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 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.

We have a wonderful 3 year old grandson who is in preschool. His mom and dad also play with him and try to educate him in all manner of things. The Cyber Pre-School - Activities site might be useful to them and to anyone else who has a child of this age. Have a look and maybe use it yourself or pass it on to a parent of a pre-school child you know.

When looking for new blogs to show you I found a site that makes the claim that it is the Best Blogs on the Web - Weblog Index - . Now I know what they mean and indeed it is a well done categories list of blogs, but the "the best on the web" is quite a heavy statement. Have a look and see what you think. You may well find the blog of your dreams right here.

I like to keep track of the time in other parts of the globe. I recently found and tried out a piece of software (freeware actually) called Qlock that allows you to display the time in many different parts of the world. Have a look. It could be the clock software you've always wanted, and if you are a company owner or administrator it also would be an easy way to keep track of the time in worldwide branch offices.

Many folk, for one reason or another, leave their place of birth and move to other parts of the globe. Take me for instance. Though born in the USA after completing 2 years of university and serving in the US Air Force for 4 years, I moved to Canada with my new wife (and this year celebrating 40 years of being together), had our two daughters, then moved to New Zealand for 30 years, and recently moved here to Australia. The reason for telling you this is that occasionally I enjoy reading my home town newspaper, and some other ones around the world. How do I find them? by going to the Thousands of newspapers on the Net site and look your favorite up by country, etc. This is a nice way of keeping tabs on the old stamping ground. Try it. See if you can find your old home town newspaper on the net. Enjoy.

We all love good food. And let's face it, men usually control the BBQ cooking. Thus, the 3 Men With Nothing Better To Do site should really come as no surprise, except that their penchant for cooking pork in particular, and doing it well, is a plus. Have a look and you'll see what I mean. Some tasty ideas for you to try here.

I'm an old astronomy nut. I freely admit that. However, even those with a casual interest in the galaxy will find fantastic pictures of various places in the galaxy to use as the background on their desktop at the Astronomy Picture of the Day. Hop over and see what you can find. I find the moon it has just photographed (no, not ours) to be a fascinating photo. Maybe you will as well. Enjoy.

Have you ever tried writing? I don't mean writing a paper in school or Uni, but writing something (prose, poetry, instruction manual, etc) and then getting it published and printed? Believe me, it's almost impossible. And, if you only want 6 copies made and printed, maybe for friends and family only, well, if you aren't an extremely wealthy individual, you can forget that as well. Until now that is *smile*. As you know I dislike putting commercial enterprises up as Picks of the Week, but this one time I'm going to make an exception. Why, I hear you ask? It's not because I'm being paid to but rather it's because this site does all those things I just said couldn't be done. If you hop over to the Books and E-Books from Mountain Mist Productions site you'll see its all true. Not only do they publish and print even single copies of things, but they have a group of their favorite writers who also have formed another concept and call that area of this business Oldies at Large. They encourage each other, and even act as a sort of editorial staff if asked to. So, yes, this is a commercial site, but if you've have the need to publish, this might be the answer. Have a look and see what you think. It might also help your organization to print their newsletter or minutes or other publication. If you happen to publish something, let me know as, depending on what it is, I might purchase a copy as well. (8-D

I gave a talk to about 50 people last Friday on the subject of how to maintain your PC in reasonably top running order. Unfortunately you most likely didn't make it *smile*. However, no matter where on our little green orb you are, the List of Lists site is worth having and bookmarking for future use. It is a list of all kinds of links to computer help files, sorted by subject so you can readily find the help you need. Great site and great service to the Internet Community. Well done.

The English language is one of the most difficult to learn on the planet. We have strange punctuation no one else uses, we have words that sound exactly alike but are written and spelled differently, with different meanings, etc. Thus, learning English as a second language is a momentous undertaking for any individual. One tool that could well help folk who find themselves in that situation is the Crossword Puzzles for ESL Students - Easy (English Study Materials, ESL, EFL) site. It has crossword puzzles to help you get to grips with this language, while being fun to do at the same time. Enjoy.

You've no doubt heard that friends now have a Gmail account, or you may have one yourself. Google has joined the web based email league and not only joined it, but set it on its ear in the process for a number of reasons, not the least of which is a massive 1 Gigabyte of storage space for your email. That alone makes this a much sought after email option because most likely you would never have to delete anything but spam here, and at the moment you don't even need to worry about spam because their filters remain pretty good. However, Gmail has its own ways of doing things, and until you come to grips with it, it can be a little confusing. Thus, the Gmail Tips - The Complete Collection site is worth its weight in gold. It is a good explanation of the differences in this web-based Email program and well worth a bookmark to return to and reference.

NOTE: If you don't have a Gmail account and really need one for business or personal use (and I'm not talking about having one email from family a day, I'm talking about those who virtually live in their email account like me), then write me at upnrunning.webmaster@gmail.com and explain why you need it. The first 10 with the most need will receive an invitation to open their own Gmail account in return. Decisions on this are final, and no amount of begging will change the decisions *smile*. Yes, these accounts will become more and more available as time goes on, but there is no reason not to have one now, if you have the need. I will look for your email, and it must arrive by noon, Monday 7 March (Australian time) to qualify. The decision will be made then. Note please that any sent to my normal email link on the right side of this page will immediately be disqualified. Get writing.

You'll remember that I recently found a good site dealing with Urban Legends on the Internet. Well, another has turned up that also meets the same criteria of need. If you receive an email with some fantastic story, check it out here to see if you have an urban legend or not. Hop over to the Urban Legends and Folklore Internet - Web Hoaxes site and have a read. You'd be surprised at the garbage people believe, and pass on as gospel truth. I am *smiles*

And finally this week we have the YogaKitty Home Page Site, where they state their goal as "Our goal is to present a practical, step by step guide for humans & their cats to activate their fullest potential". And what is the site about? Yes, it's about doing yoga exercise, both for you and your cat. No, I'm not kidding. Hop over and have a look, then grab that moggie and bend and stretch. ;-) And the mantra while doing this? "get a life...".

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. ;-)