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.

There are, as you now know, numerous blogs written every day about all kinds of things. Some are interesting, some fun, and some.. well, you've got to be in the mood I guess. Still, the blog titled Google Blog, written by the man who does the Google doodles, is far from boring, though I must admit, it's not apparently updated daily. Still, it's a good blog to read and something of interest to most folk can be found here.

If you've ever been told you, or a loved one, has a condition or disease of some sort, then you most likely should have known of the existence of the Diseases Database. It may help you to understand the condition, prognosis, treatment, etc. However, knowing What is in the Diseases Database is equally important, so that you don't spend needless time trying to find something that isn't there. This link will be of assistance not only to the general public, but even more so to the medical profession itself. Sure hope my own GP, and Endocrinologist, and Cardiologist have a look. It might help in how they treat me. *smiles*

Looking for something really different for that next gathering you are hosting? How different can you get than to amaze your guests with Recipes from Ghana? I must admit, some look pretty tasty... some...well… Enjoy.

"The rain may never fall 'till after sundown. By morning star the clouds must disappear..." Where else could I be thinking of than the Camelot Village Britain's Heritage and History site? Here you will see all manner of things about London, but in particular about the famous tower of London. "Fancy a tour? Step right up Guv. One's leavin' in a just a tick".

When one thinks of the UK, one naturally thinks of the Prime Minister and #10 Downing Street. Well, the Downing Street Says the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman, which purports to be uncut and un-annotated, should be interesting reading. Have a look and see what you think.

Speaking of Jolly Ol', the BBC (British Broadcasting System) has some interesting programming and some good websites to go along with it. For instance, if you hop over to the BBC - Religion & Ethics site, and then click on the "Interactive" link on the left, and then on the "calendar" you can then click on your own religion and see its Holy Days on the calendar for your use. Now you must admit, that's not an easy thing to keep track of, but here, one could in theory, keep track of every world encircling religion's celebrations and Holy Days. Have a look. This one deserves a bookmark.

The folk at GuruNet have an interesting younger person's website to help them with their understanding of things. Take (note: Take - don't just send) your younger family member to the GuruNet - Kids Version site, highlight a word on a web document they don't understand, hit your alt key, and GuruNet will deliver an explanation of the word or phrase you have highlighted. Now that has to help with homework. *smiles*.

You've not doubt heard of the Aurora Borealis, those magical lights in the sky seen in the more northern climes when the solar storms strike our outer atmosphere. But, have you ever seen them? If you don't live reasonably far north on the globe, most likely you haven't. However the AuroraWebCam.com - Aurora borealis site will show you these lights from the northern lights international project in Alaska. Great viewing and a good information site.

I really applaud schools who put the effort into a website project for their students, teachers, staff, and the community at large. Everyone can, and should do this, and the Bilambil Primary School site is a well done and well laid out site for a school. Isn't it time your school did something similar?

Feel like some treasure hunting? The thought intrigues most folk, and the Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site does just that, takes you on a treasure hunt of sorts. Someone has buried something for you to find, most likely not all that far from where you are located. If you have some sort of a GPS device, then you can put in your coordinates and find a cache nearby to go and try to find. This is a good family activity to encourage folk out of the house into the sunshine for a while. Have a go and see what you can find.

The United Nations comes in for flack occasionally but this Old Fella' still thinks they do an admirable job of trying to let the world know what is happening to our brothers and sisters around the globe. The UN Multimedia site, for instance, will let you watch the world on your pc. Now that has to be worth a look. Well done service for all of us to see and use, and a great site to spend time browsing around.

"Pssst - Did you know that the government......." If you are into conspiracy theories of any kind you'll find even more on the ParaScope Something Strange is Happening! site. They not only have things about Area 51, and all the popular theory subjects, but they most likely have conspiracy theories you haven't even heard of. Don't scare yourself into hiding into your closet, but do have a look for a good chuckle.

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. ;-)