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.

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When we take our younger family members on the net, it would be good to introduce them to some good things to help them read and to help them understand the world around us. The Children's Literature site tries in its own way to do both of those things. Why not take your younger folk there with you, browse around, and see if there is anything there they might be interested in?

I love finding different recipe sites and recently came across the Tokyo Food Page site. It is a Japanese recipe collection, and if you have a browse around you just might find something that is yummy for you and yours to try. Enjoy.

I really enjoy finding different blogs on the net. I recently came across one called the Occasional Blog which is written by a self confessed middle-aged public librarian who has gotten addicted to blogging. Now I don't suggest that you should become addicted too, but it does open a whole new world of people to hear what you wish to say. Interesting thoughts.

Speaking of thoughts, there is a particular site I found interesting called the American Philosophical Society which has some pretty good articles on it as well. The society was started by Benjamin Franklin, (yes, it's that old) and is still going strong. Why not have a look and see if it is something you might enjoy joining as well?

When you were in high school, did you ever have to read the Canterbury Tales? I'll bet you read the very abridged version if you did. Now, however, you can go to Caxton's Chaucer site and view the original Canterbury Tales. Now that could be an interesting way to fill that long cold night.

There is a lovely radio program on in the USA called What's the Word Radio Program. Its main purpose is to show how the study of language and literature enriches people's lives. If you would like to see what they are doing, and how interesting this study can be, hop over to their site and browse around. This is a great place for wordsmiths in particular to gather.

I'm an old jazz nut. I admit it freely. And though my normal taste leans toward the small combo west coast American sound, I must admit there are certain big band jazz sounds that do entice me to listen. One in particular is the sound that was made by, and catalogued at the Stan Kenton Orchestra Index. Mr. Kenton was a fabulous musician in his own right, but the sound produced by his orchestra was fantastic to say the least. Nice site to browse around.

Photography is something most of us try at one time of another. Very few go beyond the family photos of course, but those who do make a real mark with their photography may well find their work shown in the Photographers of Genius at the Getty (Getty Exhibitions) site, both online and in the real world. Stunning photographs by gifted photographers here.

Now I know no one has time to play games while online, and I know no one would be interested in browsing around the FreeArcade.com site where you can play your heart out in java games, but I thought I'd include it in case the kids needed some distraction. *nods nods nods nods*

The folk at Harvard University have many projects of study that are of interest, but the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) Home Page project and site really caught my eye. The reason is that this project is to study child development, student achievement, healthy family functioning, and community development, all of which I feel we all have a stake in, no matter where we are, no matter who we are. Interesting study.

If you live outside of the European Union, how much do you really know about it? Indeed, unfortunately some who live within its confines know very little about it as well. The EPIN (European Policy Institutes Network site has some interesting papers to read about the EU, and to give you a better understanding of what it is all about. I found it fascinating. I hope you will as well.

Let's end this week's picks with something just a little silly. How about having a look at the Strange But True at StrangeFacts.com! #1 for strange facts, tidbits and useless information site? You never know when you might need some good useless information now do you? *chuckles*.. 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. ;-)