Who needs oxen?

Now here's something cool -- The Gatehouse brings us this image of a steam tractor.


Am I drooling? How unseemly... but can you blame me?

Two Fine Tastes Which Taste Fine Together

I've determined what has been missing from my life: chocolate phonographs.

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According to this site, these little jobbies played records made of actual chocolate. And now I am left to wondering what other confections could be used for this purpose....

via knuttz

MotNC Update

Don't miss the latest at Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century -- The Blurry Mustache.

Wyeth's Nemo

The blog Golden Age Comic Book Stories brings us a veritable trove of images from the N.C. Wyeth illustrated Mysterious Island. Is there anything steamier than Captain Nemo?

A Sikh prince with a submarine. Not many things could be scarier to the ocean nation of Britain.

Home power

Garage science and home industry fueled innovation in the 1800's. Didn't need an electron microscope back then -- just some glassware and a heat source.

Here's the steamiest thing I've thing I've seen in weeks: a steampowered electric generator in some dude's backyard.


Don't you just want to get in the basement and start welding stuff after seeing this? The how-to is after the jump. Perhaps the alt-fuel movement will herald a new age of steampunk goodness....

Courte-what now?

Lest we forget that the Victorians were not all hushed whispers and meaningful glances, the blog Victorian History posts the tale of Creed and another v Walters, a legal dispute involving a tailor, a famous courtesan, and horses.

That's right -- a famous courtesan. So, not only were there high-class prostitutes in Victorian England, but there were famous ones. Not exactly as starchy as all that, eh?

The Desk's the Thing

And what would go better with the pens than this slick desk? Clearly to be used for drafting sub-oceanic vessels.

Now, if the legs were brass this thing would be well nigh perfect.