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.

I am always on the look out for new and/or interesting blogs. I occasionally find one that really grabs my interest, not because it is long and involved but because it has new and different topics to discuss or think about. Recently I found a blog titled Ahh.. Chewww! which is written by an I.T. person, but is not all about I.T. Have a look at the subjects he talks about. I particularly liked the one on eating sushi as it has some wonderful etiquette tips for us all. I've bookmarked it for further reads. You might do the same.

Speaking of Sushi and other Asian food, one thing you may well be aware of is Soy Sauce. Did you know that there are many many ways of using soy beside as sauce? Have a look at the Foodservice Recipes - Soy Information site where you will find all kinds of tasty sounding recipes for using soy. It's mainly vegetarian but it does sound good.

Did you have a teddy bear as a child? They become very personal friends to a lot of young children (and some adults as well). You may know about many of the different ones but how much do you know about Humphrey B Bear? To be frank I knew little about this jolly fellow, but now I've bookmarked his site for my grandsons. Here you can read, sing, play games, and if nothing else have fun with your mouse cursors as it changes into a millipede. Have a look. Your younger family members will love this one.

One of the music and video players on the net is called Winamp. It's been around for a long time but does go through new improvements like every other piece of software. Hop over to the WINAMP.COM Winamp.com Media Player, Skins, Plug-ins, Videos, Songs, Riffs, Jams, Grooves site and try it out. It's free to download and use, and you can dress it up in a myriad of ways. Enjoy.

If you have DVD movies that you've bought you should be able to make a backup copy of it and use that instead of the original, just in case something scratches the DVD or in some other way makes it unplayable. Unfortunately most of the ones you buy have software that won't allow you to copy what is on the disk as the manufacturer feels that is breaking copyright law. While I agree that one shouldn't make copies to give away to others, I do feel that you should be able to make your own to use as a protection for your investment. One piece of software that actually will work on most DVDs is the one called ShrinkTo5.com The Official Site of ShrinkTo5. If you download it and use it for that purpose then all is well, and yes, it's free. It has ads in it but that seems a small price to pay for using it. Please note however: Someone has spent a lot of time and money making the DVD and I feel they are within their rights to protect their copyrighted product - just not to the total exclusion of you making one copy for your own use. Play fair and all will be well.

I recently had an instance where the sound card on my machine decided to only play through the left speaker, which when you listen to jazz and most other music, doesn't enhance the listening experience a whole lot. I figured one of the drivers had failed, but then trying to find a good one to replace it was going to be a problem. However I came upon the Driverzone.com site. It certainly is the place to find device drivers for almost all of your hardware, and upgrades to the ones you may have as well. This one is definitely worth a bookmark for future use.

The English language is one of the most complex and easily misunderstood languages there are. Thus, wordsmiths all over the globe are constantly trying to improve their skills at using it, even those to whom it is a mother tongue. The A.Word.A.Day Home Page site has a number of things going for it, and you can even sign up (for free) for their daily newsletter that will teach you the meaning and proper spelling of new words every day. It also is a home for a "vocabulary, word power, words, language, English, dictionary, lexicon, logophile, wordsmith, vocabulair" and the list goes on. Enjoy.

No doubt you've seen, or someone has shown you, the way to quickly fold shirts so that they look like those in the packages. The problem is that quite often, we forget how things like that are done. Thus, the Cloth Folding - Google Video site shows you how to fold shirts properly. Now, a word of caution: It is in Chinese, not English, but if you didn't see it on one of the thousand TV shows, here it is, and you can save it to your hard drive as well to review occasionally. Interesting, easy to learn, and it works.

Most of us end up with things we no longer need or want. You are then faced with two choices: have it carted away, or give it to someone who might need it. Using the latter method, have a look at, and join the Freecycle group in your area. And yes, they most likely have one near you (they even list the Gold Coast in Australia where I am). This group simply finds ways to recycle things and put them to good use, rather than simply dumping them into yet another landfill. Oh, and membership is free, PLUS you are helping the environment as well.

If you are using the Mozilla Firefox browser, or Thunderbird (the accompanying email program) there is a site you should have a look at called Hidden Mozilla-Firefox-Thunderbird Prefs. This site shows you how to tweak those programs (or sends you to links that will teach you how) so that you can get the type of browser or email program you want. Now that's a great deal.

If you, like me, at times can't think of the name of a song but can remember some of the lyrics from it, then a visit to the Seekasong.com - Mp3 & Lyrics Search site should help. This is one of those that you bookmark because you'll never know when you need it. Oh, and the lyric that I could remember? "Money for nothing, and your cheques for free", which of course, now that I looked it up, was Dire Straits "Money For Nothing" which, once you get past the introduction to the song, still has one of the best and most recognized opening guitar riffs in the business. Enjoy.

Optical illusions have always been an interest, especially those where someone is holding a mirror that you continually seem to fall into. Well, make sure you're setting down and click on the Mirrors on Mirrors ... site and see what can be done with that idea and the use of flash animation. Um, don't watch too long. You are not getting sleepy. *chuckles*

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. ;-)