Free Republic

[subtitle: The incredible (and indeed untrue) story of President Taylor's APE]It’s 1849, and a Gold Rush is drawing thousands of American prospectors to California, which was snatched from Mexico only a year earlier. The lay of the land is still poorly surveyed, the risks and resources of the terrain as yet largely unknown.So US President Zachary Taylor initiates a top secret government programme to speed-map the last piece in the puzzle of America’s Manifest Destiny...Predating the launch of Sputnik by over a century, President Taylor’s task force, consisting of civil engineers and frontiersmen, constructs a rocket in the Californian wilderness,...

A daredevil has died after crashing in a homemade rocket he had launched himself while filming a program. "Mad" Mike Hughes, 64, died on Saturday near Barstow, California, after a rocket that he had built and crashed into the ground on private property at approximately 1:52 p.m. on Saturday near Highway 247, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. "In a cosmic quest to explore the final frontier on a shoe-string budget, Mike Hughes and Waldo Stakes have built a steam powered rocket that will launch "Mad Mike" 5,000 feet into the air," said an article on the Science...

Hundreds of Steampunk fans have gathered in the quiet Yorkshire town of Haworth today for the annual gathering to celebrate the sub-culture. Revellers spared no expense on dressing up for the occasion, as fans of the science fiction sub-genre were pictured wearing Victorian-style clothing with a steam-powered twist. The culture is inspired by industrialised 19th century civilisation but comes with a metallic, retro technological addition to the clothing.

This Steampunkish Nazi Belt Buckle Pistol Packs A Deadly Surprise The Nazis had some pretty wild engineering ideas, and some of them, like the jet engine, ended up being a vision of things to come. Yet others were just over-engineered, strange, and in some cases, downright creepy. This steampunkish Nazi belt buckle four-shooter is one of those things. The whole idea was to give high-ranking Nazis a way to kill their captors should they be captured on the battlefield. The concept was said to have originated from known German inventor, Louis Marquis, who designed the contraption while he was held...

Robocop c. 1924

1911: Chester E. McDuffee’s patented diving suit The suit of Chester E. Macduffee is a fantastic suit to see. Although Macduffee patented 4 inventions and pictures of the actual diving suit are still available it is very strange nothing could be found about the inventor. In the book from Hermann Stelzner there are some references to Macduffee. The name of the inventor is often written in different ways. Stelzner calls him Macduff. He is also called McDuffie – MacDuffie – MacDuffy – Macduffie but the true name of the man was Macduffee. Stelzner wrote: Macduffs ADS was tested in 1915...

This impressive steam trike design weighs 8.81 kg and includes with an tough all-terrain chassis. The video showcases the custom boiler and engine, the two burners, and takes a deep dive into the homemade design. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8ox1Cb9uoy8

A girl with hair dyed cherry red wears goggles, a tight corset, a lacy Victorian dress and black military boots. Her friend, a gent, dons a top hat, an early 1900s gas mask, fingerless leather gloves and crimson canvas trousers. He holds a pistol that looks like a fusion between the Wild West and a 1950s sci-fi flick. All of this is not some new fashion trend. It's Steampunk, and it's been around for a while.

Here is a link I stumbled across while doing my daily Sarah search. http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/01/20/steampunk-palin-comic// I’m no comics reader, but I know the power of the medium. Some will see see this as yet one more blow to Palin’s dignity. I beg to differ. Steampunk in described in Wkikpedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk , as a genre of fantasy science fiction that explores an alternate universe in which steam is still the main source of energy. Many of the characters are part robotic. In this story Sarah Palin is depicted on the cover by artist Brian Denham http://www.briandenham.com/steampunk-palin/ as a kind of steampunk wonder woman....

Just like Japan has done, America should immediately embark on a nationwide infrastructure program that would consist of a network of high speed train lines that connect for example New York City with most of the nations major cities. Contracts would be awarded only to American based business and legal Americans. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2018.html

...an e-mail fell into the inbox from Allegra Hawksmoor who told us about a band called The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. One track of their next album, called Now That's What I Call Steampunk - Volume One, will be available on a wax cylinder. The CD album and single wax cylinder track will be available from 1 June. "As far as we're aware, it's the first album to be sold with (at least a partial) wax cylinder release for the best part of a century," she said. Anyone buying one of the 40 copies of the...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPnINKwWUiY It's 1945, and the Allies are on the verge of winning World War II, when suddenly the Nazis unleash an arsenal of super weapons straight out of science fiction turning the tides in their favor.

“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” is full of visions of the dark, soaring New York cityscape, dogfights in the sky and the majestic Himalayan mountains. But what was the movie set like for the actors? A whole lotta blue. That’s because “Sky Captain,” despite its grandiose appearance, was filmed entirely against a blue screen with digital effects filled in. Though real actors star in it, almost everything else is fake. Think “Roger Rabbit” in reverse. While computer generated imagery has for years been a large presence in movies, “Sky Captain” is the first major motion picture made entirely...