Hello and welcome to Mac's Picks of the Week. If you are interested in why this site exists, how it operates, and a little about Mac, then click on the Why and How Info link and see what is there. When you have finished please return to this Home page and see what sites I have chosen this week to receive a Mac's Picks of the Week award. Thank you for visiting and please share this site with friends, family, and colleagues who you feel will enjoy it.

This page is updated on a weekly basis, each Monday Australian (Queensland) time (GMT + 10 hours according to the world clock). Please come back and visit often.

If you visit my site regularly you will know that I always include a site that shows new recipes for us all to use. I've done this ever since my site was started, but recently thought, "why not have a site that lists recipes from all around the world? I think that trying each other's cuisine may well be a way of having us understand each other more fully as well." Therefore I would like to introduce you to my new Recipes From Around The World site which will be listed on the right side of the page from now on. It contains 2,190 recipe sites from around the world at present, so why not indulge yourself in some really delicious cooking from another part of the world? Please do have a look at it and let me know what you think. If I've missed a site you think should be there, let me know. Happy eating. *smile*

It is becoming important for us all to know more and more about this tiny blue/green orb we live on. Thus the Geographic.org - Geography, climate, countries, Maps, Flags, Population site is there to pass on some vital information for us all to consider. If you're in school, learning geography isn't that hard and this site may well help you appreciate this planet we live on even more than you do now. Have a look.

Thankfully there are also people who travel a lot and try to keep all of us up to date on what is happening globally that can affect us all. Such a person is the owner of the site called Maggie's Earth Adventures and that site is dedicated to providing a free multimedia program for those interested in promoting environmental issues no matter where or who you are. If you feel that the environment we all live in is important enough for you to take part in its preservation then you must see this site. Enjoy and learn.

Did you know that even a site as prestigious as the BBC in the UK has joined in the fight to save the planet? They most certainly have on their site named BBC - Saving Planet Earth - Homepage. It's a wonderful site full of information that all of us should have and try to do to help save this little planet. Have a look and keep coming back to this site to learn more and more about how you can help. Go for it.

All of us need a break at times, so how about taking the family to the Good Experience Games - good games, fun games site for a little family oriented fun? Games do teach, so it's a good experience to learn things these games provide. Have fun.

There is always someone getting married, and that is a big responsibility. Everyone wants "THE wedding" but it's not easy to do on your own. Thus, the site called Wedding dresses, Reception venues, Flowers and invitations from i-do.com.au is a great site to start your plans with. S and A, this one is for you and all those looking forward to their beautiful life together. Guys, you're allowed to look too. It is, after all, your wedding as well. Enjoy.

Doing research is, at times, a boring job, but a necessity. Knowing how to do that research, or indeed, keeping up with those involved in doing it correctly and any new methods that may help, is a momentous task. Therefore the Research Blogging site, which is yet another blog, may be of immense help to you in doing your own research. This is a blog well worth a bookmark.

I have a friend who has written and is about to publish a children's book and what an achievement that is. She hasn't used the Writers Bookcase books for writers freelance writers poets site but if she had known of its existence it could well have made that task so much easier. They say what they do in the following statement taken from their home page. "We list how to write titles for all genres as well as reference books on editing, marketing and self-publishing.". I'd say that about covers it all wouldn't you? Get writing.

When you're working on your computer or even online, occasionally you need to stop, take a break, and relax so that your work will improve. One nice way to do that is to go to the washingtonpost.com Arts and Living site and do their crossword of the day. You'll remember that this particular publication is where Woodward and Bernstein worked when they blew the whistle on the Nixon Watergate scandal so it's been around for a while. Interesting but doable crossword. Try it out.

If you own one of the mp3 players, or simply enjoy listening to things from the net on your computer, you're going to love the Internet Archive Audio Archive site. It states that "This library contains over a hundred thousand free digital recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by our users." Now that's a gold mine. And notice - it's free as well. Happy listening.

Some folk have dubbed yours truly a computer and internet geek. In some ways that's probably true though I prefer to think that I'm simply someone with an interest in computers and the net itself, since I started working on the net while serving in the US Air Force in 1965, when it was a top secret military exercise in communications. And, every single day I learn more and more about how it all works and the possibility of it serving as a medium, to bring us closer together. Thus, the site called Geek to Live Lifehacker Pack - Lifehacker caught my eye, and I found that it's a treasure-trove of information of all kinds. For instance this site describes itself as "Tech tricks, tips and downloads for getting things done" and in my opinion that's a good thing to have handy. Much of the software this site lists is in the Must Have category, so do have a read. This site is well worth a bookmark to return to often.

You're working on your computer at home and you need a file you made 6 months ago. However, you're not all that sure where you put it. You can open Windows Explorer (which is a program I constantly use and it came with windows so you probably have it as well) and search for the program there, or, if you've installed the Google Desktop Download you can search your computer for any file name you wish and it will find it. A nice addition is that you also can search the web from that same application. Just click in the appropriate box to tell it where to look. I must admit I'm not a big fan of programs like this, but if I were to use one, this would be it without doubt. Enjoy.

Let's say we get a couple of hundred people, average looking people picked at random, and say "We're all going to go into Grand Central Station in New York City in the USA and at the exact same time we'll all freeze in whatever position we're in, and stay like that for 5 minutes, then walk away. We'll have cameras positioned to judge people's reaction to our freezing like this so it will be fun to see what effect that has on everyone else." The results? Have a look at the Frozen in Grand Central Station - Video site (and the trick here is to let it download to your system first, then watch it) and you'll see the reactions. Great stunt and a great group of folk who could act as background to any movie you can think of. Have a look and enjoy this one.

Rebecca Game of "Digital Women - Women with their modems running...", is my web designer and a graphic designer who is superb to say the least. 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. ;-)