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.

We all hear on the news that yet again another hurricane of massive proportions is hitting the US. For the latest coverage and also for your own weather, hop over to weather.com and put in your area and there you are, instant weather updates. It also is a great way to keep track of the hurricanes happening in the Southern US. Maybe one day they may do the same for the rest of the world.

If you are a frequent visitor you'll know that I love blogs. I even have one myself located on the right side of this page. In my case it is a simplified version of this page, made for those who aren't interested in my comments but just want to know what sites I've found this week. There is an interesting blog that I read occasionally known as Wendywoo's Web Journal - Bravenet Web Journal. You may well ask who she is. Her own description says she is a "mad, lazy, pessimistic British writer and web designer who's addicted to chocolate and television." Hmm, almost sounds like me in some ways. lol. Have a read and see what you think.

I'm sure in one fashion or another you can cook. It may not be gourmet meals at every sitting but you can, indeed, cook. Well, apparently so can a chef named James, because his website, called the James Can Cook Recipe Index shows you some lovely meals that aren't all that difficult to make. For instance, the "Macadamia roast chicken" sounds pretty tasty to me. Have a go and see what else he has that might tickle your taste buds.

*groans* Yet another search engine? Yup, and this one is called IceRocket Search. Don't ask why; I don't know either. But it did turn up some interesting sites when I put my own site in to see what it could find. It could be worth bookmarking for future use. Try it and see if you think you should arm your arsenal of search engines with this one as well. I think I might.

Have I happened to mention in the past that I am about to become a grandpa yet again? My second (and possibly last) grandchild is about to be born in a few weeks time (and yes, I'll have pictures and a proper announcement at the time) ;-). One place I may also direct my daughter and son in law to is the site called Create a Free Online Birth Announcement For Your Baby or a Free Pregnancy Journal for you!. Now that title pretty much says it all don't you agree? I think so too.

You may know of the wonderful television show run by Leo LaPort called Call For Help. One of his helpers on the show is a fellow who really seems to know the ins and outs of computers and his site, called Cyberwalker - Tech Help That's Really Helpful really is worth a bookmark so that you come back weekly to see what other help you can find there. This is a great show and Mike Walker is a great computer guru in his own right. So have a look. It may be worth your time and effort to keep up with these folk.

Gardening is one of those pastimes that either is a wonderful wholesome experience thing - the getting back to nature, watching things grow thing, or, it's a pain. Either way you feel, you might find the Exploratorium Science Of Gardening site gives you a slightly different perspective to the one you presently hold. It says itself that you can, in its various sections, " see how the plants we tend feed our bodies, our minds, and our senses." Now that has to be a positive experience. Have a look and maybe try something new in your own patch of dirt.

If you have a fair whack of hard drive space available (about 350MB or so) and are interested in seeing our little green and blue orb from a different perspective, or at least your section of it, then you might want to visit the NASA World Wind site and download and install their free software, that will give you "a whole new way to look at our planet". I truly believe that "This earth is but one country and mankind its citizens." Hopefully you do as well.

There are, as you know, folk who are paid to speak to various groups about various subjects. Some do it as a matter of course and is looked on as fun, as I did when lecturing at The Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and when I still lecture to various groups here in Australia about the practical and cost saving ways one can use the net in business and everyday life. (Steps down off of his blatant self promotion soap box). Those, like me, who use words a great deal may enjoy browsing through the Linguist's Search Engine site and becoming familiar with its use. Have a look. It could interest everyone.

One of the cleverest things I've seen come online recently (and unfortunately still only available in the USA) is the ability to purchase postage stamps for the odd piece of snail mail that one still uses. If you are in the US you can hop over to the Stamps.com Home site and purchasing postage from hone. I wonder when the rest of us will catch up with that idea. I think it's a good one.

We have all at one time or another, received usually from well meaning friends, a piece of email that has been forwarded at least a dozen times already and has all of the telltale >>>> marks in front of each line. Well, the next time you get one of those and wish to pass it on, first of all, don't. It just clogs up the email pathway on the world wide net. But, if you feel you must, then download the free software from Stripmail/ and install it on your system. if you run that piece of email that has all the forwarding marks on it through this software it will strip all of those marks off again so that you have a good clean copy to send on. Oh, and send it to me and you're liable to get a nasty reply *chuckles*

I know I've found some strange sites in the past, and you will know, if you visit often, that I love good food. Well, combine those two together and you have the Utterly Outrageous Recipes (food, delicacies, exotic foods, recipes, cooking, cook books, eating, onions, gourmet) site. Now, I have a reasonably strong constitution but to be frank I think I'll leave the Mustard Crunchies alone and umm, being a coffee nut, I may also decline to dry the Chedder Coffee recipe. But hey, you might enjoy them. I would advise however keeping the Alka-Seltzer handy. ;-)

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. ;-)