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.

A Very Personal Note: This coming Sunday, 11 September, is, as you know, the anniversary of the tragedy that happened in New York just 4 years ago. It is also significant to my family as well, for entirely other reasons. This coming Sunday my wife and I will celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary, and I take this opportunity to publicly thank her for all the help, assistance, guidance, and love shown over these past 40 years, but also to acknowledge her weekly contribution by proofreading this site before it is published. She is the grammarian and spelling guru. I just write. Thank you for sharing this joyous occasion with us.

One of the things that bothers most parents is news items that tell of teenagers with alcohol problems, and those who drink under the age of consent. The website called Alcohol, Peer Pressure and Underage Drinking Info for Young Teens is published by the NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) and is the lead U.S. agency supporting research into the causes, prevention, and treatment of alcohol problems. As a component of the National Institutes of Health, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it should know what it's doing and I think does an admirable job at educating young drinkers what not to do. Take those of that age in your home to the site and see what they think.

There are blogs on all kinds of subjects, and one that I recently came across, called MoCo Loco - Modern contemporary design & architecture is really a blog with a difference. It discusses and shows different designs and design theories in the hope of bringing more useful, elegant, and earth-friendly buildings and appliances into our lives. Have a look. I find it fascinating.

Speaking of architecture and design, the Architect Studio 3D, from the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust is also worth a look. These designs have, for the most part, simply not dated since their inception. Some of his ideas and designs are now being seen in other places but it is good to have a look at the origin of them. Enjoy.

I am one of those people who, on rare occasions, cooks the family meal. I say rare occasion as, to be frank, I'm a much better eater than I am a cook. Having said that, the site called The Occasional Cook - Recipes is actually built for people like me who don't necessarily enjoy cooking but who, on special occasions, do so. Give it a look. It's amazing what you can find if you travel around it.

Later this month (on the 12th of September) our grandson, Kaitoa, will turn 4 *shakes head*. I am proud to say that he is an intelligent, thoughtful, kind, but adventurous 4 year old, and I am also pleased to hear that his parents have decided to have his party at a child facility that supplies not only all kinds of rides, climbs, slides, etc, but also food for hungry children including the cake. One place on the net that could help with the activities is the site named Birthday Party Ideas, Kid's party themes, party games and ideas for children.. It sure has a lot of those and it may be worth bookmarking for future events of this nature in your home.

With all of the medication I take for various reasons I suppose it's not a surprise that I am allergic to certain things. In my case it is Sulfur or the group of antibiotics known as sulfonamides. I have even made (on the computer so it could be printed off and hand carried in my wallet) a list of all of the medications I am on, dosages, frequency, etc. and the name and contact method of my GP, Cardiologist, and Endocrinologist, along with a warning that I am indeed allergic to sulfa based drugs and will personally sue any medical practitioner who administers them to me at any time in any form. Though I encourage you to consider doing the same, the suit part you may wish to leave out. If you do have an allergy of some kind you might just find the Talk Allergy Allergy Support site useful to gather more information about what your particular allergy is about and why it happens. Have a look. It could clear up some of the mystery for you. And do have a think about printing off your medication list to hand to those in the 'need to know' category.

There are problems that affect all of us, internationally. However, we tend to hear only the views on those problems of those close to us. The Global Voices Online - The world is talking - Are you listening site has recorded peoples ideas, thoughts, and feelings on a range of issues that affect us all. Why not listen to what they are saying? They may not agree with your own point of view but that may not make that point of view any less valid. See what you think.

If you have been a frequent visitor to my site over the years, you may remember that it started in New Zealand, when my family owned a company called 2x2 International Ltd. Even the site address was at 2x2.co.nz in those days. Obviously now that I have lived in Australia for over three years it is done from here. So, is all record of my old site lost? No, nor have many of the sites you once visited but no longer can find, been entirely lost either. Why? Because the Internet Archive is in existence and has indeed saved some old pages that no longer exist. You would be right in thinking that this is "the real way back machine". So why not hop over there and look up "Mac's Picks of the Week" and see if you can find my old site or not. I did, and many others I've missed seeing in a long while as well.

How do the top libraries use the Internet? Are they as clued up on how to use it as you think it should be? Hop over to the It's all good site and have a look. You could say it's library land brought to light.

You've no doubt heard the term Malware as something you should be aware of and keep from your computer. Indeed, Malware, or Malicious software, can do many different things, and has also been linked to identity theft. If you have any (and you may never know if you do) you will need help in checking to see if it's there or not, and if so to eliminate it. The Malware Help.Org-Malware Removal-Spyware Removal-Malware-Spyware Prevention site is well worth a visit as it explains the dangers in unwittingly harboring this type of software, and how to destroy it without destroying your own data as well. Do have a read of this site. It's well worth your time.

Speaking of Malware and Spyware, and Viruses, etc. you should have a good Firewall in place on your internet connected computer as well. The Personal Firewall Reviews site not only reviews them and helps you decide which is the one for you; it also shows you where to go get it, many times for free. If you aren't already behind a firewall, get one yesterday - and yes, it is that important.

If you need to sew a button on a shirt you first have to find the needle and thread. Ok, the thread might simply look like a little barrel with thread wrapped around it, but the needles can come in a variety of ways. One way is threaded onto a piece of (usually) cardboard, which in the early days, were called Needle Books. Why mention this at all? Two reasons actually. The first is so that when you visit Rosie's Needle Book Museum Sewing-Advertising Collectibles you will understand in a flash what it is that she collects and already know that a needle book is literally a booklet of sewing needles. The second reason? If you don't know how to sew on a button guys, get someone to give you the whole 3 minutes it takes to learn how. Rocket science it's not, but it may not be as obvious as you suspect.

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. ;-)