I’m a constant tinkerer on my computers.  While I hate system administration I like to experiment with things.  But a computer is a virtual world.  What you get is visual and (in some cases) auditory.  You don’t get a hands on feeling.  You don’t really build something substantial.  I think that’s why I get so much pleasure from building my Dept 56 villages every holiday season.

So when I stumbled across Make Magazine I thought I’d found a new place to fiddle.  Th eproblem is I don’t get to try many of the projects.  They aren’t all of interest to me.  But now the magazine has its own online TV:  makezine.tv.  I haven’t watched any episodes yet but I intend to.

What I’m hoping to find is some help in building my form of Main Street Electric Light Parade, like the ones I’ve seen at DisneyWorld, but with a holiday theme of course (I wouldn’t mind Mickey and friends but I’m not sure Disney would appreciate that).  Since my front yard gets buried in snow so bad each year that I have to wait for a late spring thaw just to pull stakes from the frozen ground I thought it might be preferrable to build a portable holiday display.  It might even get the neighbors involved.  Who knows.  Anyway, I’m hoping makezine will provide some tips on building electrical lighting out of existing strings of lights that can be powered by a car battery, or even better – a human powered battery.