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 Monday 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! If you are new to computing and/or new to the Internet, Welcome. The trick is to not be afraid of anything, simply plunge in and see what there is to find. If you come back here regularly (get someone to show you how to make a "Favorite" or "Bookmark" so that you can return here at any time) I'll show you a dozen new places to see each week that are family friendly and hopefully of use as well. If you are returning 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.

To end off the old year (2005) and start the new year (2006) I wrote yet another of Mac's Musings titled New Years Resolutions for 2006 which, in case you missed it, you can read by clicking on the title. Please consider joining me in this set of good computer and internet practice for this year (well, for every year actually). It can only help all of us if you do. And please accept the best of the New Year to you and your family from me and mine. ;-). Now, on with this week's picks.

Blogs are Internet web logs written by people like you and I on any subject we wish to write about and share with the rest of the world. One site I came across recently, named Rice Bowl Journals ~ An Asian Online Journal Community really is a good meeting place for people of Asian extraction to put up their own blog and let the rest of the world know how they see things happening around them. Let's face it, the more we know about each other the better off we all will be, and the less likely we will be to have misunderstandings happen. Have a look. I think it's a great site.

A lot of folk seem to be downloading audio sound bytes as well as video on various subjects. Thus, the Singingfish site, which bills itself as "the audio-video search engine" might be something to keep handy in your favorites or bookmarks under the Search Engines category. If you are looking for a particular sound or video you may well find it here.

Those who come to my site on a regular basis know that I love good food. And, before your mind runs away with you, no, I don't have a weight problem *smiles*. Being a diabetic I am very careful about what I eat but I can say that I think the Index Cooking and Food site is a great place to pick up information from others on how to prepare some pretty delicious sounding meals. Hop over and click on the recipes link and you will find correspondence about everything from crepes to the history of pie. This isn't so much a repository of recipes as it is a question and answer site where some folk post a question and hopefully others will reply with an answer. Registration is free so if you're into sharing your cooking knowledge, or indeed, need someone to share theirs with you, why not join these folk and everyone will benefit. Enjoy.

If you have a new computer and/or are new to the Internet you've no doubt heard stories, good and bad, about downloading programs and running them on your system. Unfortunately some of the bad stories are true, but fortunately most of the good stories are as well. For instance, the folk at PC World magazine have a lovely site titled PCWorld.com - Downloads where they list all of the programs you can download from them. And yes, you can trust these folk to only have the good stuff. After all, their magazine subscription and readership population depend on it. Have a look. You just might find that little program to do exactly what you need doing on your own system.

How long has it been since you went to the movies? With the advent of so many remakes recently one wonders what the originals were like. Well, wonder no more, as The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) will not only tell you who the stars were but also who wrote it, who directed it, when it appeared on the movie screen, and much much more information about movies in general. This has to be the best repository of knowledge about the movies the net has to offer. Browse around and have a look and form your own opinion. Now, trivia anyone? *chuckles*

What do you know about how to make a surgeon's loop? How about a rapala knot? If you're a fisherman you might know but no matter what type of knots you are trying to make, you should have a look at the Animated Knots by Grog site and see the different ones used for different purposes. There are fishing knots, boating knots, climbing knots, you name it and it's probably here. A great site to learn how to tie the type of knot you need.

"Back in the old days..." Gee, do I sound like my dad or what? *smiles* However, seriously, there was a time when the average family was involved in making all manner of arts and crafts in their home. Unfortunately most folk never get a chance to try any of those crafts and more because they are too rushed and are unfortunate members of a throw away society. So, the Family Crafts, - Articles site will show you all kinds of crafts that used to be, and can be, made, and maybe it will encourage you and your family to try one yourselves. Have a look. It sure beats TV.

If you have a garden of some kind, and size doesn't matter in this instance, you most likely would enjoy talking with and looking at what others have done in theirs. The GardensOnline site has as its motto "desktop gardening it couldn't be easier" and I guess that says it all. So, to share your information and gain insights into gardening problems you may face, have a look at this site. It's well worth the time.

With the icy blast of winter still around in the northern hemisphere, curling up with a good read is not such a bad idea. Mind you, with our Australian weather presently in the mid to high 30s Centigrade (35C = 95 F) it's not a bad idea to stay in the air conditioning and read one as well. Thus, the Internet Public Library for Kids is a site the young folk in your family should become conversant with. It has books to read online, and activities to keep one amused, as well as places to help with that dreaded homework. Take them there with you, browse around, and then favorite or bookmark it for their future use.

If you're like many folk on the net, you're either changing your internet browser from Internet Explorer to Firefox, or you already have. Firefox is a different browser, not as full of holes as the Microsoft version, and has some lovely features in it as well. And now, someone has finally made the Google Toolbar for Firefox available to download and install as well. This is indeed a useful toolbar as it will let you search from almost anywhere you happen to be on the net at the time. That can be a timesaver. So, if you use Firefox you might like to try this toolbar. It's a beauty. And, if you don't have Firefox itself, then click on that link and download and install it. I think you'll be pleased with the results. And yes, of course it's free.

Have you ever had the opportunity to read the actual manuscript of some important document? Not a copy, but the original manuscript. Wouldn't it be a treat if you could? Well, the folk at the Karpeles Manuscript Library site do just that. They keep original manuscripts of all sorts and then allow you to view them online. And which do they keep? Well, suffice it to say that their collection covers everything from the original manuscript of "The Wedding March" to the manuscript by Einstein on his "Theory of Relativity". Now, if I could only understand math... *smiles* Enjoy.

If you are a frequent visitor to my site (and if you're not, I hope you will become one) you will know that the last pick of each week is usually, not always, but usually something reasonably strange. This week's last pick is no exception. The site is titled dresskevin.com - I didn't know what to wear, so I made a website. and no, he's not joking. You can look at his entire wardrobe online, and in some detail I might add, and then suggest what he wears on that or a subsequent day. Now that's really being led by the fashion sense of others and just a tad more trusting than most folk would be, but hey, if it works for him, well done. Have a look. Maybe you can pick a winning combination of clothing for him today.

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. ;-)