Background checks alone don’t significantly reduce gun violence. [German Lopez] www.vox.com
11 senior citizens on the best products of the past century [Aditi Shrikant/Vox]
Why do you (still) have to sign so many credit card receipts? [Rachel Sugar/Vox]
Merchants are finally phasing out signature requirements for transactions, though the US is moving more slowly on it. “We just love signing things here; after football, it is our national pastime.”
Interesting information: The Talmud requires signatures for contracts — as important as marriage, or as minor as buying a cup of coffee. Does this mean religious Jews will no longer be able to use credit cards? Can religious Jews now use Apple Pay and the Android equivalent?
Dating as a widow is hard. But not for the reason you think [Marjorie Brimley/Vox]
A 39-year-old widow and mother of three young children describes her difficulties getting into online dating. I didn’t get choked up until the last few paragraphs because I am a tough guy.
A new theory on why Republicans and Democrats see the world differently
Our political divisions aren’t red versus blue, but fixed versus fluid. Republicans are wary of change, Democrats embrace it. [Ezra Klein/Vox]
Discussed in this article but only partly explained: Why Republicans are so much more likely to believe lies and bullshit. The Republicans are the party of climate change skeptics, anti-vaxxers, and birtherism. Some Democrats believe crazy things too, but the Republicans made Fox News their favorite channel and elected an idiot conspiracy theorist as President.
Joe Biden’s policy ideas [Matthew Yglesias/Vox]
Uncle Joe’s platform: “Biden offers true back-to-basics economic populism…. focused on workers and students rather than the poorest of the poor, and careful to avoid any hint of middle-class tax hikes or racial divisiveness.”
Self-checkout is terrible: why Walmart, Target, and others still do it [Vox]
The Senate is a huge problem for Democrats
Democrats’ failure to take the Senate could tie the party’s hands through 2022; even a Democratic President in 2020 won’t be able to pass much legislation or get judicial appointments past the Republican roadblock. [Dylan Matthews/Vox]