Mac's Picks is a collection of family friendly interesting and useful sites, updated weekly. These sites may be search engines, medical resources, household hints, educational resources, recipe sites, sites I call "head scratchers", and/or new sites dealing with all kinds of things of use to the general internet community. To find the criteria I use, simply click on the "Why and How Info" link on the right side of this page.

This page is updated on a weekly basis, each Tuesday evening Australian (Queensland) time (GMT + 9 hours according to the world clock). Please come back and visit us often.

Important Note: If you are returning to my page, welcome back! Please click your "Refresh" or "Reload" button on the top of your Internet browser to ensure you are seeing the current week's page of my "Picks of the Week". Also, I would love for you to make my site your home page. Simply click on Tools - Options in Explorer, or Edit - Preferences in Netscape, and click Use Current and it's done.

Living here on the Gold Coast of Australia, we all had a walk along the beach on Christmas day, and went to the beach again to watch the fireworks on New Year's eve. The reason for mentioning this is twofold. First of all, Happy New Year to you and yours from me and mine *smile*. Secondly, I saw a few children on the beach doing the age-old sand castle construction thing. They soon learn that damp sand works best for this as dry sand just won't hold its shape. Ok, now the reason for taking this tack with this introduction? Why does damp sand hold together? Would you believe that science has only recently discovered the reason it does? Hop over to the Castles Made of Sand link and you'll find out why water apparently makes it all stik together. You'd think it would make it more slippery, but apparently it doesn't. Find out why here.

I know, you're all thinking now "this guy needs to get out more". Remember, I found that last one while out on the beach ;-). Now, you'll know that I think blogs are an interesting new way of speaking your mind online. Well, the NPOBLOGS site is a collection of sharity blogs all aggregated on one page by category. Thus you won't see commercial blogs here, but rather those done by members of some Non-Profit Organization or charity. Nice way to keep informed with what is happening in these folks world as well.

Ir you're new to computing then welcome to the international world of confused people. :-) If you're new to the net, welcome to this community of online folk around the world as well. If you are new to either of these communities you may well find the Computing Net site worthwhile. (Just click on any coloured link you see to visit a site.) You'll find it's a site full of all kinds of answers to all kinds of questions about computing in particular. Nice one to bookmark and revisit every once in a while to see what else is new.

I love watching cooking shows on TV. Here in Australia we not only get Australian chefs doing them, but we also get to see the British ones as well. That's all well and good, but occasionally someone will use a culinary term and you think "do I really know what that means?" Well, the Cyberspace Chef, Culinary Glossary site can be of great help there. It contains an enormous list of terms and explains them in plain English. Now that's my kind of site and well worth a bookmark (or favorite).

And of course, being summer here in Australia, how could I not list the Cool Summer Drink Recipes site as a pick of the week? It doesn't have many but it has some interesting ones to try, including Chilly Russian Tea. Now there is an innovatinve sounding cool drink for your archives. Enjoy.

The holiday season always brings the possibility of grandparents and aunts and uncles putting their young charges to bed with a nice bedtime story. A site that could really be helpful here (if like me you have the memory of a goldfish) is the BEDTIME-STORY for Busy Business-Parents - Whimsical Bedtime-Stories for Children of All Ages site. Think I mught just print off some of these and see if I can commit them to memory. ;-)

Do cruise ships show 'Titanic' as the evening movie? Is there a word made up entirely of silent letters? And if there is, how would you pronounce it? The answers to these and over eleven thousand other questions may not be found, but at least they are posed, at the Gadzillion Things To Think About site. What a fantastic resource for conversation at almost any dinner table. A great way to keep minds stimulated. This site could keep you occupied for years. Just think of over 11,200 questions on your own. Nope. Easier to look here. *smile*

If, like me, you are still running Microsoft Office 2000 as your Office suite of programs, you might want to check out the Microsoft Office Downloads site and see if you need their latest fixes and updates. I certainly did. It took a while to download as mine needed a core download, but I must admit it seems to be working better than ever. Great way to be updated and all for free.

Have you ever driven by some obviously abandon home and wondered who lived there and what their story was? If so, the Xydexx's Exploring and Modern Ruins Homepage site may well be of interest to you. It's a directory of abandon places lovingly put up on the net by someone who has that as an interest, and wishes to share it with you. Nice site and well worth a look.

Have you ever done any babysitting? Or, might you when visiting relatives leave their children in your loving care? If so, then the Tips for Entertaining Children while Babysitting site could be a real boon to you. Have a look if you think this situation could be you at some point. Great site and worth a bookmark.

On the Internet, the term FAQ, which is usually found on product or service oriented sites, means Frequently Asked Questions. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a site that does the opposite - it answers Seldom Asked Questions, this one in particular about Japan. Hop over to the SAQ - Japan Seldom Asked Questions site and browse around. Good information and an innovative way of presenting it.

I love sites that are a little different. One such site is an online mystery for you to try and solve. It's called The Strange Case of the Lost Elvis Diaries. Hop over and have a look. Good fun.

Rebecca Game of "Digital Women - Women with their modems running...", is a graphic designer who is superb to say the least. Rebecca designed this "new look" web site specifically for me, and I can't praise her work enough. Her site, dedicated to women on the net, is worth seeing and bookmarking for future reference. If you are looking for links of interest to women, please visit her site. And if you need the best graphic designer on the planet, I seriously can't recommend her more highly. Oh yes, and when you visit her site, tell her Mac sent you. Thank you Rebecca. I am eternally grateful for your assistance and expertise. ;-)