Spurious Contraptions & Other Steampunk Oddities

I'm truly chagrined by my multi-postings. On the gripping hand, I refuse to slow my pace until I find one worthy of a comment. Even a Bronx Cheer.

Came across an interesting contemporary image of Countess Ada Lovelace working out the maths for Babbage's Difference Engine. I'm not sure if it's an engraving or a woodcut:

Spoiler :
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That woodcut of Ada Lovelace is cool...

Here is proof that sometimes old-school technology totally PWNZ new-fangled crap. :D
 
Taking my daily perusal of wikipedia's front page reveals the following -

"The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. With a duration of around 40 minutes, it holds the record of being the shortest war in recorded history"

"Mark Twain and General Custer visited P. T. Barnum in Iranistan"

Think of the potential steampunkery!
 
I don't know if anyone else has read it, but S.M. Peters' Whitechapel Gods might prove to be a font of inspiration. You've got two mechanical deities, Mama Engine and Grandfather Clock, who have walled off the titular section of Victorian London for purposes unknown; you've got a disease called "the clanks" that progressively turns blood to oil and muscles to gears; you've got biomechanical monstrosities such as clickrats and Ticker Hounds haunting the dark places. There are unkillable men, the gold cloaks and black cloaks, who have sold out to the gods, and had their hearts replaced with coal-fired furnaces. And there are the Boiler Men, clockwork brutes armed with mechanical rifles and gouts of scalding steam. The story kind of leaves something to be desired (it is essentially a steampunk retelling of The Matrix), but for atmosphere it's pretty intense (and, just maybe, full of mod ideas).
 
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