@@119winters5 The same reason that bacteria are becoming antibiotic resistant. In any given population of any organism, not EVERY single one is susceptible to a substance that might be poison to most. A few individuals will have natural immunity and can eventually rebuild the population. The new population will have a higher number of individuals that are then resistant. So no soap can ever say that it will kill ALL germs. You can never know that. So the companies run a disclaimer. 99.99% SOUNDS pretty good, right? Well, how many bacteria are on each square centimetre of your skin? This will differ per person but I think that a good ballpark number would be 1 million. So after the soap kills most of the bacteria, there are STILL about 100 left on each square centimetre. A few, but definitely enough to grow back pretty quickly.
the music in your videos is sometimes at a volume were i register it as annoying unidentifiable noise. a little bit irritating. but maybe im just weird... ;)
"Smart" meters are relatively recent additions to the grid. In the heyday of the electric chair, it would not have been impossible to charge more for prime time execution power use, but it would have been mostly impractical.
In Greece executions always took place at sunrise. The idea was that the condemned deserves to see the sun and the light of day one last time before death.
@@MarcoPollo77 The universe wastes nothing, Matt. You will need to let go of your fear if you want to grow. But I agree, one murder can't be undone by another. If you shoot an animal in a cage, to me, that's murder.
Midnight? ... Back in my day, we rang the bells and everyone left their farms to the town square in broad daylight. .... The executioner took a selfie with the condemned first, then added him on Facebook so he could tag the severed head. Fun times, I tell ya.
*Literally never heard of this "executions at midnight" thing.* EDIT: Friendly reminder that the United States is a big place, and that we have many different overlapping cultures and governments in addition to our national culture and government. Also, I don't watch too many crappy movies, so I'm not very attuned to when TV Tropes says executions are supposed to happen in the movie version of America. Hot Take: I bet midnight executions are most common in the places where racist mobs used to "execute" (i.e. murder) black people in the middle of the night.
Yeah, I was confused too. The common trope is people gathering around a gallow while a guy in a hood chops off the string that's holding the planks in place which drops the criminals to hang. I have rarely seen a movie where executions take place at night (other than jail movies), unless you are talking about executions as in serial killers with masks.
Fluffymiyster you are right, but it's the only one I can think of. I thought it was dawn also. But I'm not sure if that's just war movies or movies in general. I keep drawing a blank.
I strongly remember the trope but can't think of specific movies. Unless we found another Mandela Effect candidate it was rather popular but it's been a while.
Can't think of exact movies but I'm sure that there were quite a few because I've watched ones that discussed 'waking up the governor' for the last minute save.
I thought it was dawn, but that might have only been in war/military movies. I don't really remember for sure now. Gonna have to re-watch some old movies I guess lol.
In my opinion execution is barbaric. It is just a moral wrong no matter how bad the crime, a death in prison in a supermax is arguably worse, you only interact half an hour a per 24hrs. And It is cheaper to have them in prison
@@ruairiodonohoe2533 Executing them should be cheaper, prison is for rehabilitation some people quite frankly don’t deserve it and don’t want to anyway
@@ruairiodonohoe2533 In addition to being barbaric, they also kill innocent people. With prison you can let them out if it turns out they are innocent after many years but for the death penalty, good luck bringing em back from the dead
during video: washing dishes and listening "and now let me tell more about today's sponsor": starts nervously wiping hand with t-shirt to skip without making the touchscreen wet
The most civil thing you can do is remove the criminal from the rolls of a penitentiary every prisoner in the average American prison cost over 100k a year to taxpayers every one who dies or is executed saves society money, unfortunately our tolerance for stupidity has increased in the last century and the defense attorneys have twisted the law into a knot on dealing with death row inmates and made most sentences into a farce a criminal who receives a death penalty for their crimes seldom sees actual execution because of all the appeals and wrangling defense lawyers pull . Truth is more die of natural causes than are ever executed for their crimes! The so called justice system is more worried about the rights of known criminals than it is of its average citizen! That is the most uncivilized thing about it!
@@bobbyhood101 oh fuck up. There is nothing civilised about murdering someone not matter what way you look at it. So what if it costs money? That is the cost of living in society. Also executing someone costs far more. FACT.
@@datfisheboi6519 I am not denying the possibility of killing an innocent person but the actual costs of life without parole vs death penalty are much cheaper for the death penalty, it's the court costs from the endless appeals that cost more. It's hard to find truly accurate data (that includes court costs) on the subject because most studies that I have read seem to be biased against the death penalty but you can find data that confirms it both ways so who knows. Personally I am 100% in favor of the death penalty as long as they are proven to be 100% guilty and not just "beyond reasonable doubt". In my opinion a person trades their right to be treated like a human when they murder small children or sexually molest small children so I feel they don't deserve to live after that. In fact I would be fine with allowing the family of the child to beat the person to death if found 100% guilty, I know I would want to if it happened to my child
@@me3333 You can't be 100%. There are some people who I'll lose no sleep over, but as long as the mechanism exists, there exists the possibility of error or abuse. Plus, it is actually pretty easy to find these statistics, since I found a buttload by literally typing "cost of execution vs life in prison" and found a bunch. Also, don't see how court costs would go up, at taxpayer's expense at least, at all, let alone enough to bridge the enormous disparity in costs.
I worked for Texas dept of corrections and it was explained to us that sometimes if an appeal pushed to execution death date then time of death would hold until midnight. After midnight of death date a stay would no longer be excepted.
Here in canada hangings were traditionally scheduled for 5 a.m but in practice some provinces like quebec and ontario carried them out at midnight while here un BC the perfered time was 10 pm just before shift change and just after lockdown for the night.
I'm no expert on the subject in general, however I understood that in relation to when they introduced gassing as a method, it was thought that to carry out the process during the night time would ease the process as the condemned person would be quietest, I don't know if it's true or simply an urban myth, but I heard a story that they tried to perform the first gassing in the condemned man's cell whilst he was asleep as it would cause least disturbance and stress to the person condemned,
Claudette is correct, class. LOL No, seriously she's right. They are called "drink" or "ade" or "punch" or something because as Claudette and just the tip point out, the FDA won't allow all the fake flavor, high fructose corn syrup, artificially colored concoctions to be called juice. But you still have to read the label on juice, too. A product can be made from concentrate and still call itself juice if the concentrate was made from real fruit. I believe the manufacturer has to say somewhere on the label if it is from concentrate.
No, no, no. They zapped them just after midnight 'cos that's when the cheap rate electric came on. This led to the well known proverb...... 'Economy 7...straight to Heaven'.
The midnight start time also gave the state nearly 24 hours to complete the execution in the event of last moment appeals being lodged by the attorney for the condemned. The institution was also on lockdown at that time with inmates securely in their cells for the night. Eventually, a number of states moved away from midnight execution times due to the hardships that put on correction staff, witnesses and particularly judges. Texas and Alabama both moved from midnight to 6 pm, Arizona moved to 3 pm.
In Georgia. I was in Jackson State Prison in 2002 when they executed a man. You eat dinner at 2:30 and the whole prison goes on lockdown. You can only move from your bed to the bathroom. Officers have to work 2 shifts. Absolutely no in or out of the prison until the body is removed. After midnight.
I have a question in Australia we have state police and federal police. What the difference between police, state trooper, sheriff, Texas rangers and the other law enforcement agencies in America? And does the sheriff out rank police??
The main reason I think of doing it at midnight is so in case any last minute changes such as a last-minute pardon or appeal has been approved are very unlikely to happen and hopefully by the time they have gone through.
I figured it was an electricity issue. An electric chair draws a large current. By doing it at midnight less electricity was needed (by the facility and public) which reduced the chances of a breaker being tripped or other power related problems such as substation failures.
Topic suggestion - how did the first gasoline car drivers know if they'd be able to fill up when travelling? Like today if you're on a road trip and your electric car needs a charge you can easily find a charging station using internet but back 100 years gas stations where far between would you potentially be stranded for days?
Eric Cartman interesting,now you’ve mentioned it I’d also like to know.. I didn’t know i needed to know until you told us you wanted to know,well wadaya know.
In ancient China, official executions were carried out in noon. Apart from showing it to public, in the Yin-Yang theory system, taking away ones life is one of the most Yin (negative) thing. We need to do it at the most Yang (positive) time so the Yin-Yang balance would not be broken.
I don't know jack shit about yinyang but it feels like killing someone should not be balanced by doibg tgat in the daylight. Wheres the comparision between those two, how are they on the same level even? Clearly taking away someones life shoukd require much more effort than merely choosing right time of the day.
@@jakubfijak9218 hot sun kills evil spirit. That was the believe. This is not about some guilt. In fact it is to make sure that even the spirit of the executee is exterminated
Also, protip: it looks a little more polished if you take the microphone cable and shape it into a U, going back up into the tie clip and thence inside your shirt.
When I was a Corrections Officer in Arizona, the executions used to be held at midnight but they changed it to 7:00pm because it was easier on the staff and the witnesses and more cost effective. The witnesses were all invited by the inmate being executed. (Not like in the movies where they show the victims families being there). 3 days before the execution, the inmate was moved to the "death house", (gas chamber at the time), where he waited for his execution. I have been in both the death house and the gas chamber. Also, the Officer that carries out the execution, is asked by the Director of the Prisons to be the one to release the cyanide powder underneath the chair. Excellent video, Simon, as always. =D
In the game Prison Architect, my preferred time to carry out executions is during the sleeping hours simply due to logistical reasons. The game requires a full prison lockdown with all prisoners in their cells, and forcing them back to their cells during waking hours is exponentially more time consuming than basically keeping them in their cells while they are still sleeping.
Especially not when their lives have turned into a grinder and they know that at dawn some heads are gonna roll, most just start headin out to the highway in hopes of reaching desert plains.
Right, in Georgia hanging used to be Sundays after church. You were supposed to bring to family, I believe it was a scared straight thing. Grandfather saw this in 1920.
Well, welcome to a privatized and for profit prison system where they check every God damn thing about you and your house, vehicle, etc. Especially on a petty charge so they can fill the prison system like sardines... better sit back, strap on, and enjoy yer God damn stay, cuz until it becomes public and non-profit, it ain't getting any better...
Great episode Simon, I didn't even know that mid night execution was a thing, I just noticed a sync error in your audio-video, and wanted to let you know about it :D
Had me hanging on to every word. I also liked how he was able to inject a little humor into such a grim subject. But due to the topic I can't say it was a gas, it would've been shocking if I did, so I didn't dare take a shot at it and stick my neck out so far.
Hello Simon! Love your TopTenz episodes SO much (ok..I mildly have a binge-session addiction😁) I cannot believe I was unaware of your other programs!! My family recommended “Today I found out” so..here I am! 🙋♀️
Aft is the back or after part of the ship. Fore or forward is the front of the helm, port was the usual side of tieup to the dock or left side during time of sailing ships. Starboard being the side open to the stars also known as larboard.
@@sirwilliam51 "Open to the stars"!!! hahahaha. Where did you hear that, Fox News? First of all, larboard is the port/left side, not the starboard. It's name was changed because it sounded too similar to starboard. "Starboard" comes from "steerboard", or more accurately from the Old English _steorbord_ which was a large oar positioned at the rear on the right hand side of a ship and used to steer the boat in times before the invention the rudder which was centrally positioned at the stern. It was on the right because most people are right-handed. As you say, they would usually tie up with the wharf or "port" on the left, i.e. the opposite side from the steerboard so as not to damage it between the boat and the port.
They use to hang people on the old court house step downtown Lexington ky. They say late at night as your passing by you can see the hanging idk never even seen the ghost late at night but that place is really creepy
Good question. I think the Romans. It was in a good book I read once by Alexander Waugh called 'Time' a long time ago that had that in amongst a ton of other interesting stuff. Worth a read if you can find it.
Julius Caesar copied the Egyptian calendar which followed the solar cycle instead of the lunar cycle the romans had followed until then. The Egyptian calendar had 12 months of 30 days and 5 extra days just added on. Caesar dispersed those 5 days among the 12 months which is why some months have 30 while others have 31. He also knew, from the egyptians, that each year had a total of 365 and a quarter days so he decided to add an extra day every 4 years to account for this. He added it onto February as the romans believed it was an unlucky month.
Thanks for the responses. I remember asking my mom about leap day once every four years and of course she said if it wasnt there then you would have Christmas in June eventually, it makes sure the calendar months line up. I wondered who thought of that though, they must have been smart.
@@toyotarizzle A little-known fact about leap years: years that are divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are divisible by 400. In other words, 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, but 2000 was. If any children live to see the year 2100, they'll find it's not a leap year.
Everywhere does it differently, of course, but I can tell you that in the state of Kansas, executions were recorded as homicides on the death certificates. And they were not necessarily done at midnight, but were generally done at night for the reasons indicated.
I had always been under the impression that it was because the electric chair used a considerable amount of current and that the base load wouldn't be taxed so greatly at midnight due to most people being asleep. Strange how this wasn't mentioned in the video.
"When it is a question of the execution of a man condemned to death it is then reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned of the benefit of life, in expiation of his fault, when already, by his fault, he has dispossessed himself of the right to live." -Pius XII
Oh Simon you really should do stand-up comedy. ''Executions tended to occur at more civilized hours''. Hilarious, thats pure comedic gold. Is there really ever a ''civilized time'' to murder someone? (State sanctioned or not?) Funny. lmao, ha ha. : (
Mark Twain was for capital punishment. In one of his books he expressed great distaste for people who "would come out with their hankies in hand & their eternal waterworks dripping for the murderer" and never mind that "the murderer killed 9 people in cold blood but what of that when the people of the town will still show up at the execution with their hankies in hand and their eternal waterworks running."
I dont know the specifics on numbers, but it is more expensive due to the court costs, cost of the euthanasia medicine, payment for the Dr. performing the execution. Inmates who are to be executed usually have multiple very expensive lawyers-paid for by the govt. Basically its just because so many people need to be involved in the justice system during a death sentence. [Also, the system is likely being abused, paying people more money than they deserve. Or if the prison claims hours for the death sentence case, it is basically a write-off from the govt. I wouldnt put it past prisons, its been proven they keep people longer than their sentence to keep getting the govt paycheck.]
@@persephone3892 Absolutely true. In fact, in some jurisdictions appeal of a death sentence is automatic and mandatory even if the condemned doesn't want it.
@@cougarhunter33 You are right about that. One guy even went to the media to complain that his execution was taking too long to be approved/scheduled. I don't blame him though. Sometimes, death is better than life in prison. At least one provides relief.
It depends on the state. Executions are expensive because of legal fees ie read the other comments and also because of the boner the state has for lethal injection. The chemicals required are massively expensive and many states have to either buy them from second hand sources or pay top dollar for similar chemicals. Honestly a rope or bullet would be cheaper.
Nobody thinks that Willie Francis was innocent, and he never denied his guilt. His trial wasn't fair by any means, but his guilt was never questioned by anyone.
I always thought it was done at 1201 to give the full final day until midnight for last minute appeals/reprieves... That was what the trope usually implied in the movies I remember. Several movies had the hotline to the Governor, so that the Governor could call up to the last second and give a reprieve/pardon.
@@JamesDavy2009 The lack of a colon was to avoid RU-vid time linking to the video. I didn't think about the video being under 9 minutes. And there's no reason to be pedantic when the discussion was about midnight executions.
And here I thought the midnight executions were related to 'Sparky' when it was in use. The Chair uses alot of electricity, and by doing executions at night, the Public demand for electricity was down, so Sparky could be used without over taxing the power grid.
What law(s) exactly, if any, excuses an executioner from being charged with an offense related to homicide, let alone making it unlawful to fire a doctor for doing harm to a patient/intentionally killing the prisoner they inject an overdose of poison into?
IIRC the UK practice was to hold the execution at 8am for the same reasons. The last executioner (Pierrepoint junior) was reputed to be so skilled that he would take the prisoner out of his cell at 08:00:00 and by 08:00:08 when the clock finished striking it was all over.
They used to set them at 1 minute past midnight on the day of execution not midnight. This happens so that if it was stayed at the last minute, they could try and go through court cases if needed on the day set.
In my 19 years of life I have never noticed this so called trope, and can't think of instances where a movie execution was scheduled for midnight. Could someone give me some examples
I guess getting the chemicals for lethal injection are somewhat difficult to procure, as the companies with the capability to supply such chemicals don't want to be associated with executions. One story broke about a prison official meeting their chemical supplier in a park to exchange cash for chemicals like a drug deal.
Not quite. Mostly, it is just that the warrant is effective as of a certain day, and that day starts at one second past midnight. On the workload topic, everybody knows what that day is, and has the entire previous day to work on their final appeals... staying up late at the end of the day as is a fine old tradition.
Just found this channel... I think it's incredible that we live in a world where we have the entire world knowledge at our finger tips, yet we still ask a bald fella with glasses to answer it for us. Just wow.
UK executions used to happen at 9am, Albert pierepoint would light a cigar, take a couple of puffs, leave to do the execution, come back and his cigar would still be lit and not much burnt. The quickest execution in UK was 8 seconds, from pierepoint going into the cell to the condemned dropping through the trap door, can't remember his name, but he said he wanted it to be over quickly, so he ran to his execution. Though from what I've seen the condemned cell and the execution chamber was connected by one door, so as the executioner entered the cell to secure the prisoner, a wardrobe would be pulled to one side, exposing the door, door opened and it was a short walk to the trapdoor. But 8 seconds for going into the cell, securing the arms behind back, running to the trapdoor, making sure he's on right spot, putting bag and noise in place while assistant secures feet round the ankles, releasing pin, and pushing bar to release trap is very quick, think the average was about 45 seconds. USA has always botched executions, they would never go with the calculated long drop measurements while hanging people, after world war 2, the British and Americans devided up the executions, the British done theirs quickly and efficiently. The Americans either had the rope too short, where the prisoner slowly strangled to death, or way too long where there was horrendous mutilation and in some cases decapitation. The true story never told other than by pierepoint.
I thought it was because of electricity and even then I remember the lights use to dim after an execution. I don't think they do it anymore in Virginia.
Maybe more on Innocence Project or innocent people exonerated too late after being found guilty by a court? I've actually seen a few people go through that and it's.. really... really tragic.
Wait... if they want to wait as long as possible, as a midnight execution would give the condemned a full 24 hours to receive a reprieve, and if it goes over 24 hours a new warrant or new paperwork is required. But if the execution occurs at midnight, doesn’t that mean that it’s the next day anyway? What am I missing?
It isn't that the prison staffing is notoriously understaffed in America. Our prison system is notoriously overpopulated. No amount of staff can fix the buildings being beyond capacity.
