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 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.

Seeing as it is summer north of the equator, those living in those areas may well be considering driving to other areas to take a vacation and relax for a while. One thing that can help, especially if you are traveling great distances, is a visit to the Car Travel Games for Kids - MomsMinivan.com - 101 Travel ideas for kids and Things to do in the car on road trips. site. As it says it is full of all things designed to keep your younger travelers busy during that confining time in your rear seat. Enjoy.

I find, occasionally, some interesting blogs, where folk write about all kinds of weird and wonderful things. But I must admit that I found the What is it blog a particularly good read. The reason? You try to see if you can figure out what this blogger finds in his travels. He finds some pretty strange objects and then, rightly so, wonders what they are and/or what their use is or might have been. Who knows? Maybe you can help identify the latest find.

You are aware by now that I love good interesting food. And by the way, no, I don't weigh the weight of a Sumo wrestler. (Have a look at my blog and you'll see a picture.) However, the Local Kine Recipes v2.0 site has some really interesting and apparently easy to prepare food. One thing that does bother me however: Why are the pictures of spam there in the background?? I guess it is anyone's guess. Enjoy.

Most women wear one or another kind or type of cosmetic. Some can be astronomically expensive however, to the point where they may be prohibitive to purchase. Well, how about making your own? The Cosmetics Recipes site will show you recipes that will allow you to do just that. It doesn't show every cosmetic there is, but it does have a reasonable range. Have a look. *smile*

I (and my grandson) have a particular love of animals. Thus I found the Aquatic Animals site to be not only full of wonderful information about those animals that abound in water environments but also a fun site to visit and learn from. May you feel the same way. *smile*

How safe is your home from dangerous chemicals or potentially hazardous kitchen chemicals? We purchase products expecting them to be reasonably safe, but are they? The Household Products Database Health and Safety Information on Household Products site may be able to answer that question for you. Have a look and investigate those things under your kitchen and bathroom sink. Let's make sure no one gets harmed by them.

Some of the folk who work in the IT (Information Technology) workplace are also good communicators and have good skills at describing various technical issues to those of us less technologically inclined. Thus the IT Conversations site is useful in that it allows you to hear some of these folk being interviewed. My advice is to turn up your speakers and tune in to some great interviews. I did, and will again.

One of the all time universally favorite films is the original production of Gone With The Wind. If you hop over to their site you will see a treasure trove of information about this film including the David O. Selznick collection, housed at the University of Texas in the USA. Now that has to be worth a click don't you agree? Or, do you just "not give a damn"? *smiles*

You spend good valuable time looking for an application on the net to do a particular job. You find one and are about to download and install it and then you think "might this thing have spyware or malware included in it as well?" The answer is to go to the Online malware scan site and upload the application to them. They will scan it and look for anything potentially dangerous to your system. Not a bad idea at all. Try it out and be sure what you download to your system is worth the download.

All those with mobile or cell phones raise you hands (peers around the gathered throng). Ok, how many of you use text messaging? (Looks again and finds almost the same number of hands). Do you do it responsibly or are you unaware of the rules of text messaging? If you're not all that sure maybe a trip to the Don't b a txt msg abuzr site might be in order. Here you will learn all the right (and wrong) things to do with your mobile phone to use it responsibly. Great site.

Sometimes it is hard to find a good blog to read. There are literally thousands and thousands of them available and plowing through them to find one of interest can be a daunting task. Thus, the What webloggers are reading this summer (Phil Gyford Writing) site is a great site to visit again and again. It has good ideas on what folk really wish to read, what is interesting, controversial, and just plain nice to read and keep up with. Enjoy.

When my mother passed on I inherited 128 English bone china teacups and saucers (Americans don't, or didn't, collect the plate as well). My dad also collected horse figurines and I only took about a dozen of the ones I enjoyed and sold the remainder of the collection. Personally I collect dust *chuckles* so in a way I can understand a collection called The Traffic Cone Preservation Society as being a valid collection and preservation idea. Well, almost. Know anyone who needs some cups and saucers? *chuckles*

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. ;-)