Mac's Picks is a collection of family friendly interesting and useful sites, updated weekly. These sites are family friendly, and cover subjects dealing with a focus on the family as a whole, search, internet, internet radio, news, health, medical resources, household hints, education, educational resources, recipes, food, strange, different, help pages, homework, kids, diy, 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 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.

If you haven't tried listening to radio over the net while you surf, and even if you have, you should have a look at the Web-Radio " Format site. You simply scroll down the page and select the genre of music you enjoy, and then pick a station to listen to. There are formats that will play Real Player, Windows Media Player, and WinAmp, so it couldn't be easier. Turn up your speakers and listen to your favourite kind of music as you search. This one is certainly worth a bookmark for later use as well.

Speaking of media players, one of the most popular, WinAmp, has just had a new release (version 5.3). It's a good player and one you should have on your system so hop over to the WINAMP.COM Winamp.com Media Player, Skins, Plug-ins, Videos, Songs, Riffs, Jams, Grooves and download it and some of the other goodies there. Oh, it's free for use of course *smile*.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the space station still in the process of being built, and the speculation of travel not only to the moon, but possibly beyond that as well by a manned flight. If you feel you may not ever get a chance to make that trip yourself, hop over to the SpaceWander Virtual Space Trip! site and hop on board a virtual trip through our solar system. I don't think I can come up with the million or so out of the grocery money to make the trip in real life, so this is a suitable alternative *smile*. I'll save you a seat.

As you may know, I pride myself on finding sites that deal with recipes and delicious sounding food. The Recipezaar A recipe, cooking and nutritional web site Recipezaar Where the Recipes Are site, with that title, says it all. It does have almost anything you want in the field of food and food preparation so have a look and bookmark it so you can try out some of the recipes there yourself. Great site.

If you ever watch technology shows on your television you will have heard mention of the Boing Boing A Directory of Wonderful Things site. It's well worth your time to have a browse through. Yes, it's a blog and yes, it's worth keeping up with as it deals with all kinds of technological issues. Have a look and add it to your blog reader as well.

My eldest grandson has some interest in music (his dad is a talented drummer and guitarist and his "PomPom" (Moi) used to write a little small combo jazz). Thus, when I saw The Children's Music Web I bookmarked it not only for this page and therefore for an award, but also for my grandson's use. Take your young folk there and see if they enjoy it as well. I think my grandson will.

If you have been bitten by the digital photography bug then you'll already probably have a photo manipulation program on your computer. However, if you really want to get into layers, Bezier curves, etc. and dream of one day owning PhotoShop, the best photo program there is, then you might also be interested in trying out GimpShop. This software isn't quite as good as the other one but it certainly is giving it a run for its money - and, speaking of money, it's FREE. It is yet another piece of "Open Source" software and thus will always be free. Hop over to the GIMPShop dot Net - Info on GIMPShop site, have a read and then download and install it. It's a big learning curve for most of us but it's worth the work you put into it.

One of the wonderful things about the net is its ability to find answers to questions we may have, and it can also teach us new skills we would like to learn. Thus, the Building Musical Instruments - WannaLearn.com site will show you how to build your own musical instruments. Let the music begin.

One of the things about this wonderful continent (Australia) is the magnificent sunsets we get at times. Unfortunately they are probably primarily caused by high altitude smoke from our bush fires reflecting the waning sun's rays, but be that as it may, the results are often spectacular sunsets. Therefore hop over to the AUSTRALIAN SUNSETS site and have a browse. I feel these make wonderful wallpaper for your computer screen. I mean - how many clouds do you need? *chuckles*

If you know anything about nature, and especially about oceanographic adventurers and conservationists, you will know of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. As you will also know he passed on a few years ago. However, his son, Jean-Michel Cousteau Ocean Adventures PBS is carrying on in his father's footsteps (as are some other members of that family) and the PBS network shows you what he has been doing. Nice site and a great way to discover more about our fascinating planet.

Ever had that situation where something relatively minor needs tending to on your car and you wish you had the skill to know how to repair, replace, or fix it yourself? If so, then the JONKO AUTO REPAIR ONLINE - The Most Complete Automotive Self Help Website site is going to be a boon to have handy when you need it. I'd hop over and bookmark it. You never know when you'll need this resource.

You will know that on my site I do not condone nor publicise alcohol or drugs in any form. Having said that, one particular brewery here in Australia has some fantastic and funny ad campaigns that make us all laugh, beer drinkers or not. Therefore, on this occasion only, hop over to the Carlton Draught Movie - Welcome website and have a look at their current advertisement that runs on our television stations. It's great for a laugh. 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. ;-)