Let’s take a moment to focus on one of world’s foremost hotbeds of innovation: The Post Office. No really. “When Americans think about the most innovative agency in the government, they think about the Pentagon or NASA. But throughout much of its history, that title could just as easily have fallen to the Post Office, which was a hotbed of new, interesting, sometimes crazy ideas as it sought to accomplish a seemingly simple task: deliver mail quickly and cheaply.” There were some ideas that worked, liked the underground pneumatic tube system that could shoot mail as fast as 30mph. And there were some ideas that were thankfully abandoned, such as the plan to deliver mail long distances via missile. There’s still something magical about getting a real letter. But the magic that once defined that delivery has been, well, lost in the mail. From Politico’s Kevin Kosar: The lost genius of the Post Office.