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Stephen King's THE IBOOK (11/14/02)
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Boy, as the state of Maine continues to discover, the benefits of buying 36,000 iBooks just keep piling up. A few days ago we noted how Maine's decision to outfit every one of its middle school students with an iBook led to the state receiving $400 million worth of free software. A week before that we told you about how Maine was being eyed by the Canadians, who seemed intent on sweeping across the border and snagging those iBooks for its own kids-- and while the prospect of an imminent invasion would give any state pause, it still must be nice to be the envy of the free world. Indeed, a Bangor Daily News article pointed out by faithful viewer Brian Freeman notes that in addition to the Canadian tour, apparently delegations from Scotland and France have visited Maine to scope out how the program's shaping up.
But the latest fringe benefit of its middle school iBook program doesn't involve gratis software or worldwide envy, but free tutelage-- and not just any free tutelage. Apparently Maine-born Rock-Bottom Remainders guitarist (and massively prolific bestselling author) Stephen King recently visited Freeport Middle School near his hometown of Durham and told the iBook-slinging seventh-graders that he'd "like to set up an interactive, Internet-based system through which he could teach writing to students." What, no Stephen King Virtual Guitar Lessons?
Apparently King's plan involves using the 'net as a virtual classroom for "establishing a dialogue with students, giving them assignments, and posting good writing examples online for others to see." Sure, it's not the most original idea in the world, and it might crank out an entire state's worth of junior high school students writing about shipwrecked drug-smugglers eating their own extremities, but it's yet another gushing endorsement of Maine's iBook program, and this one comes from one of the state's most famous native sons. That's particularly important because the state legislature is still talking about cutting funding for the program, so vocal support, press coverage, and some good PR from a celebrity sure can't hurt. Even a creepy-looking one.
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SceneLink (3841)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 11/14/02 episode: November 14, 2002: Apple debuts a new celebrity Switch ad during "The West Wing"-- which means, of course, we missed it. Meanwhile, Apple's claim that new Macs won't boot Mac OS 9 starting in January may not be entirely accurate, and Stephen King speaks out in favor of Maine's groundbreaking iBooks-for-students program...
Other scenes from that episode: 3839: Don't Touch That Dial (11/14/02) Well, it's official: The Powers That Be are punishing us for not being fans of "The West Wing," a transgression that apparently constitutes a mortal televisual sin these days. What can we say, folks?... 3840: Mac OS 9: Not Dead Yet (11/14/02) If you're the sort of Mac classicist who still goes to bed each night sobbing over the loss of the rainbow Apple logo, the dismantling of the Icon Garden, the retirement of the Happy Mac boot icon, and the de-emphasis of Clarus the Dogcow, you probably cried yourself a river a couple of months back when Apple officially announced the death of Mac OS 9-- by indicating that starting this January all new Macs will boot only into Mac OS X...
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