Last Christmas, there was some egg on the faces of UPS and FedEx when it turned out that they couldn’t get their packages delivered in time for the holiday. A number of USPS-boosters pointed and laughed about the non-existent efficiency superiority of the private sector.

Truth be told, UPS and FedEx were somewhat consistently bad about getting things to me in the appropriate window of time when I lived in Arapaho. I was at least moderately forgiving because, well, rural Arapaho. What can you expect? Living there changes your expectations when it comes to such things, for sure. We were five hours from the nearest major airport, two hours from the nearest minor one, an hour from the nearest Walmart, and on and on.

What’s puzzling to me in West Q is that it’s the USPS that simply cannot get its act together. I was forgiving for a while because of the weather. There are limits to the postman’s creed, after all. But the weather has gotten better and the postal delivery has not. Arapaho changes your expectations. But here? Here I am within 75 miles of two major cities and three airports. I’m within 200 miles of at least two more. I’m within ten minutes of Walmart.

Perhaps most importantly, I’m within three or so hours of Hanover.

I say “most importantly” because that seems to be where a lot of the stuff I am having shipped comes from. I don’t know why, but it seems every other thing I order comes from Hanover. And takes more than two days. Stuff sent from Floridia is getting here faster. Some ecig supplies are sitting in central Queenland right now that were ordered a couple of days ago. Perhaps the Hanover shippers are particularly bad about how they drop the shipments off? Maybe, but it’s still registering as out for shipping more than two days ago.

No complaints about UPS or FedEx here, where packages sent from Amazon that arrive ahead of schedule and often the next day. I have always explained the fast turnaround times by how close we are to the fulfillment center in Seneca. Until I realize that we’re even closer to Hanover.

According to a court in California, it’s legal to look at your smartphone while driving! The California Highway Patrol apparently plans to ignore the ruling.

In Idaho and Wyoming, speed limits may be increasing.

Sean McElwee writes one of the better pieces I’ve read on the dearth of conservative comedy. As one who thinks it would be better if there were more conservative entertainment, I actually think comedy is probably the best place to start.

Mostly for my own benefit: 50 Books Every Parent Should Read to Their Child

God’s Not Dead looks to be a Christian movie I have absolutely no interest in seeing. But, as it turns out, there’s a market. Go figure.

I keep getting my hopes up only to be disappointed, but once again, McDonald’s is looking at extending breakfast hours. Seriously, if Jack can do it, Mac can do it. Just pushing it back to 11 (which most other places do) would be really nice. I hadn’t heard that Taco Bell is getting into the game.

Mike LaBossiere explains the role of luck in success and Jessica Bruder explains the price entrepreneurs pay.

Asian-Americans are taking on affirmative action in California renaming Asian seas in Virginia.

It’s one of the great oddities of American politics. The wealthy tend Republican, but wealthy places tend Democratic.

Bootleggers for prohibition? TurboTax (Intuit) spends millions trying to keep the tax code complicated.

It’s a generally unchallenged truism that SAT prep classes favor whites and contribute to inequality. Except that it isn’t true.

The SAT is apparently due for a revision.

So our trip to Las Vegas was not, alas, what we were hoping nor. Not that our expectations were particularly high. We were going because that’s where the convention was. I had offered to Clancy that the baby and I stay behind, but she deferred.

We are not, it seems, Las Vegas material. The most obvious way this was apparent was that we could never get over the price of everything. It reminded us a big of the Pacific Northwest where we stopped going out to eat because, though the food wasn’t bad, it never seemed good enough to justify the inflated tab.

Since we didn’t have a car, our options were even more limited. We couldn’t stomach the price of the restaurants (or room service) of the hotel, so we ended up ordering delivery. At least that way, for our $30, we were getting a fair amount of food. Other than the bill, that part turned out okay. I got to eat pizza, Thai, Italian, and all sorts of good stuff.

The WiFi was terrible and even the data reception from my phone wasn’t very good.

The epitome of the trip occurred when we realized that we were running low on baby food. The main grocery store option was a Whole Foods that was about two miles away. I walked the two miles and then realized that I had forgotten my wallet. By the time I got back, it was too late for another trip. Clancy decided to walk down in the morning. We finally got the baby food.

If we had to do it all over again, we’d do just about everything differently from better foreplanning to breaking down and going to the market on the first day. Also, just buying a crib.

I can’t remember the last time we were this glad to be back from a trip. The baby is sick with a temperature of 101, but she is at least sleeping in her own (more reasonably priced) crib.

The chances are slim, but Russia could build a rail from New York to Paris!

Meet the Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell, the first mass-produced hydrogen car. There are, however, safety concerns.

Sonny Bunch argues – convincingly, though I’m an easy sell – that basic cable’s constraints are a boon to creativity. For TV shows, anyway.

Sitcoms are generally struggling these days, but Jusef Adalian says that actually may not be such a bad thing for sitcom-lovers. If expectations are lowered by the networks, there may be more room for smarter comedies.

DHL (which is still around, apparently?) pranked UPS into free advertising.

People like to argue that retailers could actually increase profits by paying their employees more. Adam Ozimek explains why this is unlikely.

I’m not the biggest fan of Apple, and think that the iPhone revolution did harm in addition to good, but I do congratulate them on the innovation that was the App Store.

Republicans have a talent gap. I recently cited an article about how they pay fewer employees more. According to Patrick Ruffini and others, they need to hire more people.

The politics of the raw milk wars.

Louisiana has displaced California as the movie-making capital of the world (or at least the continent).

The banks were regulated, and banks got cheaper. The skies were deregulated, and flying is safer.

Dirty Jobs’ Mike Rowe talks about our college fixation.