Steampunk nearly went mainstream, then nearly vanished

Soon, though…

More Methane Punk than Steampunk, granted.

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Oh, I know one or two people who would describe themselves as steam punks and who would happily agree with you.

One build a Geiger counter with nixies which could also work as a kind of weird clock.

(Talking about clocks and watches, I have a particular specimen I would like to show you. Gotta find the picture… Will come back for that…)

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Isn’t that more or less the same aesthetic as Dieselpunk? Or is it the Syd Mead inspired aesthetic?

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I think you’re in the wrong room-- clockpunk is down the hall.

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No, he’s right. Classic “steampunk” is more exposed clockwork than boilers driving pistons. Kind of a misnomer, really.

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Okay, I’m a big fan of Professor Elemental Steampunk Chaphop. Very silly but has the postive message that everybody is a little weird and that’s okay. He’s still producing CDs.

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Talking about how punk is both dead and too mainstream at the same time is the one thing that all types of punks have in common.

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I see Steampunk is a need to ornament technology in a time when everything can be put digitally into a beige plastic box.

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Steampunk was quite popular in Second Life.
But, comparing Steampunk to “right to repair” is a stretch.

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Lincoln? You mean that little small city south of the Humber? How do you fit 100K extra people into Lincoln?

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It’s sort of like crediting Star Trek cosplayers with the push to colonize Mars.

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Suppose one conceives of the Analytical Engine as clockwork that happens to be powered by steam engine. Are there other aspects to the Analytical engine that rely on technological innovations postdating James Watt?

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Farmers, who lose valuable time and thousands of dollars on repairs, are some of the major advocates for Right to Repair. Turns out, there are some pretty creative hackers in the corn fields.

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What’s red, white, and goes at 3000 miles an hour?
A clown in a blender.

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Some people 3D print the gears.

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And what if I actually want an inefficient house, where everything is powered by a windmill, driven by gears that run through the walls? With no electricity?

Its all the same aesthetic, just called different things and taken to different lengths of seriousness and elaboration.

Unless you want dieselpunk, which is mad max. Btw, I love Mad Max too.

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I’ll just put this actual steam powered functional orerry right here.

Saw at Maker Faire in Bay Area earlier this year.

This is what REAL steampunk looks like folks. And funny enough, I hang out at steam shows and am working on building a very elaborate orerry clock (actually a spheres mouvantes clock). For some, its really how we live life.

I don’t wear a tophat, or use the word “verily”, or glue plastic cogs to goggles. I’m a horologist machinist blacksmith, I live antiquated.

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We are so very distractable here in the States, as should be obvious.

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Mr B is still recording, so are The Cog is Dead, Steam Powered Giraffe and yes, Abbey Park. And probably many others. Abbey Park just this week(ish?) released a new album.
Steampunk isn’t going away any time soon.

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Any *punk shouldn’t be mainstream. But really, steampunk was an aesthetic above all else, it was pretty much doomed to be temporary even among its strongest practitioners. At least with cybergoth they can dance as well as dressing up.

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