Lizzy Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.
Well, that is the way one anonymous writer captured the infamous axe murders for which Lizzy Borden was accused, but acquitted. It is, of course, a popular rhyme, but it is not accurate. It is now 120 years later and I thought a good subject for the season and a general commentary about what we think of as a recent phenomena. For example, there have been two axe murders here in New Hampshire in the past several years.
But, for the year 1892 the brutal murders of her father Andrew Borden and her stepmother Abby, made worldwide news. Perhaps it was the fact that Lizzy was a young women, or that the extreme brutality of the murders was what that caught the fancy of the public. From the transcript: "On August 4, 1892 Andrew Borden was slumped on a couch in the downstairs sitting room, struck with a hatchet-like weapon. One of his eyeballs had been split cleanly in two". In an upstairs room, Lizzie's stepmother was also murdered with an "axe like object". In June of the following year Lizzy faced a trial and after a relatively short deliberation, was found not guilty. Of course, there is a complicated back-story that is well covered in the Lizzy Borden homepage by Douglas Linder here. If you are interested in history and accuracy, you will be interested in the murders as I was. If this was a current story, CSI and Criminal Minds would be all over it. But, it remains a mystery with real tragedy  and that is what murder usually is all about.

The laptop computer has been a very popular form of technology for a long time, but, that is changing fast. The laptop and notebook both provided freedom of movement compared to the aging desktop monster with the CRT display. They were both easy to transport, cheaper, and were more energy efficient. But, they provided the familiar mouse and keyboard that was considered essential for a computer to be useful; that was, until the tablet, iPhone and Android, total wireless communication, and touchscreens. And, now comes the revolution. Well, change is more appropriate than revolution, but there will be some adjustments.
But, for all of the joy of small, light, devices, there was still a desire to have a keyboard to do "real work". And, although there are third party peripherals to allow us to attach a keyboard, some form of integration seemed like the next step.
And what some are calling a hybrid laptop is the current technology coming down the road. These "laptops" have a dock that can be transported or left at home as needed. There are already several iterations and there is a good roundup at retrevo here. But, that is not the end of the story. There is a lot riding on the OS and how it will complement the transformation. Microsoft will be selling Windows 8, (Formally called Metro UI), later this month. And, it uses the tiles familiar to tablet and phone users, with a touchscreen, but will also work with older laptops as well. See the writeup from PCWorld here.
Generally I look forward to change but there are still concerns about the wireless infrastructure and security to think about. There is still no better mousetrap here yet. And for those who abhor change, the laptop will be around for some time. By the way, you can still buy a desktop computer if you need a really heavy paperweight!