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.

Living in the beautiful state of Queensland in Australia, one seems to be warm all the time. That, however, really has little to do with the term Global Warming, except to say that Global Warming will ultimately affect this beautiful spot as it will every other spot on the planet. If you've never really understood what it's about, hop over to the Global Warming - Environmental Problems site and have a read. Yes, it does affect you as it affects everyone else on the planet. And, if you think you do know all about it, scroll down and click on "Play Now" button and see how you do on this short 10 question test of knowledge. All I can say is that I got 6 out of 10 correct, which I consider pretty low. I can tell you, however, that I did learn more about this international problem. See if you can better my score.

Speaking of global, have you ever had a look at the Global Schoolhouse Choice Page site? Indeed, does your local school know about this site, and if so, are they registered in the "Shared Learning Teacher Awards"? They should be, and they should also join in this worldwide consortium of education. This is truly a well done site with good objectives in mind. Pass it on to your local schools and see if they can benefit from its content and partners.

You know I love blogs (weB LOGs) that do things. Well, the John Battelle's Searchblog site will take you to his blog about search engines. There is a lot of good info here about search engines and how to effectively use them for information gathering. Have a look. You might learn things you didn't know that could help you get better search results.

If the younger members of your family and/or household who are starting to use the net, you should point them in the direction of the Dibdabdoo.com site. The reason? It's a search site developed by a father of four young children, who wanted, as a main goal, to become a "Kid child family safe web search engine". His main objective in starting this project was to have a search engine that was dedicated to "keeping surfing kids safe online". Now that really deserves a bookmark or favorite listing to help the young ones in your family (and/or extended family) remain safe, and yet find the information they need for school work and general knowledge. This really is a well done site and a wonderful project, and I feel that it is the best of its type that I've seen so far. See what you think.

Did you know that much of the developed world has a weight problem? As we get more developed, we also eat more (and more unhealthy and fat laden food as well), and we get sedentary in our habits on top of that. Compare that to a car. Fuel in, but not expended equally. What do you get? Overfilled gas tanks, but in our case it also leads to obesity and thus poor health. To counter that, why not hop over to the Low-Fat Recipes - Home site and see what you can learn about eating more healthily. It can't hurt, and may well save you from problems later in life. Oh, and the recipes are tasty as well. Enjoy.

When you or a member of your family are unwell, you need professional personal advice from your doctor but you also need a source of Health and medical information diseases and conditions, medical dictionary, procedures and test, medications, that is reliable and that will allow you to find out more about the disease or condition you have You also need to know more about what you are taking, and what the medical fraternity say about the treatment, etc. And, you need all of that from a reliable source. This site seems to provide all of that. This is well worth a bookmark of favorite for future reference.

Did you know that your computer system may have holes in it which could allow others to gain access to your computer, and/or deposit nasty little time bombs on your PC? If you think that you've solved all of the vulnerability problems by using the auto-update facility available in some products, think again. And guess who's coming to your rescue? Would you believe Microsoft® is with a free (yes, free) piece of software for you to download, at their Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer V1.2.1 site. Just go there, download the software for free (this is the latest version of this, in case you have an older version), save it, then run it and do as it says. It will scan for updates that you need (note: not want - need - and you may not even know about them at all) and then point you in the direction of those updates to ensure your connection to the net is secure. Now that has to be one to have. Don't hesitate with this folks. It is necessary and it also really will protect your connection and computer. Go for it - now.

Hopefully you are a prolific user of smileys. Hmm, don't use them? They can save a lot of misunderstanding from happening if used correctly. Think you know them all? Think again, then hop over to the Internet Smiley Face Guide - Smiley Faces and have a look at all of the smileys there are available for your use. Enjoy {;-D

I heard this past week, of a new film that is about to be released, about the life and exploits of Ghengis Khan. To find out the scientific data that may have helped the writers of this film produce this look at history, hop over to the The Mongols in World History Asia Topics in World History site and have a browse around. Learn what you can about this era, then when the film comes to your town, have a look and see if they got it right or not. Interesting look at world history.

You know, of course, of the United Nations. You will have heard of the United Nations Security Council and may have some ideas as to how it works, and what it does. However, if you hop over to their site, you will be able to even watch some of their sessions live on the net. This is interesting stuff, especially seeing how country representatives act and react to each other. See what you think. I think it's fascinating.

When one thinks of the continent of Africa, one could envision it as all safari parks with lions and rhinos running around. To find out what the real treasures of Africa are, hop over to the Wonders of the African World site and have a look. You might find it interesting. I know I did.

And to round out this week's picks, yet another collection, this time not nearly as bizarre as the one last week, but just a little strange all the same. Hop over to The Sugar Packet Collector and have a look around. I guess a hobby is a hobby *shrugs*. At least you will know that if you ever get invited there for coffee or tea, the prospect of not having any sugar available is remote to say the least. 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. ;-)