Daleks try to board a London bus in the 1960s
Vintage London Tumblr shared this pic. I’m not sure if it’s a ninja advertising campaign for Doctor Who or a disability access campaign decades ahead of its time 🙂
Charles Babbage’s difference engine
In the early nineteenth century a guy called Charles Babbage designed the first computer. He was unable to build it because the manufacturing standards back then lacked the necessary precision. The plans were put in an attic and found much later. The Babbage engine was successfully built in the twentieth century. The below video is supposed to show a demonstration of the difference engine; I haven’t watched it due to buffering delays.
Steampunk is based on the idea that Victorian England became more advanced technologically. One of the heralds of steampunk was William Gibson, who co-wrote, among other things, The Difference Engine. The basic premise of the Difference Engine as with a lot of Steampunk novels is that the difference engine was built around the time it was designed, changing the course of history.
A lot of people who enjoy steampunk aren’t concerned with any of the above, they just love the fashions of the Victorian era coupled with lots of bronze, brass and copper. Cogs, gears and leavers are also interesting romantic designs in the current era where miniaturisation and computer technology have rendered them unnoticeable or non-existent in normal daily life.
