Ice trikes…
Rick writes “Two years ago I made a recumbent tricycle for riding on the skating trails cleared on the frozen rivers here in Winnipeg. My friend built one for himself a few years back as well. Both trikes have front-wheel drive & rear-wheel steering, and they are a blast to ride!. My trike is a front-wheel drive, rear-wheel steered, recumbent tricycle in a delta configuration. I designed it so that the rear part of the frame folds in towards the front for storage. It makes it nice & compact but quickly unfolds for use. Rather than paint the frame, I covered it in “poor man’s chrome”: aluminum duct tape. Even the rims & wheel discs are covered in the tape.” Link.
Make contributer Cy on creative uses for all that holiday trash – “Christmas, it’s inevitable, things will get discarded, broken, or ignored,” says Cy Tymony, a Torrance resident and author of Sneakier Uses for Everyday Things (the sequel to his Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things). “But why should things just go into a landfill?” In Tymony’s world, if you’ve got boxes, make boomerangs. Got milk? Make plastic.” 
Good one for next year! Ryan writes “Most of us remember the popular memory game Simon from the late 70’s. In this hack, I converted simon to play on a christmas wreath. Bust this out next year along with some egg nog and impress your friends with a non-traditional wreath decoration.” 
Ok, I’m going to try out a bit of experiment on Christmas day inspired by the “Call for Help-a-thons” – post up any and all questions about setting up your new computer, protecting a PC from viruses/spyware before letting the kids online, iPods, converting videos, PSPs – anything you happen to need help with. I’ll check the messages and answer them and/or do a Skype/Gizmo/Instant message session. Most folks won’t be at their computers and online, but if you’re reading Makezine.com and need a hand with your tech, post up and let us know. Lastly, if you didn’t get MAKE for the holidays and want a free copy of MAKE (digital edition) read the comments…
Make your own gift wrap – Jack writes “This year as I was putting together Christmas gifts, I realized that I’d forgotten to pick up a roll of wrapping paper. At this point, I recalled the Make-a-Flake site I came across a while ago, and it hit me that I could prevent another trip to the store and at the same time, make custom wrapping paper for each of my giftees. Win-win!” 
Rob sent in this great LED Menorah with a USB interface, the Maker J. Schrier writes – “It can correctly calculate the dates of Hannukah for at least the next few thousand years (or any historical date back to 2 B.C.E.). As well as “lighting” the candles based on when the sunsets (I set the default geography for San Francisco/Berkeley, but you can enter any latitude/longitude and (assuming you don’t live too close to the arctic circle) it will be correct to within a few minutes. Furthermore, the shamas (candle you use to light the other candles) can blink out any morse-code message you want It will convert the words to morse code for you!” 
Rob writes “One of my co-workers and his brother are somewhat serious about their Christmas lights. They welcomed the introduction of LED lights, because it meant that they could stop adding new electrical panels to their house. Of particular interest to MAKE readers are the technical notes on the sidebar of their site.” 
