Just a quick entry to call attention to something I posted over on the Core77 main page concerning some steam-powered toys (Link). Very cool (and funny too).

Additionally, I got to thinking that as quaint as those devices are, most people probably don’t realize that much of the power flowing through the grid is the result of steam turbine-generated electricity. Whether it’s the relatively straight-forward heat exchange system of a nuclear power plant or one of the newer “combined cycle” power plants (e.g. coal-derived gas is used to first turn an electrical turbine and then sent to heat water to generate steam which turns another turbine), “steam power” is all around us. Given that fact of life, it’s seems odd how steampunk devices are often depicted: as something originating from the Victorian age. Here’s one example (Link – see the “Stevenson” image links) I came across yesterday and which I recall from a CGChat competition some time back. Great piece and good example of what I’m getting at.