Oops... I let things lapse again!

Oops!

Sorry about the break in posts - I've been a tad busy, and lacking, it must be said, in original inspiration... there are only so many things that can be said regarding idiot and retarded motorists, after all

Anyhow... I subscribe to Lockergnome, a site for those interested in all things geeky and techy (emphasis on the latter, OK? )... today, there was a posting about stuffing your mobile phone into your pockets, and the resulting broken screen problems that this can result in... here's the link...

Personally, I keep my large-touchscreen PDA/phone (reminder: It's an HTC Touch Pro 2) in a belt pouch. Why? I don't want to break the screen. Older phones that weren't large-format touch-screen capable, such as the older second generation cell phones (can you say Nokia 6210?), yeah, you could stick those in your pocket and not have to worry overly about the screen.

This new generation of PDA/phones though (OK, by new I mean most high-end phones from the last three to five years or so), that rely on the screen not only for dialling but for displaying all manner of data and accessing so many more features, demand a hell of a lot more respect, hence the belt pouch.

Modern phones (particularly PDA phones) are simply not rugged enough to merely stuff in a pocket - and that kind of behaviour is merely tempting fate and a broken screen!

Oh yeah - in the British Army, there's a couple of phrases used for the process of making kit and equipment rugged enough so that it will survive the harsh environment that is the modern soldier's daily grind...

The first one's called "Ruggedising". It wasn't an actual word per se, but come into fairly widespread use in the defence industry (who, truth be told, love nothing more than to make the editors at the Oxford English Dictionary curl up and cringe)... and now it's fairly recognisable use in many walks of life - go figure!

Anyhow, the other one's a personal favourite of mine, and is particularly popular with British troops: "Squaddie Proofing"