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.

You'll know by now that I have an interest in blogs (weB LOGS) as yet another way of communicating ideas, thoughts, etc. I'm constantly on the lookout for those that are different but also offer help or even understanding of ideas. The IEBlog is apparently one written by someone at Microsoft, about Internet Explorer - its uses, its problem, etc. Have a look. It could help you as well.

You may or may not know that I had a massive heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery a couple of years ago (see the "Heart Links" on the right side of this page). Naturally enough, I started trying to look at different ways of taking care of myself, including changing the diet I consumed. The Delicious Decisions from the American Heart Association site actually does show you some good ways of eating healthy but good tasting food to ensure you don't end up like I did. I survived it all, yes, but it wasn't a fun trip. Give it a try. You certainly can't hurt yourself by trying some of these.

I recently spoke with two friends online who both have had problems with the condition known as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in their hands from continued, sustained, repetitive work. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration - OSHA HOME PAGE site is a US Government site that goes a long way to helping folk become aware that there are alternative ways of doing things, and that with a little break now and again, and a little change in the way we work, can help ourselves prevent such debilitating conditions. Have a read and please, take care of you.

Our grandson spent Good Friday night at our house, because he wanted to spend time with "Gamma and Pom-Pom". One of the things we know he enjoys is the TV channel Nick Jr. as he watches it with interest when he's here. It is geared toward his level and thus that makes sense. However, when Gamma took him to the HOME - Nick Jr. A website for kids, parents & teachers, which features your favorite Nickelodeon characters like Blue, Dora, Hi-5, etc. he had a great time following yet another adventure with Dora, and then coloring in a new poster for his room. If you have younger family members around they might enjoy it as well.

The Nick Jr. isn't all games. It's learning as well, whereas the Orisinal Morning Sunshine site is composed of some fun games that even I enjoy. And yes, that isn't a misspelling; it is how they spell it. When you need a few minutes break, hop over to their site and just click on one of the little boxes to play that game. Good fun.

You've no doubt heard about a heap of Internet Urban Legends (the Body Parts for Sale one springs to mind), but do you actually know about one of the original ones - that's STILL going no matter how many of us tried to kill it? *shakes head* I can't remember how many attempts to kill this legend have been tried, but it still pops up occasionally and it is something you should know about and let others know about as well so they don't unintentionally perpetuate it. Hop over to the Craig Shergold - A User's Guide site and have a read. Yes, Craig is real. Yes, he is also a young adult now and is apparently cured of his condition. Yes, he did make the Guinness Book of Records. NO - NO ONE needs that many emails or cards, including the Make a Wish Foundation, or any other charity organization. Things like this only detract from the limited time and resources charities like this have to deal with real problems. If you want to help, do so either in volunteering to help in your own area, or by donating what is needed by that organization. Have a read of this one and do store it to pass on to friends and family. Let's stop this urban legend from yet again clogging the mail systems, both snail and internet mail. And Craig, best wishes to you and yours.

If you are connected to the net hopefully you have installed a firewall on your computer to protect you from outside attack. And, yes, you do need one. The most popular has been Zone Alarm, and even I have run that for a long time. However, recently I heard about a new one from Sygate Personal Firewall - Award Winning Technology Within! . It, like Zone Alarm, is free for personal use, so I downloaded it, uninstalled Zone Alarm, installed it, and I must say, I'm impressed. It gives at least as good protection as the other one, and also gives me more information about who is probing my system. Occasionally I find myself in a particularly nasty mood and follow up who is, and simply ask for an explanation. It's amazing how many people have apparently lost employment by doing this from work *shakes head*. Anyway, have a look at your own system and do ensure that you are adequately protected. You might like to try this firewall out yourself. I do recommend you look into it.

"Ahh, but I'm protected already" I hear you say. Well, you may be, but then again you may not be as well protected as you think you are. Why not pop over to the Home of Gibson Research Corporation site and click on the ShieldsUp logo and run those tests against your own system. If you come out of the entire test with flying colors, then enough said. If you don't however, maybe it's time you checked out either the Sygate firewall listed above or Zone Labs Zone Alarm and protect yourself properly. And remember, you are installing these on your personal computer at home so you don't need the commercial version. If you are doing it on a company network however, you do need the professional version.

While on the subject of security, you should have a look at the Security Software Downloads and Trials site provided by Microsoft itself. Yes, it deals with their own products and yes, it concentrates more on certain things than others, but the site is still a good one to come to grips with the need for, and necessity to learn about and install security measures on your own machine. Have a look and you'll see what I mean. At least you should be able to understand why people get all upset if they don't have the right security in place.

When was the last time you cleaned your jewelry? Most of us don't even think about it but we actually are doing our jeweler and ourselves a disservice if we don't occasionally give them a good clean. And yes, rings, watch bands, earrings, and other things come into this category, some, for an old guy like me, too scary to contemplate *chuckles*. It's not only to make them bright and shiny that we should think of cleaning them, but for health reasons as well. I had a look at the Independent Jewelers - Jewelry Information Center Jewelry Care & Cleaning site, and in reading their information, looked at the watchband on the watch I inherited from my dad and wow, was I ever surprised. The absolute gunge that accumulates in an expandable watch band is amazing, and a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. Needless to say I did something about it, and this site may help you find ways to clean your things as well. Enjoy, and may the "bling" be with you. ;-)

I love innovation, especially when it's used to get a point across on the net. Hop over to the NGf - Map of Creativity site and do as it says. This is without doubt a very exciting way of looking at projects online. For instance, click on an area of the globe, then on the little dots beside that area. If you click on something you are taken there. Now that's somewhat like a normal web page but is loaded with innovation and packs a heck of a lot of info into a very small space. Well done in my book.

Ok, we all know about martial arts and sports that tend to lean in that direction. Even I dabbled in some a loooooong time ago *chuckles as he rubs the aches and pains*. And yes, though judo was one that interested me, I didn't really get into it at all. But, as in all things, some folk did and do work on this sport of balance and resistance. But, umm, DOGJUDO? Now I ask you, is this someone with more time on their hands than they should have or what? *shakes head*. Have a look and see if it all makes sense to you. ;-)

Enjoy your week and I look forward to seeing you in a week's time.

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