AT AMAZON, IT’S the Musical Instrument outlet sale.

MORE THOUGHTS ON the state of the publishing industry. “Piracy is work. Almost no one knocks off a cheap, easy to get legally, well-supported product. See Baen webscriptions for proof.”

Plus this: “They won’t have the money for things that add no value to the reader’s appreciation of the book. Like a NY office. I’ve broken down as best as possible on Steam Powered Cuttlefish what the vital parts (editing, proofs, covers) of publishing actually cost. Those need stay. The disposable bits… like, um, CEO’s and NY offices don’t. Guess what they’ll try and keep. Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.”

TEA PARTY UPDATE: FreedomWorks to Hold First Tea Party Debt Commission Field Hearing in Salt Lake City.

FASTER, PLEASE: Patient in stem-cell treatment for MS reports improvement.

CHINA BACKING AWAY FROM electric vehicle plans: “Beijing appears to be rethinking its singular focus on electric vehicles as a way to reduce fuel consumption and seems ready to revise its alternative-energy vehicle estimates as it becomes increasingly evident that the city’s electric vehicle targets were completely unrealistic. Beijing – and in some ways, the whole of China – had set out to leapfrog conventional engine technology by developing and manufacturing huge amounts of electric vehicles. In particular, the city had hoped its push to develop plug-ins would give it an advantage over the West in electric vehicle technology. But hopes and dreams don’t always jive with reality.” Somebody tell Obama.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Eating chocolate regularly could cut the risk of heart disease by a third, according to the largest analysis of its kind to date.

THE LATEST FAD: “Divorce Rings.” “We get that this is supposed to be an empowering thing, and maybe some women will be so excited and releaved to be free from their exes they’ll be psyched to have a piece of jewelry representing their split. But on the other hand, wearing a ring of a broken heart split by a diamond bolt might look a little nuts.” It just might.

LESSONS FROM PROPERTY VIRGINS: A Two-Tier Housing Market?

HERETIC: Being ‘hung up’ about sex isn’t so horrible.

GUNRUNNING UPDATE: Melson being bounced out of ATF? Punishing whistleblowers?

CHANGE: Another California City Joins Red Light Camera Revolt.

THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP between overcriminalization and plea-bargaining.

PHIL BOWERMASTER: Usain Bolt And Transparency In Sports.

DON’T MESS WITH STACY MCCAIN: Lowlife Who Pirated My Video Apologizes for Smearing Michele Bachmann. But an apology may not get him off the hook. Like a boy named Sue, a guy named Stacy has to grow up extra-tough. . . . Also, it’s worth noting that “mashup culture” or no, if you copy someone’s video and deliberately fake it, you open yourself up to a world of legal hurt.

REASON TV: A Conversation With Vernor Vinge.

UPDATE: Here’s an old episode of the late, lamented Glenn & Helen Show where we talk to Vinge about his then-new book Rainbows End, and Helen expresses skepticism about computer-simulated sex.

CASTRO, THE INTERNET, AND JEWS: Repression in Cuba.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Consumer Confidence Falls To Lowest Level Since April, 2009.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Corruption In India: Not Finished Yet. “Taking power from those who pay bribes and giving it to those who extort them is almost never a recipe for reducing corruption.” No, but it’s always popular with the political class.

INTERVIEW: Roger Kimball On 30 Years of The New Criterion.

MARK TAPSCOTT: If demographics are destiny, 2012 could be big. Plus: “With Texas Gov. Rick Perry now the front-runner in several national polls for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, others in the mainstream media are just now beginning to report on and assess the facts about how Texas compares with other states, including California.”

WALTER OLSON: Devil’s Bargain: Wall St. And The Martin Act.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: The Perils Of Price Controls.

REPORT: Rick Perry at the VFW. “Perry and his advisers are drinking from the proverbial fire hose right now. They have to find advance men, fund-raisers, organizers and attend to a million details. But if he is going to dispel the idea that he is light in the policy department he’ll have to, well, show he’s not light in the policy department. That means setting out at least some general foreign policy views, for example, on Iran, the Russian reset, Hugo Chavez, China, Cuba and human rights.”

SUPERVILLAIN TO THE RESCUE: Steve Postrel emails:

Step 1 of my supervillain plan to save the US space program is now complete. Step 2 is to sabotage the follow-on Russian tests. Step 3 is to get NASA to evacuate the ISS. Step 4 is to blow the orbiting cash sump out of the sky with my “laser.” Step 5 is to bribe the Congress to divert all the funds that used to go into the space RV into a prize fund for private operators to go to the moon, asteroids, and Mars.

Bwa-ha-ha!

So far, so good.