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 fan of competitive sport you'll know about the Commonwealth Games being held in Melbourne Australia. If you don't get the coverage you would like on your own TV, you might want to check out the Big Pond - Melbourne 2006 site as it offers live streaming of the games. The opening ceremony and the games so far have been nothing short of fantastic. Have a look and I'm sure you'll enjoy the events.

And of course, an event of this importance has to have someone writing a blog about it, and sure enough, Owen Morgan's Commonwealth Games Blog is up and keeping all those not able to watch it themselves apprised of the games as they happen. Now that's a useful blog to read for any sports minded individual.

On the other end of the scale, hands up all those who like chocolate *looks to see if anyone has their hand down*. Interesting, I don't see anyone who doesn't like it. Therefore the Chocolate Club's Chocolate Recipes from all Chocolate Types site is going to set your saliva glands working overtime. Um, Diet? What diet? *chuckles*

If you're running windows XP you'll know there are some things that could run better, and a few things that it would be nice if you could tweak it in various places. Well, it's possible that you might find the answers to your burning questions on the Windows XP Fixes and tweaks site. It's certainly full of ideas and I hope it proves of use to you. Me? Oh I'm still using Win2000. My theory? Why fix something that isn't broken? *shrugs* It will be interesting to see what the final version of Windows Vista looks like once it is released. Personally I think I'll wait for that.

One of the hardest things to find on the net is a place that the younger family members can go to online and have fun in safety. There is an Australian site that has a group of dedicated adults watching over it to ensure that the younger folk are safe, which we all want to see, and it's called the Habbo Hotel - Home Page. The site is for those aged 13 or over but with that limitation, it's a great site and recently won an Australian NetGuide award as the best site online for young people. Why not take your young family members there?

You'll no doubt have noticed that on the right side of my page is another page devoted to the study of religion. You'll also note that it's not limited to the study of any one particular religion but allows you to search the writing of most of the world encircling religions sacred writings. There has just been a new site launched which, online, allows you to Search Various Religions for any particular text you are looking for. Think of it as a google of religion and enter your search terms, pick the religions you want it to show you, then settle back and study. This is a major piece of software so please, have a look and take advantage of its capabilities. Enjoy.

Brown University in the USA has some interesting exhibitions that it has launched over time and a recent one, titled Paris Capital of the 19th Century is a Brown University digital collection of photographs and other data that you can visit online. This is a great way to see where Paris was, and maybe even where it's going. A great site and worth a look.

If you have a digital camera and manipulate your photos on your computer you might want to check to ensure that your computer monitor is able to show you its best. One way is to visit the Photographer USA .com - ScreenCheck site and let it check your monitor for you. I was pleasantly surprised. You may be as well, but at least this way you'll know.

Has anyone ever hung the nickname of "Geek" on you? Or, do you know someone who you think fits that description? If so you or they will love the Slashdot News for nerds, stuff that matters site. It's one of the oldest and most trusted geek news sites on the net and yes, to non-technophiles it's very geeky but if you stick with it it's amazing how it will all start to make sense to you in time. Have a look and pass it on. I think it's great.

Speaking of geek related things, a friend of mine online wants to start her own website, and has had a go using some pretty sophisticated software to do it. It's done it, but correcting or updating it is a nightmare. Thus, the W3Schools Online Web Tutorials - HTML from the ground upsite will be of great help in learning the basics of the HTML language. Remember, if I can do it, you can, so why not give it a go? Anna, this site is a must read for you. *smile*

If you're into online chat you most likely use either MSN or Yahoo messenger, or Aim. The problem is, you have friends all of whom use different software to chat with. Do you need all three types on your machine? Nope, not by a long shot. What you need is the Cerulean Studios Creators of Trillian and Trillian Pro Instant Messengers - New version 3 site. Trillian will accept chat from just about all of the major chat software and keep it all in one interface. And yes, this is a new version with significant upgrades over their last version. Give it a try. It could be fun.

So you know all about Star Wars and you've seen all of the parts of the story? But did you know about the Grocery Store Wars - Join the Organic Rebellion site? No? Then prepare to be amazed (or is that amused?) and settle back and watch the real Grocery Store Wars. May the Farm be with you.

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. ;-)