year segments, separated by his growing to adulthood, fleeing from Egypt, and his return to lead his people out. (Acts 7:23,30,36)
In modern Christian practice, Lent consists of the 40 days preceding Easter. In much of Western Christianity, Sundays are excluded from the count; in Eastern Christianity, Sundays are included.
The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
Kirk Kilisse, "Forty Churches" (Σαράντα Εκκλησιές) in Eastern Thrace
Rain fell for "forty days and forty nights" during the Flood. (Genesis 7:4)

text: Islam[edit]

text:
Muhammad was forty years old when he first received the revelation delivered by the archangel Gabriel.
Masih ad-Dajjal roams around the Earth in forty days, the first day length is like one year, the second day is like one month, the third day is like one week and the next day (until 40th day) is like one day.
God forbade the Fasiqun (the non-believers) from entering the Holy Land for 40 years to separate them from Musa (Moses) and his brother.[11]
Musa (Moses) spent 40 days on Mount Sinai where he received the 10 commandments.[12]
On the 40th verse (ayat) of the 2nd chapter of the Quran (Al-Baqarah) God changes the topic.
Forty was the number of days that Prophet Ilyas (Elijah) spent in the wilderness before the angel appeared to him with God's message on Mount Horeb.[citation needed]
Forty was the number of days that Prophet Isa (Jesus) was tempted in the desert by Satan.[citation needed]
Muhammad praying and fasting in the cave for 40 days.[citation needed]
Muhammad then had 40 followers to spread the religion of Islam.[citation needed]
Prophets Dawuud and Suleiman each ruled for forty years.[citation needed]
Regarding the flood that Noah encountered, it is said that for forty days water continued to pour from the heavens and to stream out over the earth.[citation needed]

text: Yazidism[edit]

text: In the Yazidi faith, The Chermera Temple (meaning “40 Men” in the Yazidi dialect) is so old that no one remembers how it came to have that name but it is believed to derive from the burial of 40 men on the mountaintop site.

text: Funerary customs[edit]

text:
Some Russians believe that ghosts of the dead linger at the site of their death for forty days.
Many Christian Filipinos mark the end of the initial mourning period on the fortieth day after death, and have a Mass said. They believe that the soul remains on the earthly plane for forty days before entering the afterlife, recalling how Christ ascended to heaven forty days after his Resurrection.

text: Hinduism[edit]

text: In Hinduism, some popular religious prayers consist of forty shlokas or dohas (couplets, stanzas). The most common being the Hanuman Chalisa (chaalis is the Hindi term for 40).

text: In the Hindu system some of the popular fasting periods consist 40 days and is called the period One 'Mandl kal' Kal means a period and Mandal kal means a period of 40 days. For example, the devotees of 'Swami Ayyappa', the name of a Hindu God very popular in Kerala, India ( Sabarimala Swami Ayyappan ) strictly observed forty days fasting and visit ( Only male devotees are permitted to enter into the God's Temple) with their holy submittance or offerings on 41st or a convenient day after a minimum 40 days practice of fasting. The offering is called 'Kanikka'.

text: Sumerian[edit]

text: Enki ( /ˈɛŋki/) or Enkil (Sumerian: dEN.KI(G)𒂗𒆠) is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians. He was the deity of crafts (gašam); mischief; water, seawater, lake water (a, aba, ab), intelligence (gestú, literally "ear") and creation (Nudimmud: nu, likeness, dim mud, make bear). He was associated with the southern band of constellations called stars of Ea, but also with the constellation AŠ-IKU, the Field (Square of Pegasus). Beginning around the second millennium BCE, he was sometimes referred to in writing by the numeric ideogram for "40," occasionally referred to as his "sacred number."

text: A large number of myths about Enki have been collected from many sites, stretching from Southern Iraq to the Levantine coast. He figures in the earliest extant cuneiform inscriptions throughout the region and was prominent from the third millennium down to Hellenistic times.

text: The exact meaning of his name is uncertain: the common translation is "Lord of the Earth": the Sumerian en is translated as a title equivalent to "lord"; it was originally a title given to the High Priest; ki means "earth"; but there are theories that ki in this name has another origin, possibly kig of unknown meaning, or kur meaning "mound". The name Ea is allegedly Hurrian in origin while others claim that it is possibly of Semitic origin and may be a derivation from the West-Semitic root *hyy meaning "life" in this case used for "spring", "running water." In Sumerian E-A means "the house of water", and it has been suggested that this was originally the name for the shrine to the God at Eridu.

text: In entertainment[edit]

text:
a song by Dave Matthews Band
"40", a 1983 song by U2 from their album War, whose lyrics are a modification of Psalm 40
"40" is the title of a song by Franz Ferdinand
the American-Japanese hard rock band Crush 40 featured in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise with guitarist Jun Senoue and vocalist Johnny Gioeli
the highest number ever counted to on Sesame Street
the number of positions on several radio countdown programs, notably American Top 40, American Country Countdown, and Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40
In The Early Show segment "Chef on a Shoestring", chefs are given a $40 budget.
Canadian hip hop producer Noah Shebib is known as "40".
Forty Shades of Green, a song about Ireland, was written and recorded by Johnny Cash in 1961.
Fortycoats & Co. was an Irish children's TV drama series of the 1980s; the name is based on the nickname of a Dublin tramp, Johnny Fortycoats, of the 1930s.

text: In sports[edit]

text:
In baseball, each team in Major League Baseball is allowed to have 40 players under major-league contracts at any given time (not including players on the 60-day disabled list). From September 1 to the end of the regular season, teams are allowed to expand their game-day rosters to include the entire 40-man roster.
In horse racing, the maximum permitted number of runners in the Grand National is 40.
The 40-yard dash is an important metric in American football scouting.
In tennis, the number 40 represents the third point gained in a game. A score of 40-40 (three points each) is called "deuce", at which time a player must score two consecutive points to win the game.
Beginning with the 2013 season, the number of cars that will run each race in NASCAR's second-level Nationwide Series. And effective with the 2016 season, it is the maximum number of participating cars in each Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

text: In other fields[edit]

text: Forty is also:

text:
in the saying "Life begins at forty"
in the expression "forty winks", meaning a short sleep
in the trademark name of the penetrating oil and water-displacing spray WD-40; "WD-40" is an abbreviation of "Water Displacement, 40th formula".
the caliber of the bullet in a number of firearms cartridges, most notably the .40 S&W. (The 10mm Auto, although designated as metric caliber, uses the same caliber, and often uses the same bullets.)
the number of years of marriage celebrated by the ruby wedding anniversary
the code for direct dial international phone calls to Romania
the number in the designation of:

Interstate 40, a freeway that runs from California to North Carolina
U.S. Route 40, the 2,285-mile (3,677 km) highway that runs from Baltimore, Maryland, to Park City, Utah, a portion of which follows the National Road
European route E40 from Calais to Ridder
the A40 and M40, important highways in the UK. The A40 is a trunk road in England and Wales, connecting London to Fishguard. The M40 motorway is the second motorway in the British transport network to connect London to Birmingham

the number of spaces in a standard Monopoly game board
the number of thieves in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and in Ali Shar and Zumurrud, from Thousand and One Nights (both the numbers 40 and 1001 are more likely to mean "many" than to indicate a specific number)
the customary number of hours in a regular workweek in some Western countries
the number of weeks for an average term of pregnancy, counting from the woman’s last menstrual period
a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor, referenced in the song "40oz. to Freedom" by Sublime
The Tessarakonteres, or 40, the largest ship of antiquity, constructed by Ptolemy IV
Forty is the only integer whose English name has its letters in alphabetical order.
Forty Foot, a promontory on the southern tip of Dublin Bay, Ireland, from which people have been swimming in the Irish Sea all year round for some 250 years
After the Civil War, there were plans to offer freed slaves 40 acres and a mule.
To understand a people, you must live among them for 40 days. ~Arabic proverb[13][14]
Quarantine, the practice of isolation to prevent the spread of epidemic disease, derives from a Venetian dialect of the Italian 'quaranta giorni' meaning 'forty days', the period that ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death.