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! 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're a frequent visitor you will know that I enjoy some blogs and some authors. I stumbled across one this past week, Captain Picard's Journal which, if you're a Star Trek fan, you're going to love. Well done and well written. Have a look and see if this one is for you or not.

We all want to eat healthy foods. Let's face it, if we want a fast food, high fat, high sodium lunch we'll justify it somehow. But, the real goal is to eat health foods always. There is an organization called the George Mateljan Foundation that tries to find you The World's Healthiest Foods. Now that has to be seen as a help to all of us. They quote their rationale by saying "The George Mateljan Foundation is a non-profit organization with no commercial interests. Our purpose is to show you a healthier way of eating that's enjoyable, affordable, quick and easy to fit your personal needs and lifestyle." Now that has to be good for us, don't you think? Enjoy.

If you've been online for a while now, I'm sad to report that one of your friends has been made redundant. No, seriously, if you ever used the Ask Jeeves search facility, Jeeves is gone and out of a job. The folks at Ask.com have revamped the search facility and here is their new version, sans Jeeves. Have a look. It could be a very useful arsenal to add to your search capabilities.

And for the younger folk in your family, they also have Ask for Kids which is a great search facility for them to use. There are certainly some interesting changes at Ask. Have a look and judge what they did yourself. I think they've done a good job.

Occasionally we hear of environmental issues and are normally rightly justified in wanting something done to stop things from harming our planet. However, there are a lot of those problems that we don't hear about, but we are safe in the knowledge that the EIA - Environmental Investigation Agency is here and on all of our sides. They state that their purpose and description as "The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an international campaigning organization committed to investigating and exposing environmental crime". Hmm, it is our planet after all. Why not protect if from abuse? Well done site and certainly worth a look.

If you chat online using just about any of the chat programs you should be aware that your chat can be intercepted and read. So much for privacy. However, all is not lost because the folk at Secway have devised a program you can download and install that works as a Yahoo! Messenger encryption and security software and it's free as well for home use. This software allows you to encrypt and secure your Yahoo! IM conversations or chats as long as the person you are chatting to has it as well. And they also have a version to use on Aim or MSN or Jabber as well. Not many of us will worry even if the chat is read by someone, but the thought of the lack of privacy is something to look into. Just remember, this only works if both you and your chat partner have it installed. If they don't it simply reverts to plain text. Stay safe and give this a try.

I read a lot of blogs, some of them in email form, which are sent to my inbox so that I can keep up with the play in the computing world. One that I have found to be a real insider, especially in the Silicon Valley, is called Good Morning Silicon Valley and is well worth a look. You might say that SiliconValley.com is for real computer and net geeks - like me, but it's written with non-jargon users in mind. Have a look. It might be useful to you as well.

How do you ... I wonder if it's possible to ... We've all been there. That time when we have a project that needs to be done around the home or with our computer or almost anything, but aren't sure about our own skill level in making the right judgments to make it work. That is why the eHow.com - Clear Instructions on How To Do (just about) Everything site came into being. It's a place where you can put in a question about almost anything and someone will answer it. Have to admit it's pretty good. I think this one is worth a bookmark for that time in the future when you wonder if ... *smiles*

As I've said in the past, the real gardener in our home is my wife. She has literally turned clay and rock into a lovely garden around our home here in Australia. It took over a year to just dig out the rocks and try to make the soil a little more plant friendly but she did it, one step at a time. Those who enjoy gardening as she does will also enjoy the site called Gardening Techniques which is full of advice on how to get things growing around your place. If you like gardening as a hobby, have a look. It's worth a bookmark.

Most of us know of the Wikipedia site, an interactive encyclopedia of sorts which has things written constantly by experts in particular fields of interest. However you may not be aware of the Questions & Answers by experts in their fields - ask an expert site. I had a look and thought it was good enough to actually join (free) and list myself as an expert in a few areas. If you have a look you'll see my long time online nickname of KiwiNth listed there and may find the sight useful to answer questions you might have on almost anything. Someone who is, or considers themselves to be, knowledgeable in most things, so do give it a try.

When I was a kid the comics of the day were populated by many superheroes that may or may not still be in existence. Thus, the site called Roaring Rockets, which is a site about many of the old comics is a real trip down memory lane. Here you'll find names like Captain Video, Tom Corbett space cadet, or Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Need I say more? Enjoy.

As you know I usually find something just a bit strange to put here as the last pick of the week, and this one is no exception. Titled the Boohbah Zone it is simply showing what can be done with flash and other scripting languages, and though it's a little hard to grasp in parts it's certainly interesting. Just move your mouse around and click on things and other things will happen. A little strange but interesting all the same. 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. ;-)