The 2010 election cycle will get going soon, so I thought I’d ask again a question I posed seven years ago: What is Buys-Ballot’s Law, and what penalties are there for violating it? The first person to answer this in the comments from memory will be publicly acknowledged as getting the special Volokh Conspiracy Profound Knowledge Award. (You may use reference sources to confirm and make more precise your existing memory, but not to look the term up in the first place.)
UPDATE: The award goes to Martinned!
David Schraub says:
Also, presumably, the Volokh Conspiracy Trust in Absence of any Possible Verification Award, which is if anything even more special.
October 8, 2009, 3:16 pmPatHMV says:
I presume that, as were George, Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer, we are all on the _ honor _ system.
I wish I had some sort of clue what this law is so I could take a stab. I presume it’s unrelated to ACORN… (sorry, couldn’t help myself).
October 8, 2009, 3:18 pmLarvell Blanks says:
I know the answer, but only because I cheated. Can I get David Schraub’s award?
October 8, 2009, 3:21 pmGabriel McCall says:
I looked it up too, and the penalties for violation are surprisingly harsh.
October 8, 2009, 3:23 pmPorkchop says:
As a former naval officer, I am embarrassed that I had to look this up.
October 8, 2009, 3:23 pmMatthew K says:
You are an evil, evil man :)
October 8, 2009, 3:31 pmLibertarian1 says:
Even though I once visited Australia I didn’t know without looking it up.
October 8, 2009, 3:33 pmClaudin says:
Is this sponsored by the Best Buy PAC?
October 8, 2009, 3:42 pmMartinned says:
I know it without looking it up, but only because the guy is (well, was…) a compatriot. Does that count?
It’s the law that states how winds move from high pressure areas to low pressure areas, i.e. not in a straight line, but clockwise/counterclockwise, depending on what hemisphere you’re on.
October 8, 2009, 3:46 pmA.S. says:
The wikipedia article does not appear to have the penalties for violating the law. Anyone?
October 8, 2009, 4:03 pmanonymous says:
The wikipedia article does not appear to have the penalties for violating the law. Anyone?
You get blown away?
October 8, 2009, 4:13 pmarbitraryaardvark says:
Sailors have a ceremony when crossing the equator for the first time. It typically involves paddling or other kinds of hazing. Not quite on point but almost related.
October 8, 2009, 4:23 pmPeteP says:
I don’t know, but it sure sounds like the economic principle behind our American electoral system.
October 8, 2009, 4:41 pmmariner says:
It’s a memory aid for locating the center of a tropical storm. If the wind is at your back, the center of low pressure will be over your left shoulder.
The penalty for violating it is finding yourself nearer the storm center than you want to be.
ETA: If I were really clever I could come up with an Ambrose-Bierce-like definition involving politicians and corruption; alas I’m just a sailor.
October 8, 2009, 4:52 pmSoronel Haetir says:
You do in fact need to know where you are in order to know which way the wind blows.
October 8, 2009, 4:52 pmSoronel Haetir says:
Wouldn’t that depend on hemisphere?
October 8, 2009, 4:55 pmDavid Chesler says:
Darn. I knew the law. In this age of graphics, it’s easier to remember that in the normal hemisphere winds go counter-clockwise around the big L and the other way around the big H, and both go the other other way in the other hemisphere (and anti-clockwise in the eastern hemisphere) (but then again I never say “Left-Loosey-Righty-Tighty”). But I didn’t know that was the name. Now I do. Thank you VC. By next month I’ll probably have forgotten.
October 8, 2009, 4:56 pmmariner says:
Soronel:
Yes; I stated the rule as it applies in the Northern Hemisphere.
October 8, 2009, 4:59 pmegd says:
Objects moving radially along a rotating circle (or longitudinally along a sphere, same thing really) experience a reaction force based on the direction of rotation and their relative position on the circle due to change in their velocity vector (acceleration).
The rest is just derivation.
(takes of engineer hat)
October 8, 2009, 5:45 pmDNJ says:
So what does Martinned get for winning the Volokh Conspiracy Profound Konwledge Award? Perhaps we have to buy him a beer?
October 8, 2009, 6:02 pmSara says:
Martinned did not read the fine print: EU citizens not eligible ;)
October 8, 2009, 7:19 pmll says:
I thought it looked vaguely familiar to something.
Re violation of it and of other hard won lessons and laws stated in Bowditch:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0871139480/thevolocons0d-20/
October 8, 2009, 11:03 pm