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.

If you happen to have a palm computer, did you know that you can download called FreewarePalm Car Maintenance v2.5 which will help you to be reminded when periodic maintenance is needed on your car? Well, it's there, and it's freeware. Go for it. Are we having fun yet? LOL

If you enjoy making interesting food for yourself and/or your family, but haven't all the ingredients you may need to make some particular dish, there is help at hand that may suffice. If you hop over to the pantry_substitutes_ingredients site you'll find all kinds of substitutes that just might work in a pinch. I'd say this one is worth a bookmark for future reference wouldn't you?

It's amazing how many different news sources there are on the net. For instance, when was the last time you read the Bangkok Post newspaper? Want a different perspective on news around the world? Hop over to the Bangkok Post Main Entrance Page and have a browse. Interesting news source and one to possibly add to your news sites. Seeing as it is one of the top 10 on the net, apparently lots of folk do read it daily. That has to be a good sign.

Kids need safe places to play and learn, and not only in their own neighbourhood but on the net as well. The Kids Domain - Part of the Kaboose Network site certainly appears to be just that, a safe place for them to be. Why not take your younger family members with you to this one and have a look? You judge weather it is suitable for your family or not.

And, not only do children need safe places on the net, the whole family does as well. Therefore there are family friendly websites online that one need not really worry about at all. One is the FamilyFun site done by the folk at Disney. Not only is it safe for the entire family, but they would love to have you visit them regularly. Hop over and have a look and judge for yourself. Looks pretty good and very safe to me.

You've heard about viruses, you've heard about spyware, you've heard about all kinds of nasties that may lurk on your computer, but what do you know about any of them if you find them? Well, to find out what they do, and how to get rid of them, what better reference than the Alphabetical Index to Pests? It lists just about all of them alphabetically for you. Isn't it time you found out what is lurking behind your computers online presence and did something about it? I don't think you'll be disappointed if you do.

After moving to Australia one of the things that was difficult to come to terms with was the different plants available here. Many of them are indigenous to Australia, but not all of them are good for every garden. To find out what plants will work in your area, hop over to the Buying Australian Plants - A Consumers' Guide site and have a look around. In my area we would like to have plants that are native, sub-tropical, and work well in drought conditions. What do you need in yours?

Many folk decorate or renovate rooms in their home from time to time, for all kinds of reasons. One room that can be a real challenge, yet can be done relatively inexpensively, is the dining room. The Dining Room Decorating site will give you some interesting ideas and tips on how to decorate or redecorate yours. Have a look. It may be just what you've been looking for, and it might save you some cash in the process.

You'll be aware that I have a BLOG (weB LOG) on the right side of my page. That is one way to make one, and many, like me, do it that way. However, there are also other kinds of BLOGS that you need a different kind of freeware application to read. These are called RSS feed BLOGS. I know, it sound intimidating but it really isn't. If you hop over to the PCWorld.com - RSS Feeds @ PCWorld.com site and have a browse around, you will find that it's all easily explained, and they even have links to the various RSS Feed software you can download and install. Just remember, Blogs are interesting stuff and in some cases, like talkback radio. Enjoy.

Do you run a car? Is it always working as it should? Want to keep it that way? Then hop over to the Andre Torrez Car Maintenance site and look what Andre suggests as ways to keep your vehicle in top condition. Some pretty good down to earth advice here.

"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane .." Ok, let's pause there. Now this has to be the lamest segue into a new site description ever written, but did you realise that it's the 100th anniversary of flight? The folk at the ASME Celebrating 100 Years of Flight site do and they invite you to come have a look at the interesting information they have compiled. This really is a great site with lots of historical info and future looks on flight. It might even be a good resource for school projects *winks at all the teachers out there*. See what you think. I loved it.

You like reading the news? How about a site that takes a comical twist on the news to make you chuckle? Hop over to the Wymsey Village Web and look at their online "newspaper" and see if it's something that might tickle your funny bone or not? It did mine, but then again, I'm old and warped *chuckles*. Enjoy.

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. ;-)