About

Glen - Breakfast Presenter

Want to live next door to US President Barack Obama? AFP reports the colonial mansion next to his Chicago home is now available - for the right price.

So far, the real estate broker handling the sale won’t even guess at what that price might be… but says it would be somewhere in the (neighborhood) average of 1.2 to two million US dollars.

Apparently interest is high and phones have been ringing off the hook since the house was put on the market on Friday.

But anyone hoping for an invitation from Obama to shoot some hoops in the backyard or the chance to swap recipes with the First Lady might be disappointed.

Despite vowing to come home to Chicago as often as possible, the Obamas spend most of their time in Washington and have chosen Camp David and Martha’s Vineyard for recent holidays.

The new owners will also have to contend with roadblocks and screening by the Secret Service in what the real estate agent calls “the ultimate gated community.”

No sight-seeing allowed apparently. Viewings of the 6,000 square foot brick home will be scheduled only after potential buyers show they are financially capable of closing the deal.

That probably lets me out.

The Prez could probably do with some friendly neighbours as his colleagues in both Houses of Congress don’t look to be doing him any favours right now.

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A quick web warning for news hounds :

The New York Times has warned readers of its website to beware of a virus masquerading as an advertisement.

The paper says some users of NYTimes.com encountered a pop-up box that warned them about a virus and directed them to go to a site that claims to offer anti-virus software.

The site itself is virus-like and hijacks a web browser making it appear a scan for viruses is running. It apparently affects PCs running Windows, not Apple computers.

This sounds exactly like some Malware that got me recently - don’t click on it and restart your browser. Hate this stuff.

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Marius - politics

Could you provide a definition for the following:
(a) the Talmud
(b) Kindle

I know the Talmud is a byword for complexity, but I had to check further with the Macquarie Dictionary to find that, more precisely, the Talmud is: “the two commentaries on the Mishnah.”

The “Mishnah” - again according to the Macquarie - is: “the collection of oral laws made by Judah ha-Nasi (AD c.135-c.220), which forms the basis of the Talmud.”

Seems a little circular. Not to worry….

I did know that “Kindle” was the electronic book produced by Amazon. It’s not available here yet, you have to get it from the US.

But it is an indication of the enthusiasm for technology and reading of one of our political leaders that he already has one in operation.

The leader in question is Malcolm Turnbull. Always an early adopter of technology, he was recently demonstrating the Kindle to some journalists - and the text he was using for the demonstration was the Talmud.

The anecdote brings together three of the enthusiasms of the opposition leader - technology, words and Jewish culture.

Some politicians have the narrowness that goes with the monomania needed to get on in public life. Malcolm Turnbull is a broader proposition.

For him there is life beyond politics - and it remains an open question whether he can reach the top of politics before returning to those wider interests.

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Debbie - Sport

Serena Williams appeared on “Good Morning America” overnight flogging, relentlessly and repetitively, her new autobiography “On The Line” (insert foot fault gag here!)

We lost count of the number of times she managed to mention the name of the book in the interview. So much so that it appears her promotional philosophy is very similar to her strategy for threatening line judges.

The plan is clearly to shove that #@*?^%! book right down our #@*?^%! throats.

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Mark - EP

Thanks very much to Alison Foskett who wrote us a nice email yesterday saying she’s enjoying “Brekkie Crumbs” (and no…Alison is not my mother!).

Thanks also to our loyal Breakfast audience who are obviously telling all their friends about the most informative, fast-paced Breakfast program on Australian radio, if the OZTAM ratings released yesterday are any guide….

If you’re a newbie to ABC NewsRadio Breakfast, here a quick thumbnail guide to what you can hear.

Between 5:30am and 9am AEST every week day, Glen Bartholomew presents a full ten-minutes news bulletin with comprehensive finance and weather information every half an hour. Immediately afterwards, Debbie Spillane or Paul O’Connell will give you Australia’s most comprehensive sports wrap-up.

Marius Benson’s along with a wrap of the nation’s newspapers at 5.55am and 6.55am AEST, his daily political chat with a member of the Canberra press gallery at 7.45am, plus interviews with politicians and opinion leaders.

Along the way, Glen will weave in more interviews and breaking news, and feature-length contributions from our ABC colleagues and our international broadcast partners — CNN, the BBC and Germany’s Deutsche Welle. He’ll check in with Washington for our daily U-S update at 6:15am AEST and get in-depth analysis on the overnight financial markets at 6:50am AEST from National Australia Bank’s Rob Henderson, Dave de Garis and Spiros Papadopoulos and Westpac’s man in London, James Shugg.

Plus, Paul Latter and his colleagues at the Australian Traffic Network are along with a national traffic update every half hour from 6:28am AEST.

A minor correction to my diatribe yesterday. I incorrectly referred to Dave Wright fom the Australian Traffic Network as “Dave Lane”. Apologies — Dave…..should’ve got that wright.