10.1.2010 by Traveler.

Today is again one of those days when we commemorate two events which happend today in bygone years. The first of these events is one which really fits into the Steampunk genre:

London Metropolitan Railway: First Day of Service in 1863

The London Metropolitan Railway started operating between Paddington (side note: I spent quite some time in the general area around Paddington during my stays in London, mainly in B&Bs) and Farringdon Street. The line is still operational and is thus, how else could it be, the oldest part of today’s London Underground Network.

The second event falls into the late Pulp and Dieselpunk aera:

1946: First United Nations General Assembly Meeting

If you have no clue what I am talking about, please leave this blog…I am not going to explain what the United Nations are. The Name alone should tell you enough… I do not even dare to imagine there are people with internet access who have never heard of the United Nations. (I put a link behind the image, just in case)

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7.1.2010 by Traveler.

… there were no zeppelins, no airships. In the beginning there were no steam engines, no intenal combustion engines and no railways.

But: There were bold, enterprising individuals who went ahead and set the stage for other things to come. Two of these were John Jeffries of Boston and Jean-Pierre Blanchard of Paris. On this day in 1785 they crossed the English Channel in a hot air balloon:

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16.11.2009 by Traveler.

What a joyful day… I can actually bring on two items worthy of note today and I shall present them in order of discovery:

1. Steampunk Holiday - 100 years ago today Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft was founded

Ah, the glorious days of available and affordable Zeppelin travel had their official beginning with the founding of this company.

It was the DLAG which brought the majestic steampunk and dieselpunk icon, the Zeppelin, to prominence and it was also the DLAG which built the magnificent Hindenburg.
Unfortunately, the time of the DLAG is passed, and no huge majestic Zeppelins are around anymore. In recent years, however, the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei is once again operating Zeppelins.
Unfortunately, they are rather small and are only used for local tourism, no longer for long-range travel. But who knows, with rising fuel prices, the Zeppelin might once again take to the sky again, in its original size… We can still dream.

And now for the second part:

2. Riese the Series - Episode II

After two terribly long weeks of waiting the Second Episode of Riese the Series was released today. My word. A tense, claustrophobic and rather haunted first half in a hospital, with certain signs that things are not all that right and strange things are afoot, followed by a brief visit to the queen and one cliffhanger end that does not bode well at all.

In two words: Watch it!

Also: We get a glimpse of two proper dirigibles in this episode, moored in the distance:

One point of contention, though: According to the map shown, the capital, or at least seat of Queen Amara is called Asgard, that’s a bit unimaginative… But who knows, there may be a steampunk Thor waiting somewhere.

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30.7.2009 by Traveler.

111 years ago today, Otto von Bismarck died. A controversial, reactionary but very influential and effective politician.

Otto von Bismarck *April 1st,  1815 in Schönhausen; † July 30th  1898 in Friedrichsruh near Hamburg

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26.7.2009 by Traveler.

The last British soldier who fought in the Great War has passed on. Let us remember.

Let us not repeat history.

And also, let me take this opportunity to remeber the last soldier of the German Army who died:

Dr. Erich Kästner, who was born on March 10, 1900, died on January 1, 2008, he joined the army in 1918. Us Germans do not remember our veterans, I do.

So this one is to all our veterans and forgotten heroes, they died just like our friends in France, Britain and Russia did, they deserve to be remembered.

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25.7.2009 by Traveler.

Another official Steampunk Holiday

One hundred years ago today, French aviator Louis Blériot (very impressive mustache) succeeded in crossing the English Channel in a motor-powered airplane. Let’s raise our glasses and give three cheers to Monsieur Blériot.

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

And here are two images of the aviator and his plane:

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21.7.2009 by Traveler.

So the historic landmark was 40 years yesterday…Here’s an image:

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17.7.2009 by Traveler.

Just another footnote in the great, often not so great and most often downright dirty history of mankind: The United States of Greater Austria.

If it had not been for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, this now unfortunately very fictional country would have risen like a Phoenix from the carcass of the rotting Habsburg Monarchy of Austria Hungary.

Here’s a map (please click the map for the article):

I wonder what Europe would look like today if Archduke Franz Ferdinand had become Emperor, we might still have an Austrian and a German Emperor right now… On the other hand, I would propably not be friends with Princess Stephanie Viktoria of Prussia, which I am now…

Oh yes… The strange flows of the time stream and where its currents carry us…

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15.7.2009 by Traveler.

So, there was this concept of a nuclear powered Zeppelin brought forth by the mind of a Russian engineer. I am not sure if this was an idea that was at any time seriously considered or just some sort of Soviet Futurism, still… quite a cool concept I have to say…

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8.7.2009 by Traveler.

A friend of mine recently pointed an article on the Spiegel website out to me which concerned some rather sad and weird legal concerns hailing from the colonial era.
The whole article is just one click away. A very strange story in deed.
It is so sad when you look back now: We Germans did some vile things in Africa, so did the British, French, Belgians, Italians, Arabs… And the Americans did it to the Amerindians and the list goes on… It almost seems like that colonialism brings out the worst in a people… Anyway: The article had some rather interesting images accompanying it, they are pure propaganda, but still, for a steampunk with a uniform fetish and a leaning towards militarism, some are quite interesting:

 and than there’s this splendid carricature, which sums it up quite nicely:

 (the captions translates somewhat like this (the native speaks): May I introduce the old idols to the new idols)

And there were also (of course) propaganda images done by the British (and “Zulu” is one big propaganda movie, anyway):

 As a steampunk at least, you can sort of wonder what the world would have been like if we actually had acted in a civilized way in or colonies and not made a mess of it that left Africa in particular but other parts of the world as well (South America, parts of Australasia) in a sorry state and some issues will take a long time to resolve which are rooted in this period.

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