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.

One of the scourges of our society is breast cancer in women. One of the ways of detecting it early enough so that successful treatment can take place is to have a mammogram. Unfortunately not everyone can afford those, but there is help. If you, daily, hop over to The Breast Cancer Site Fund Mammograms for Free and click on the button in the middle of the page that says "Fund Free Mammograms click here" businesses, will donate to fund them for those who can't afford them. No, it's not a gimmick - well, it is in that it is "paid for by site sponsors whose ads appear after you click" but that's fair enough isn't it? I think so. Let's all do this and ensure that no woman need go without this necessary check on her health.

If you have little ones in your home, finding them stories to read, or indeed, to read to them, can be a chore at times. But if you hop over to the Ebooks4Tots.com - Unique Ebooks for Children site you will fine shareware book reading (book reading that allows you to try before you buy). That has to be a bargain doesn't it? Have a look.

Blogs are as varied as those who write them. In particular, the CyberJournalist.net blog shows how technology, blogs and the Internet are changing the media. And believe it or not, they are. Have a read and see what you think.

How do you get that red wine stain out of the carpet? Or, the grease stains from those new jeans? Everyone has problems like this around the home, and if you have a look at Bob Allison's Ask Your Neighbor Household Hints site you might find the answers as well. Good basic info site for all homeowners and housekeepers.

When talking with friends overseas on the net, do you sometimes have to convert temperatures or measurements to their standard? If so the Sheep Friends - abby - Abby Converter, which is freeware, and converts imperial to metric and vice versa, could be one of the most useful downloads you ever made. Have a look. I think it's a great one.

Don't you love interactive radio shows? Ones that make you think and not just play the same hit song at you that every other radio station does with no need for comment or thought on your part really make me listen. One from the UK is called Says You! and on its website you can not only listen to the show but to the archives of shows as well. A great quiz show and thought provoker.

If you happen to be on some form of a weight reduction program and are getting bored with the normal fare, why not have a look at the FATFREE The Low Fat Vegetarian Recipe Archive site and see if you can come up with some healthy but tasty alternatives as well? Should be helpful to any dieter.

My wife and I enjoy watching reality DIY shows on cable television. One that we simply don't miss is the show with the website called Welcome to Holmes On Homes. Mike is one of those fellows who goes in where families have been literally ripped off by builders who do not know what they are doing, and who mess up houses and repairs like you wouldn't believe, and then fixes the problems for the poor homeowners who have, more often than not, been left with no more money but a leaking cold terribly done job by a builder who shouldn't be in business. This show is a great way to pick up good tips on how not to do things, and on how to repair them when they need it. Well done show and site and Mike is to be applauded for his fine work. Isn't it about time that legislators did something about demanding more from those they empower to represent themselves as builders? I think it needs immediate attention in almost every country in the world, Australia included.

Remember those puzzles where the letters of words are scrambled and are hidden in a forward, backward, and even diagonal configuration? If you like those then the Dictionary.com-Word Search Puzzle site is one you are going to love. It's a good mind workout so why not give it a try over that next coffee break?

We keep seeing more and more reports on climactic changes and global warming, and yet the President of the US and Prime Minister of Australia still maintain there is no credible link between greenhouse gases and changes that will effect the planet for the next 300 years. Sorry, but I, and many like me, don't buy it. They do make a difference and thus sites like the WWF Australia - Search Results about Global Warming site is worth a read to get the real story on what is happening around you. Have a look, then petition your government representative (US and Australian in particular) and get something done about it.

If you live in North America and want to see what the surf is like in Central Florida you go to the Central Florida Surf Report site, click one of the webcams and look at the beach and the surf. If, however, you live in Australia, you hop over to the Coastal Watch site and again. pick a state then a webcam and do the same thing. Sure beats loading the board up, and driving to find out the surf is disappointing. Why not look here first? Amazing how Florida and Australia have the same ideas about webcams and their use isn't it?

And finally, hands up all those who can remember large, probably wooden exterior, A.M. radios that glowed from the back when you turned them on? The glow was provided by what are known as valves. These were the precursors to transistors, and ran our communication gear for a long while before FM and the transistor arrived. If you can remember those bygone days you'll enjoy a trip down memory lane at the Virtual Valve Museum site. These valves refer to radio valves in particular. Have a look. Even I can remember these.

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. ;-)