[Journalists] backpacks are unprofessional?

[Cheryl Wade]

			wow! I guess I'm in the minority. I think I, 
too, would use a backpack if I had that much gear, and I probably 
will get more gear as newspapers move into more and more streaming 
audio onthe Net.

I have a sort of related question: What do you folks who use braille 
displays do when they break down? I take notes in very contracted 
braille, and if Iput these files on a  regular laptop, everything 
would turn into computer braille. So when my notetaker/display 
breaks, there goes everything I'm working on, all my files, unless I 
have time to print them out on paper before the unit goes blooey. Am 
I being primitive about this whole business? Since I want my notes in 
a different repository than on my computer, which I'm using to write 
my story, I have no choice but to use a slate or a Perkins (in places 
where noise is allowed) when my display breaks. This is really, 
really stupid to rely on such error-prone devices!

Cheryl Wade