December 2009 Blog Posts (60)

The End of a Decade!

As I sit here and contemplate on the end of this decade and what it has brought and taken from me. I must say that I have had more brought to me rather than taken from me and for that I am VERY thankful.

I look forward to what this new decade will bring and hold for us all. Maybe some new inventions and brighter scientific minds (who knows). I personally have seen the drawings and heard the hushed talks of using the new energies they are finding in the untapped regions...I say… Continue

Added by Professor Foto on December 31, 2009 at 1:20pm — No Comments

The Yuletide Continues

First let me wish everyone a continued season of excitement and discovery.

Mr. Bear got the opportunity just this very afternoon to feel a bit more of the joyous holiday season.

Let me elaborate.

I have an exwife. While most would not consider having one in any way conducive to maintaining high seasonal cheer, I myself would disagree.

We remain excellent friends, even amid concessions that were our state of matrimony not terminated one of us would certainly have become… Continue

Added by Baldur Makepeace Bear on December 29, 2009 at 6:51pm — No Comments

Best Steampunk Facebook Ap EVER!!!

If you're on Facebook and you're of the steamy inclination, you absolutely MUST try this ap. It's called "Battle Stations", and it makes my inner airship pirate very, very happy.

Click me for Battle Stations!

Added by J. Anthony Fiori on December 29, 2009 at 6:28pm — 4 Comments

Holiday Recap

Bethalynne and I spent the holidays in Cincinnati Ohio, where my brothers live.

There, we met up with my parents (in from Missouri), and between family visits tried to get in some time with friends from the area.

Thursday night, we rested. It was a long drive, and a long two weeks of preparation went into it.

Friday night was spent with my younger brother Jeremy, his incredibly talented wife, Liz Amend, their two wonderful children, and my parents. The night was… Continue

Added by Myke Amend on December 29, 2009 at 2:11pm — No Comments

steampunk linkblog, December 29 2009

Hey, writers interested in steampunk! Steampunk Quarterly is offering $50 for your stories!

From the everything-old-is-new-again department: a hundred years ago, black velvet was the rage. Nowadays,… Continue

Added by Steampunk Librarian on December 29, 2009 at 11:13am — No Comments

Updates!

Well it seems I have been M.I.A for the last couple of days. Molly Starks asked if I was chasing down an escaped experiment from the dungeon. Far from it. I spent two days in the cesspool my son calls a room cleaning it or making sure he cleaned it to the way it needs to be for a proper videographer. But the room itself you could say was an experiment gone wrong. Very Wrong!

With that said it is now clean. I had a meeting with the Mayor the other day and it was enlightening. Nothing… Continue

Added by Professor Foto on December 29, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

Prometheus

Last year, I was involved in a flash fiction contest in Second Life.I actually won. Since my laptop was stolen over the summer I haven't been on Second Life much since the new laptop didn't have the necessary video card and my new PC wasn't quite up to speed either. Even so, I heard that Ms. Canolli Capalini was sponsoring another contest and I cranked out a 600 word short story on the theme of Victorian robotics/automatons/automatic men(or women(or children))/steampowered mechas/etcetera in…

Continue

Added by Zebulon Vitruvius Pike on December 28, 2009 at 5:30pm — 2 Comments

Air ships

I have come to the conclusion that I need/want an air ship. I have been thinking of how to go about building said air ship and what considerations need to be adressed in this whole adventure.

It will be an adventure because it will require me to learn how to do several things. But as I love a good adventure I will boldy go forward.

My first consideration in all of this is the engine design and the energy to make it sky worthy. Since I have no desire to interfere with planes or… Continue

Added by Whitering on December 28, 2009 at 10:22am — No Comments

Quotes From "To: Helena Handbacket"

I feel inclined to share a few quotes from my upcoming graphic novel, "To: Helena Handbasket". I hope this conjures a laugh or two. Enjoy!

"Many cases of zombification have been misdiagnosed as advanced scurvy, and frankly, I didn't feel much like wasting my time lobbing oranges at the man."

-Captain Nomad, when asked why he shot and killed a perfectly good engineer.

"Don’t fire until you see the whites of their braziers, lads!”

-Ulfin Shorm, Sylvan… Continue

Added by J. Anthony Fiori on December 28, 2009 at 12:28am — 1 Comment

the beginnings of a story...

the Captain waited on the bridge watching his crew work. the sound of the engines thrumming thru the deck below his feet. a cool breeze blowes thru a open window to his right orderly business like talk of his well honned men a comfort to his uneasy mind.

the dam smugglers had been bringing their cargos thru his patrol route he had requested more ships to help him but they simply did not exist. his lookouts where some of the best. there where no scheduled flights thru this area so he… Continue

Added by Deniper Netizen on December 28, 2009 at 12:00am — 2 Comments

Something for the Gentlemen

I had a discussion a few weeks ago with several gentlemen friends about the state of available mens' clothing of a steamy nature. Most of them lamented the fact that they found their options severely limited, and that they wished there was more out there to choose from. I, myself, had noticed a similar lack and had recently realized that I make a remarkable number of waistcoats as part of costume commissions. Thus, it seemed only natural that I should consider making a habit of it, and turning… Continue

Added by Joie-Elise Prideux on December 27, 2009 at 3:36pm — 1 Comment

HUMANWINE - Tonight, 7pm, The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn

Cap, myself, the General, Jeff Mach, and several others are heading into NYC tonight to catch

HUMANWINE

You should come.

It's all-ages and only $8.

http://www.humanwine.org/version/IV/

Find us! Love us! Love HUMANWINE!

Much love,

Whisper

Added by Whisper Merlot on December 27, 2009 at 2:37pm — No Comments

TempleCon

http://steampunk.ning.com/events/templecon-longestrunning

You should first off check out this page, as it is the event's page that I made. I believe there is another floating around, too, which I hadn't realized was up.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to TempleCon. We have a bunch of stuff we're doing for Ximon and Grant:

We are helping out with the costume contest! Judging and such all weekend.… Continue

Added by Whisper Merlot on December 27, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Beyond Victoriana Official Index now online & future plans for 2010!

Hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays!

I'm taking a little hiatus for the next few of weeks as I work on some exciting new articles & interviews for Beyond Victoriana and catch up on some real life happenings. To tide you over a bit, check out the spiffin' new series index, featuring all of the BV posts made so far both on LJ and Dreamwidth.

Beyond Victoriana will resume fresh and dandy in the new… Continue

Added by Ay-leen the Peacemaker on December 27, 2009 at 10:18am — No Comments

I have a Steam Punk Blog? Sweet!

Well I've been a card carrying steam punk now for about three quarters of a year.
And Went to Seattle Steam Con, which was one of the single most amazing events I'd ever been to.
I just joined this site and already think it's pretty cool, lots of interesting people and stuff going on.

Added by Patrick LohKamp on December 27, 2009 at 1:23am — No Comments

The Beginning of Something New

I am in the process of beginning a new outfit for my partner. We have finally acquired all the necessary fabric and bits (well, with the exception of the hat, but more on that in a moment), and I laid everything out tonight to see how well things looked together. I was very pleased with what I saw, and I think this is going to be quite lovely when finished. The design of the outfit consists of several pieces; a morning coat, waistcoat, shirt, caravat, and pair of trousers.

The… Continue

Added by Joie-Elise Prideux on December 26, 2009 at 11:10pm — No Comments

The Character Baron Christoph Von Claus

Baron Christoph Von Claus

Occupation: Toy Manufacturer, Engineer, Air Ship Pilot

Age: 65

Date of Birth: Dec 12, 1825

Place of Birth: Brandenburg, Germany

Brief Description of appearance:

Long curly white hair and beard with twinkling yellow green eyes. The man is morbidly obese and eats sweets like a fiend. When flying he wears a bright Prussian red military jacket accented with white fur trim and brass buttons. He has a four inch wide black belt with… Continue

Added by Kidzero on December 25, 2009 at 11:30am — 2 Comments

Steam-Powered, Bat-Winged Aircraft

There appears to be some controversy whether this French gentleman actually beat the Wright Brothers to powered, heavier-than-air flight. He designed and constructed several bat-wing designs that used a steam engine to drive the props.
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/ader.html

Added by AnthonyStevens on December 22, 2009 at 3:14pm — No Comments

steampunk linkblog, December 22 2009

Hey, good news! The Steampunk Tree House has found a permanent home at a brewery in Delaware!

The Adventures of the League of Steam have put out a "Fright Before Christmas" episode to celebrate the season. If you're still looking for steampunky gift ideas, there are all sorts of things out there this year, from… Continue

Added by Steampunk Librarian on December 22, 2009 at 11:14am — No Comments

I thought there'd be robots

-not my own but I was thinking about it today.

I was 8 in 1986,

all my video games had crappy 8 bit graphics,

I was just a kid but I guess I thought big,

a mini futurist growing up in the sticks,

I took my lessons from the Jetsons,

I looked ahead and expected techno-heaven,

an ant hill of elevators, trains in tubes and fakey laser weapons.

Now the year 2000 has come and gone,

we talked sheep clones over staticy cell phones,

but… Continue

Added by adam harmon on December 22, 2009 at 6:40am — 2 Comments