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.

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We have a friend who we've known since she was a very small child. When she was very young we often had fears for her because, as a growing child this particular young woman consumed yogurt… and almost "nothing" else. What happened? She grew up, went through university, got her degree in higher mathematics, and now plots the distances between stars at an observatory in Hawaii. Just goes to show you never know what will happen, and indeed, the Women Mathematicians site will show you many other women who far surpass anything I ever even attempted to understand about Math at any time. Maile G. - this one is for you.

If you are a frequent visitor you'll know that I encourage blogging and sharing with the world your thoughts and feelings on almost anything that pricks your interest. The problem however, if you've not delved into this line of publishing yet, is to know where and how to go about it. Thus, sites like the Newblog site, which is built around free blogging and social networking, might be just the place you need to start sharing your thoughts with the world. Have a look. It could open up whole new avenues of interest for you.

With the advent of good quality, and reasonably low priced digital cameras, many are either taking up photography for the first time, or renewing a long lost hobby. One particular type of photography which is at times, hard to understand and make work correctly, is explained on the Digital Night Photography Help and Tips site. Indeed shooting at night does offer new challenges as well as new rewards, so do have a look and give these tips a try.

You know I love good food, and I'm also interested in good recipes and recipe sites. I recently came across the Recipe News site which I found not only informative, as many of them are, but also branched out into the realm of recipe news and/or food news in general. This is one to bookmark and keep track of. Lots of useful recipes and also useful general knowledge about the food industry in general to be found here.

One of the better known online resources about country information has always been the CIA Factbook (yes, it is online - look it up in Google). However a new player is on the map and to be frank, gives the CIA Factbook a run for its money. It's called NationMaster - World Statistics, Country Comparisons and it is well worth a bookmark to return to when you need that type of information.

As you are most likely aware, the scammers and fraudsters seem to be growing in numbers rather than decreasing, which is not a good thing. All that most governments can do is to try and warn their citizenry about these unscrupulous criminals who will stop at nothing to rob and steal from the internet public at large. Thus, the Scams & Swindlers - Australian Securities and Investments Commission site is one for everyone to read and to return to on a regular basis. I am aware that some other countries do much the same thing, but not all do. I propose that if yours doesn't, start bugging them to. And on the justice side, start petitioning your governmental leaders to come down hard and tough on these lowlife cyber criminals who reside in your own country. Let's all stamp it out once and for all.

When is the last time you sat down and read your young folk a story? Or indeed, the last time your young folk themselves read a good story? The International Children's Digital Library is set up for just that sort of purpose. It has many many resources and books for the younger folk to enjoy, and it's all for free. Check it out and bookmark this one for your family to use.

If you spend a little leisure time online playing games, you might have heard that some require what is known as Direct X installed on your computer. If you've never downloaded and installed it, hop over to the Download details DirectX End-User Runtime website and follow the directions to download and install the latest version. It's free, doesn't take up much space on your hard drive and is necessary to get the most out of the online games that are available. Enjoy.

If you can remember studying about ancient Egypt and the fact that many documents were written on papyrus you might wonder if someone has these important historical documents categorized in any way. Well, you'll be pleased to know that they have not only done that they've gone giant leaps further and have established the APIS, Advanced Papyrological Information System which categorizes them and also shows them to you for further study. Now that's information that historians must have as a research tool. Well done and a wonderful boon to the archaeologically minded among us.

You may remember that a very short while ago I was the victim of identity theft online. My identity was stolen by a few lowlife spammers and spam was sent out with "MY" email address as the "Reply To" address. Needless to say I was flooded by messages bounced by those not wishing to receive junk spam in their email box. If identity theft of any kind happens to you (and it might) then knowing what to do about it is of paramount importance at the time. Thus the Identity Theft Resource Center A Nonprofit Organization site was born and will guide you through what can, and can't be done to regain your identity and good name. Bookmark this one. You may well be the next one someone uses to hide behind to spam with.

You will have heard that there are plans afoot to ultimately put a manned spacecraft on the planet Mars to do exploration. Who knows what, if any, life forms may exist there? The folks at the NATURE. Under Antarctic Ice PBS site have investigated nature under the Antarctic ice cap and, seeing as that is not all that dissimilar to the conditions on Mars, they may point to what we might find on Mars as well. Have a look. It's fascinating stuff.

I, like many, enjoy good well rendered optical illusions. If you take a look at the Optical Illusion - Little color illusion site and do as it says, you'll be treated to one of the more interesting variety. After you've finished, simply watch the picture as you pass your mouse over it and off it again. It is a trick of Java and some clever reverse negatives that achieve this remarkable result. 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. ;-)