Government Shutdown

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Not necessary: only an angled blade with beveling (endorsed by Louie XVI himself) is sufficient gravity being the enemy; A haircut was found to be necessary however to prevent dulling the 'National Razor'. I've often pondered what Louie's thoughts on beveling were as he (painlessly) pondered from inside the (gooey) wicker basket...as a severed head does not immediately expire till oxygen deprivation takes effect (approx. 3-4 minutes). On occasion victims were immediately yanked from the basket and asked to blink as long as possible while being timed for science of course...it was the Age of Enlightenment. Hence the humane, beveled form of execution in the first place...skilled headsmen having come into short supply! No tipping required either!

I must question the medical accuracy of that.

I think several seconds at most is more plausible.Hard to say for sure though and that would be bad enough I think.

Once on a TDY to a Saudi airbase we got invited to watch a beheading I passed some guys went they where sorry to have gone after the fact.Over there they use a sword and families pay for thier kin to go first whilst the blade is most sharp.I understand that Saudi headsman are very well trained.At this one event my cohorts witnessed the last guy took more than one swing(*).They did not show off the heads though they took them(bodies and heads) away to be prepped for Muslim burial.

*according to the linked article this causes more blood loose and is in fact more likely to cause rapid death so maybe you want to be the last guy not the first.

An interesting read on the subject;Anyway seems that it is possible for 30 or 40 seconds based on the one or two known human experiments(last one in 1905)though if it was just nerves or actual consiuos not is not known for sure.Only in more modern times they tested on rats with an EEG and they showed activity for up to 4 seconds after the close shave.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/sci...capitation.htm