Essential tools for "backpack" reporters

As I was reading through Berkeley's Multimedia Reporting and Convergence online training module, I found this interesting feature by Jane Stevens that details what "backpack reporters"-- a term given to multimedia journalists -- need in the field. They include:

• Laptop computer loaded with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, iMovie or Pinnacle Studio 8 (or Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere if you're doing advanced video editing), Flash and a text editor such as Word.
• Video camera and accessories (lenses, filters, microphones, headphones, batteries, cables, tripod)
• Digital video tape (more than you think you'll need - tape's cheaper than missing the most important shot of the story)
• Lens cleaners (brush, tissues, solution -- clean your lens before every outing)
• Absorbent soft towel (for emergency lens cleaning)
• Duct tape (if some part of your camera breaks, as mine did in a Moscow subway station)
• Pocket knife (remember to put this in your checked luggage when traveling)
• Rubber bands (you never know)
• Extra batteries for microphones (replace these every few months)
• Camera and microphone manuals (unless you've memorized both)
• Plastic bags for camera (as emergency protection if you don't have a raincoat for your camera, or if you're moving between extremes of heat and cold and need the camera to adjust slowly)
• Plastic bags, small and zip-lock for used DV tapes
• Water bottle (for you)
• Power bars (for you -- you never know when you're going to skip a meal)
• Pens (if nothing else, to jot a quick ID on the tape you've just shot)
• Small notebook (of course, your camera is your reporter's notebook, but a small notebook is handy for writing down shots that you don't want to forget, especially if it's raining and you can't read what you've written on your hand)
• Backpack journalist vest with many pockets (you don't have to go the extreme of still photographers with their 87 pockets, but it's more efficient to have towel, batteries, DV tape, notebook, pen, knife and duct tape within easy reach)