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 Tuesday evening Australian (Queensland) time (GMT + 9 hours according to the world clock). Please come back and visit us 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.

One thing I do hope that folk do when they find my site is to browse around its various pages. All of them are located on the right side of this page. No, I don't send you off to sites on the net that want to sell you something or charge you for something. These pages are also pages I've written (with the help of my web designer shown at the bottom of this page of links) and hopefully are of help to folk on the net. One site is, I must admit, full of fun things that I have found, and can be seen on the link called Mac's Fun Stuff. I do hope you will find something to chuckle about there. One such piece I've added this week. If you are a parent you might enjoy reading (and printing off and handing out to your young male callers) a copy of Dad's Rules For Taking Out My Daughter. Luckily I looked mean enough for most of them to simply disappear into the woodwork, and I ended up with the best Son-In-Law a dad could ask for. Hopefully you too will be so lucky, and also that you'll enjoy this little piece of humor. I did. *smiles*

If you've ever traveled to Sydney Australia (about 12 hours drive south of me) you may have heard of, or even eaten at, a very famous local restaurant called Doyles. It is somewhat of a local landmark and without doubt serves some of the best fish dishes there are - anywhere. Nice to see that they have put a site up on the net called Doyles Good Old-Fashioned Fish Recipes for you to browse around. These are, as stated, Old-Fashioned fish recipes, but if you can't visit them in person, they can give you an idea of what is in store when/if you can. Enjoy.

Being a new dad can be a daunting task. Of course, it is for new moms as well, but men can become literally petrified that they will make the same mistakes their own dad or the dads of others made when they were younger and bringing up children. Thus, the Daddy Types, the weblog for new dads blog might be of help to those new dads who feel the need to talk with other dads about what to do and not do. If you know a new dad, give it a try and maybe suggest they have a look as well.

If you are a frequent visitor you will know that I am interested in new ways for us all to communicate using the net. The range of opportunities goes from writing e-mail, to having your own website and doing it there. A new way has been found for those who would like to speak their mind (like writing a letter to the editor - that all too often never gets done) without taking the time of setting up a blog or website. If you hop over to the Your Say site you'll find that you can get your thoughts published for free, right there, and you won't only be speaking to those within a 20 mile or km radius of where you live, you'll be informing the world about your views on almost any subject. Nice idea. Have a look and give it a try. And remember, as long as you continue to say "Oh, I could never do that" you're probably right. *smiles*

Most of us, at one time or another, come across words that we really aren't sure the meaning of, and thus look around for a dictionary to help us understand their meaning. How about a new type of dictionary that searches other dictionaries for you in case another one has a different slant on it? The OneLook Dictionary Search lets you enter your search and it searches other dictionaries for you. How easy can it get? This one is really worth a bookmark.

As you may know, one of the most difficult languages on the planet is English. However, it is also one of the more interesting ones. The WORDCOUNT site, as its own description tells us, is "tracking the way we use language" and that can be an interesting study on its own. So, if you are a wordsmith or even simply interested in how this language has developed, and continues to develop, this site will be of interest. A well done site with useful information about how English is used.

If you are using the English language as a second language to your own, you may well find the National Center for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) Website useful to browse around and find information that can help you learn this language. Nice to know that someone out there is trying to ensure that as much information as possible is available for general use.

Hopefully if you have a net connection, you have installed a firewall program on your system. There are many available and even free ones you can download from the net and use for ever. However, once you have installed a firewall to keep the "nasties" out of your computer, it would be a good idea to find out, from a reputable and safe source, if it is doing its job or not. The Security Scan - Sygate Online Services (sos) site does just that for you. It tests and probes your system from the outside to see if entry can be gained. Simply do each of the tests they list there (for free) and it will tell you if you have a vulnerability problem or not. Thankfully my system seems to be working well. Hopefully yours will too, but if it doesn't it's time you knew about it and fixed the problem.

You've no doubt heard about Spyware, those nasty little programs that are planted on your computer by disreputable companies and individuals to spy on what you do, where you travel over the net, and in some cases, to capture your keystrokes in hopes of obtaining things like credit card or banking information from you. There is a great little site known as Spyware-Guide.com that will let you look up the spyware and malware they know about and explain what it is doing on your system. If only everyone on the net were honest. *sighs*

Some musicians (and aspiring ones) need sheet music to play their favorite instrument or songs. The UCLA Digital Library Sheet Music Project is trying to make as much sheet music available for your use as possible. That is an enormous task, and one that deserves a look. Well done UCLA.

It would be a nice idea to start each day with an idea or thought that is positive. Well, the Idea A Day site does just that. At least it is one person's way of starting out each day. See if it works for you. Nice idea.

You are looking at your computer, and may have hundreds of little icons on your personal desktop that lead you to programs that you need (or may need - someday). And, sure enough, once you get it all set up, someone changes things on you. A friend, or colleague, or family member decides it would look better if this was put over there, and that was lined up next to.... well, you get the idea. Fortunately there is a great little free program you can download and install for yourself called Icon Restore. Once you download and install that program it will remember where you had your icons and simply put them back the way you want with the simple click of your mouse. Nice little program to keep things in order for you.

My son-in-law is somewhat of a "conspiracy theorist" and I must admit, there are times when I am as well. But, I've never really felt the need for a Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie, have you? Well, someone has, and they made a website so you can see how to make one or buy one for yourself. Isn't mind control fun? The voices keep telling me it is....

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. ;-)