Well with no job to come back to, and no money to go out with, my day has been less than exciting.

What it does mean, though, is that I’ve been able to read a lot. Blogs, newspapers, lots and lots. Here’s my picks of the day.

[THE TIMES] Martin Samuel: “If you want a real history lesson, watch South Park”

I’m a great admirer of Martin Samuel. His football writing is brilliant; if you ever watched me read one of his columns you’ll notice me nodding in agreement every five seconds. This column isn’t on sport, but still I love his point of view. He argues that the attitudes of South Park would work better in normal life too, i.e. if we upset everyone, no-one gets hurt. The current climate is to upset no-one, and that doesn’t seem to work too well.

I’ve always wondered what popular cultures can be put into education to make it better. My housemates and I watched the film American Pie last week, and we all recounted how the exploits of Jim, the main character, taught us more about sex than any of our sex education lessons ever did.

[THE GUARDIAN] Catherine Sanderson: “Blogger beware!”

My brother works for a fairly large company. He was telling me how in the past week he’d been given the job of shortlisting interviewees for the student placement. I asked how he went about picking them, whether qualifications mattered, or if they looked for more human skills like team work etc. Both, he said, but more importantly, he’d have a quick Google and find out everything he could about them via their Myspace and Facebook profiles.

This made me gulp. I’ve been applying for jobs left right and centre lately, and I hadn’t even considered about my Myspace. Luckily, I’m in the industry where being ‘a bit cool’ is seen as an asset; as long as I’m not lazy, unreliable or, well, crap. I don’t mind people seeing my Myspace page (it’s linked over there on the right), but I do wonder how prospective employees may see me.

Catherine’s column/blog discusses her own misfortunes as a blogger — she was once sacked from her job because of her writing — and gives a warning to us all.