Steampunk

Check out this short independent steampunk film, Airlords of Airia. Although the dialog is weak, and the English dubbing not so good (I think it’s from Germany), but overall it’s a neat little 12 minute piece. It’s also just part one, apparently, and I guess they’ll be looking for more crowdfunding over at their site.

Check out the latest music video from Abney Park, Steampunk Revolution, with clips from more than a few steampunk enthusiasts from around the world.

Pretty cool! It looks like the video is mainly there to advertise their latest CD, but who can blame them for some smart self-promotion?

Check this out: Abney Park, the steampunk band, has an awesome new airship pirate board game. Right on!

You can get it here.

According to IBM’s Social Sentiment Index, based on an analysis of more than a half million public posts on message boards, blogs, social media sites, etc., steampunk inspired by the clothing, technology, and social mores of Victorian society, will be a major trend in 2013 – 2015 (and possibly beyond).

According to the report:

• 33% of online fashion chatter around steampunk can be found on gaming sites.
• 2010 saw a year on year increase in chatter of 296 percent. This increase can be attributed to steampunk-inspired NYC ComicCon events in October of 2010.
• Twitter is the #1 social network for steampunk chatter; hosts six times the number of discussions as Facebook.
• 63% of fashion discussions around steampunk are initiated by individuals less than 30 years old.
• 55% of social sentiment chatter for steampunk fashion derived by blogs.

You can read the full press release here, or check out the article at Forbes (yes Forbes) for more details.

And be sure to check out this really cool accompanying graphic!

In addition to their amazing 10,000 Year Clock, the Long Now Foundation also has this most extraordinary orrery.

From the site:

The Orrery is an eight-foot tall planetary display. It shows the relative position of the six human-eye visible planets (Mercury through Saturn). The lower six layers are a mechanical-binary calculation engine, each with a geneva output to a gear that rotates a corresponding planet… The Orrery is primarily made of monel (a nickel-copper alloy) and stainless steel. The planet spheres are ground from natural stones that resemble each planet they represent: the Sun is yellow Mexican calcite; Mercury is composed of meteorite; Venus is orange calcite; Earth is Chilean lapis; Mars is Jasper; Jupiter is banded sandstone; and Saturn is banded onyx.

That’s a beautiful piece of clockwork machinery.

For more information, check out their working prototype, or just browse the photos below:

There is also a rather nice video demonstrating both the orrery and the prototype of the 10,000 year clock:

This is a phenomenal piece of clockwork engineering: the 10,000 Year Clock, created by (or being created by) the Long Now Foundation.

From the site:

Designed by Danny Hillis, the Clock is designed to run for ten millennia with minimal maintenance and interruption. The Clock is powered by mechanical energy harvested from sunlight as well as the people that visit it. The primary materials used in the Clock are marine grade 316 stainless steel, titanium and dry running ceramic ball bearings. The entire mechanism will be installed in an underground facility in west Texas.

In 02011, The American Astronomy Society published a paper co-written by Danny Hillis that describes how the Clock reckons time over its 10,000-year design lifetime.

For more information, check out their working prototype, or just browse the photos below:

Here’s a great TedTalk on Babbage’s Analytical Engine. Although the video does not always pan over to the slides, the talk is nevertheless very informative on the general design and operation of the analytical engine. Fascinating stuff!

Well, here’s some weird and wacky war machines that never really were.

The Tumbleweed Tank:
Leave it to the British boffins conjure up this mother-of-all-wacky tanks. The Tumbleweed Tank would have been pretty awesome, if it wasn’t so obviously impractical. Oh well. That, and it could easily be defeated by a quick whack from a giant croquet mallet.

Read more