DAILY MUESLI: Marshall v. Marshall

Good morning.

1.) Roll Call had an article on Sept. 20 looking into the prospects of whether John Roberts, as Supreme Court chief justice, would allow cameras in the high court: “Well, you know, my new best friend, [former] Sen. [Fred] Thompson [R-Tenn.], assures me that television cameras are nothing to be afraid of,” Roberts said during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Observers had said this is not a question of if, but when. So will cameras be authorized by the time Marshall v. Marshall is heard before the court early next year? (Vickie Lynn Marshall is better known as Anna Nicole Smith.) If so, we'll have a circus on the Supreme Court steps.

2.) In an age of multi-tasking, this study is interesting. Apparently, nearly everyone spends a third of their day consuming two or more forms of media at the same time.

From Revolution Magazine:

It found an extremely high number of people using two or more media concurrently -- with over 96% of the survey doing so for 30% of the day. The number one combination was people watching television and using the internet at the same time; followed by those watching television while using email, and those watching television while on the phone. For another 40% of the day, people were devoted solely to engaging with media, rather than combining it with other activities such as childminding.

I'd be interested to see a detailed study of a typical blogger's multi-tasking activities. Send them my way if you know of any.

3.) Yahoo's experiment with backpack journalism has officially started. Kevin Sites, in The Hot Zone, has been in Somalia, exploring garbage dumps, among other places in the troubled country. Lots of video available and Sites' journey, and Yahoo's experiment, should be worth following.

4.) Kudos to DCist on two exciting technical projects. First, there's the first-ever DCist podcast. In a related technical feat, DCist is now offering Bit Torrent tracking to make downloading DCist's podcasts and such easier. DCist "can offer speedy downloads of large files without reducing the DCist server to a bubbling pile of silicon." And that's a good thing.

5.) Gridskipper picked up my post on Tyler Brule's transportation wishes for New York City, doing a much more straightforward interpretation of the style guru's true feelings about the city's transportation ills.