Opinion

iPad Air got you down? Five points of perspective for disappointed Apple fanboys

From Washington columnist Doyle McManus' Oct. 23 column about the increasing inequality in our country: "Imagine a future in which real wages for most workers decline year after year; a future in which middle-class jobs that disappeared in the Great Recession won't be coming back; a future in which young Americans either squeeze into an increasingly wealthy elite or tumble to the bottom, with fewer and fewer in what we once called the middle class. "Actually, that's a description of the present."

From Washington columnist Doyle McManus’ Oct. 23 column about the increasing inequality in our country:

“Imagine a future in which real wages for most workers decline year after year; a future in which middle-class jobs that disappeared in the Great Recession won’t be coming back; a future in which young Americans either squeeze into an increasingly wealthy elite or tumble to the bottom, with fewer and fewer in what we once called the middle class.

“Actually, that’s a description of the present.”   (Peter and Maria Hoey / For The Times)

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Is there no pleasing the Apple fanboy?

Apple introduced its lighter, thinner, faster iPad Air, the new Mavericks OS X free operating system and more to a packed crowd in San Francisco on Tuesday. But as The Economy Hub’s Michael Hiltzik pointed out, fans complained. They wanted more, to which Hiltzik offered this pretty great reply. It got me thinking of what comedian Louis C.K. told Conan O’Brien in 2009 about how we take technology for granted: “We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots.”

Now, I’m not calling Apple fans spoiled idiots. It would be great if the iPad Air came with a fingerprint scanner, especially if it helped deter “Apple pickers.” But this has been a particularly depressing month, leaving me even more exasperated at Apple fans’ petty reactions. Here then are five things from our recent Opinion pages more disappointing than Apple’s new products. --Alexandra Le Tellier

Follow Alexandra Le Tellier on Twitter @alexletellier.

Salmonella-tainted chicken

It’s possible to eliminate salmonella in chicken. Just look at Sweden, The Times editorial board wrote. Yet, we recently had another outbreak of the bacteria, sending a number of people to the hospital. Argued the editorial board:

“For too long in the United States, the agriculture industry has successfully pushed and prodded Congress and regulatory agencies into accepting practices that are literally sickening to the public. At minimum, we could begin to improve food safety by declaring salmonella an adulterant so that the USDA and agricultural operations are compelled to recall infected products.”  (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

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