Muchas Gracias, James!!
Some very interesting info on mechanics (akin to the trick marionettes section from Iokitek's url). BTW, I enjoyed reading his "story" as well. And best of all, I found some really great quality websites (both for marionettes & puppetry in general) thru his links page. And, eventually through their links pages as well.
Although there was a bit of 404 sadness in my travels. *Sigh* Nothing like getting all psyched up by a link's description blurb before realizing that it's expiration date has passed or it's been assimilated into some shady websearch site.
But still found lots of gems in there. Including an excellent page dealing with animatronics (click/saved that baby for a future date).
edit: hmm...can't seem to edit post #3. I guess there limits on edits in these forums?? Anyway I had just wanted to update that post (now that I've visited the site) to say that it's a very in-depth pupppetry resource. Lots of useful information. And it led me to many other helpful marionette sites as well. Thanks again Iokitek for sharing.