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.

Some folk online write their own web pages. Some would also rather use buttons than highlighted text to take you places. There can be a problem finding the button you want to use. Solution? Simply hop over to the FREE Button Maker and Generator site from Blog Flux, enter your text left and right, and even change the colors used, pick one of the two sizes offered, and hit Create and you have your new button. Size can be a problem because of the limitations but hey, it's your own creation and it's free. Enjoy.

Occasionally everyone needs a break, even while online. I also suggest exercising the mind, especially when one gets to my age. Thus, the WordScram - A Non-Java word game for the web! site fills the bill on both counts nicely. You can play a game and maybe learn something at the same time. Give it a try. It's loads of fun.

Did you know that more males are colorblind than females? That doesn't mean females are never colorblind of course. How color perceptive are you? If you've ever wondered, hop over to the Test for Colorblindness On-line site and take the test. Just remember, this is a quickie test online and should not, in any way, be equated with a colorblindness test given to you by your local optometrist. But if you don't pass this one 100%, I'd certainly make that optometrist appointment now.

Most of us, at one time or another, use clipart in some kind of document we create with our computers. Finding new clipart can be a bit of a chore at times, which is why you should bookmark Barry's Clipart Server so that when you need good clipart that is a little different or new, you'll remember where to go get it. Nice idea and an amazing amount of clipart there for you to use.

One of the truly Australian fantasy characters is called the Bunyip. Most Aussie kids will know all about Bunyips, but in case your younger generation doesn't know about them, or you don't know about them yourself, you should hop over to the Bunyips - Flash version site and have a look. Scary creatures those Bunyips - at least until you get to know them *smile*.

If you're a parent or grandparent you'll have the same fear that most of us have, of having the younger members of your family possibly finding sites on the Internet they shouldn't see, at least not until they are adult. The problem is made even worse by some unscrupulous sites that make it too easy to find them and their fare. Thus, the iProtectYou - Download Freeware software from our Parental control category site might be at least part of the answer. Talking with your young family members about why things like that are not appropriate is the best solution, but this looks like it can help as well. Just remember to disable it when they do health assignments at school dealing with reproduction or breast cancer, then reinstate it again after that.

If you ever have to send a rather large file to someone online, you'll know what a drag it can be to attach it to email. You have to not only suffer the problem of some ISPs not allowing files exceeding specific limit sizes, and thus the transfer can't be made, and the poor recipient, especially if they have dialup and not broadband, starts downloading your email to them and goes on vacation until it finishes the download. Well, one way of solving that is by going to the SendOver.com -- Your FREE Premium File Transfer Service -- Up To 2 GB! site, entering the people you want to receive the file, upload it to the server at SendOver.com and your recipient can download it at their leisure, in their spare time. There are a number of services like this online at the moment, and this one seems to be one of the better ones. Good idea to bookmark this site... just in case. *smile*

The American television show with Geena Davis as the US President is gaining a lot of ground no matter where it plays. Even here in Australia it's well watched, and one hopes that someday, the US voters will finally see that a woman in that particular seat of power wouldn't be a bad idea. Thus, the WomenWatch UN Information and Resources on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women site takes on a whole new interest level for much of the general public. By the United Nations definition of Gender Equality - which states that men and women are indeed equal and that this should be recognized in education, health, business, and other areas of normal daily life - makes me a feminist by definition. Guess what? I hope that makes you one as well. Have a look at this site. It's full of great information you should have and know about.

There recently have been a rash of new "cleaner" software programs made available to erase all manner of things on your computer, from previously viewed websites to temp files no longer used by anything or anyone. And yes, trust me; your computer has absolute heaps of them. One of the better cleaners has the unfortunate name of CCleaner - C--- Cleaner free software download - Spyware FREE (and yes, I purposely put 3 dashes after the first C - you figure it out), and it's free as well. This software is one of those I now run regularly over my own system (along with Spybot-search and destroy, Adaware, and the Microsoft Anti-Spyware beta program). I have to say, run all of them, fix or delete any problems you find, and your computer will have a new lease on life and you might end up with a lot more storage space than you previously had as well. Give it a try. I think it's worth the download.

Recently in Australia there have been racially motivated riots in some areas. Yes, unfortunately we are catching up with a lot of other countries in that regard as well. So, I thought it was time to revisit a site that to me puts a whole different slant on the race issue which Caucasians (like me) normally don't even see. The site is called ALL LOOK SAME and is built around the premis that to us Caucasians, those of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean background all look the same. They don't, but we seem to think they do. Hop over and try their online test and see how good you are at separating the various races. Oh, and by the way, if you honestly believe that we all are made by the same universal creator, then there is no superiority because of what we look like. It's more dependant on the type of person we are. That's my way of looking at it. I honestly believe the saying "It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 250).

There are a lot of silly things online that crack me up at times, but none more silly than The Really Big Button That Doesn't Do Anything. Now, you have to wonder why so many people went to see it don't you. Have a look at how many have, including you *(chuckles)* and it seriously doesn't do anything.

I love good humor, and yes, at times it may be not necessarily something I would quote to everyone that will make me chuckle. Indeed, the site titled For all those whiners out there.. this page is for you , which states that it is "Inspiration and words of wisdom for the whiners among us" is seriously funny, but not for everyone's eyes. Adults only this time please. It uses the odd word not used in general public speech, but I enjoyed it, but then I've always had a warped dry sense of humor. 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. ;-)