Hey, you know what we haven't had for a while? A scene about an entire school district committing to buy hundreds of iBooks for its students. Also, Snapple. Yeah, we could go for a nice, refreshing Snapple right about now. Unfortunately, that would mean we'd have to leave the compound, and what with the Minions of Ballmer lurking around every corner just waiting for us to get complacent so they can abduct us and bend us to their will, we suppose we'll just go with the school district thingy instead.

Mmmm, Mango Madness.

Anyway, following in the footsteps of Henrico County, Virginia and the Great State of Maine comes Greene Country, North Carolina-- which, according to the Kinston Free Press, becomes the latest educational authority to succumb to the Wiles of Steve and agree to outfit all of its students and teachers in grades 6 through 12 with school-friendly iBooks. According to Finance Director Harvey Gay, this deal puts Greene County "at the forefront of rural education." Yeah, that's right, rural. Admit it, now your heads are filled with the image of a little red schoolhouse occupied by a dowdy schoolmarm and little boys dipping the girls' pigtails in the inkwells-- except with gleaming white wirelessly-networked laptop computers. You know, like Little House on the Prairie with iBooks. Nothing wrong with that; heck, the show probably would've enjoyed a ratings boost from the Battlestar Galactica viewers.

Of course, since we're talking about a single rural county, the Greene County deal, at 1,783 iBooks, isn't quite on the same scale as Maine (36,000) or even Henrico (23,000), but it's a nice win for Apple nonetheless. And it's a nice win for the people of Greene County, too-- although we wonder if they understand just how thorny an undertaking like this can be. Says Gay: "School systems are lining up to do this. I would rather be first than down the line somewhere. Whoever does it first will be on the cutting edge." Hmmm, he says that like it's a good thing. Perhaps Apple conveniently forgot to point out Henrico's massive problems getting its own cutting-edge iBook program underway-- technical glitches, as well as students misusing the equipment big-time.

Meanwhile, Greene County Board of Education member Joe Smith comments, "Just think how smart a child could be if they had a computer every day and night from the sixth grade until they were a senior. Think of what they could do." Uh, well, Joe, not to disillusion you or anything, but we're thinking Warcraft III and porn. Ha ha, just kidding, Greene County! (Mostly.) Still, you folks made the right decision-- and if you're starting to feel a little anxious about the possible ramifications of your cutting-edge laptop initiative, just kick back with a Kiwi Strawberry and breathe deep.