I Request your assistance in this endevour

[insanity assasin]

Greetings , ladies and gentlemen!

my school has the excellent fortune of providing a folklore class , of which i happen to be a part of . i am doing my folkgroup project on.....steampunk . please pm the answer to any of the below mentioned questions in however lengthy a fashion you so wish ......

I.Informant info
1.name(or forum/persona name)
2.Age(optional)
3. how you came to discover steampunk
4. how you currently identify with steampunk

II.please describe....
1. costumes
2.important calender dates
3.crafts
4. steampunk slang(if any)
5.rite of passage (Was there a event that made you feel like you were "officially" steampunk?)
6. steampunk music
7.art
8.Steamy recipes?
9. Description of a con
10.steampunk jokes

yes , i am fully aware that there are threads for all of these .... however , i would like to obtain the information directly from the informant without the enviroment of a (discussion/heated debate), and also ifeel that one indivisuals perspective on a subject is easier to obtain without sifting through a whole thread .

please respond soon !

thankyou , I.A

[JingleJoe]

Steampunk isn't folklore but alright

I.Informant info
1.name(or forum/persona name): Joe (The Green Dungeon Alchemist - that's not a persona )
2.Age(optional): 20 ... 000 leagues
3. how you came to discover steampunk: Via the internet but steampunk was allways there before I knew what it was.
4. how you currently identify with steampunk: by being one ...

II.please describe....
1. costumes: They are fanciful things worn for costume partys or to make the world a weirder place, these victorian looking items are my usual attire
2.important calender dates: Time travel really screwed up my callendar, what year is it?
3.crafts: Air or Sea? okay a proper answer: I am a creator of all things! Wood work, leather work, metal work, electronics, engineering, sewing, painting, drawing, sculpting, carving things from stone! I've done it all
4. steampunk slang(if any): Slang, what is that? I know not what you speak of.
5.rite of passage (Was there a event that made you feel like you were "officially" steampunk?): Owning a good waistcoat but I was allways officially steampunk at heart forever.
6. steampunk music: Can't quite be defined, although there is alot out there, Old theremind music is quite steampunk if you ask me
7.art: a good steam engine is art enough
8.Steamy recipes?: One part duck fat, two parts light machine oil. Best clockwork minion lubricant yet
9. Description of a con: In which a person or group of persons are cheated out of a posession or money, or otherwise hoodwinked or stolen from by deceit.
10.steampunk jokes: I can only think of a mad scientist joke- Hey, does this rag smell of chloroform to you?

[Arvis]

*eyes narrow suspiciously*
If I didn't know any better, I'd think you wanted some one else to do your homework for you.....

[zpyder]

Unless said homework involves surveying or interviewing other people active in the "Folklore"?

[Flynn MacCallister]

Are you sure you're on the right track with this one? My understanding of what "folklore" means does not and cannot include steampunk, which is a modern subculture.






Meh, anyway...

I.Informant info
1.name(or forum/persona name) Flynn
2.Age(optional) Early twenties
3. how you came to discover steampunk I discovered the term through D&D-playing friends, but it was something I'd been into and doing for some time prior to that.
4. how you currently identify with steampunk Literary fan, fashion-wearer, item-ogler.

II.please describe....
1. costumes
I don't wear a costume. I do incorporate Victorian working-class-inspired elements into my clothing; things like waistcoats, a knotted scrap of cotton or silk scarf in the place of a tie, a flat-cap or Gatsby-cap, good, heavy shoes, pocket-watch... oh, and flying-goggles when practically required -- for example, in the lab.

2.important calender dates
Gogglemas. At the end of February, The Air Kraken brings presents.

3.crafts
What I do personally? Well, sewing... though it probably doesn't count as a "craft" if most of my sewing is just mending and a little modding; teensy bit of woodwork; fabric-painting for modding and mending stuff... that's about it for me. Come on, I work in a lab all day, I can't make or mod any equipment that could ever possibly measure up!

4. steampunk slang(if any)
Cogling, for a young steampunk new to the scene -- cf. Baby Bat or Mallgoth, but without the negative connotations. Cogling is an affectionate term. There are plenty of others, but I can't think of them.

5.rite of passage (Was there a event that made you feel like you were "officially" steampunk?)
Yes: leaning the name for it. If you ask around here, you'll find that many "steampunks" are steampunk well before they find out there is a word and entire subculture for it.

6. steampunk music
Abney Park and Vernian Process are big names, but there's a lot of goth music with a bit of an industrial edge, or with a Victorian feel (or both simultaneously) that seem to fit the bill. Check out the threads in Aural-Ocular about fun steampunk music and music that puts the punk into steampunk if you want specific examples.

7.art
Search for "steampunk" on deviantArt. It's very diverse, from characters, to scenes of great mechanical contraptions, to battles between airship pirates and the airborne arm of the navy, to...

8.Steamy recipes?
Ms Boo Dreadful made a whole book! You should ask her. I really don't think you can call any food "steampunk". If needed for steampunk fiction, it must be tailored to the setting. it really could be anything.

9. Description of a con
The carnival con artist is standing in front of huge display of prizes. Most of the prizes are cheap and nasty and cost less then the price of the game. However, amongst the junk are several high quality prizes. All of the prizes have a long string attached to them that travel from the prize into the con artist's fist. The victim pays a fee and gets to pick a string from the loose ends hanging out of the con artist's hand. Whatever prize is at the end of the string, the victim wins.

However, the strings attached to the good prizes end in the con artist's fist. They go in one end but don't come out the other. No matter which piece of string the victim chooses, it won't be connected to a good prize.

Oh, wait... is that not the sort of con you meant...?

10.steampunk jokes
Puns seem rather popular on this particular forum...

[SirValdemar]

folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)

Take it as you will but folklore has the above definition as well as others that can be found here http://www.dictionary.net/folklore and doing a bit more research there are debates about its definition.  The op should not be seen as being lazy for his approach as a questionnaire method of information gathering is an acceptable form and widely used by many researchers and organizations to glean information.

[insanity assasin]

Unless said homework involves surveying or interviewing other people active in the "Folklore"?

indeed sir it is 

folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)

Take it as you will but folklore has the above definition as well as others that can be found here http://www.dictionary.net/folklore and doing a bit more research there are debates about its definition.  The op should not be seen as being lazy for his approach as a questionnaire method of information gathering is an acceptable form and widely used by many researchers and organizations to glean information.

thankyou for the eloquent and accurate defense of my request

[Flynn MacCallister]

folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)

Take it as you will but folklore has the above definition as well as others that can be found here http://www.dictionary.net/folklore and doing a bit more research there are debates about its definition.  The op should not be seen as being lazy for his approach as a questionnaire method of information gathering is an acceptable form and widely used by many researchers and organizations to glean information.

And none of those have any mention of a modern, new subculture. Culture and subculture are rather different things.

I just want to make sure Insanity Assasin is definitely on the right track, has checked this with the teacher/tutor, etc, before getting too far along in this work.

For anything to do with "what people know and what people think" questionnaire and interview are important, if not essential methods for information gathering. I'm certainly not questioning that.

[J. Wilhelm]

I.Informant info:  An unemployed engineer making steampunk art to make a living.  Otherwise Aeronaut and Proprietor of Victorian Steam Calculation Engine Co. in The City of Austin ~ Republic of Texas
1.name(or forum/persona name): "J. Wilhelm"
2.Age(optional): A whopping 41
3. how you came to discover steampunk: First by browsing the web and liking all that weird Victorian stuff I saw.
4. how you currently identify with steampunk: I mostly make interesting stuff, like computers that look like they belong in a Sci-Fi book.  I also like Zeppelins, since I'm an aeronautical engineer. I don't like to wear Victorian clothing like others do.

II.please describe....
1. costumes:   None for me, maybe in the future something a Zeppelin captain would wear.
2.important calender dates:  None really, I live day by day until I go back to Aerospace Engineering.  Austin, Texas is too new to steampunk to have conventions yet.
3.crafts: Computers made to look like Victorian era telephones, or clocks.
4. steampunk slang(if any);  I call the internet the "Aetherweb." The telephone "Sound-Telegraph," and I call my computers "Calculation Engines."
5.rite of passage (Was there a event that made you feel like you were "officially" steampunk?)  When I finished and took my steampunk art computer to a local cafe, and most people in the cafe became intrigued and fascinated with the device.
6. steampunk music:  I know some groups that dress steampunk, but no music genre has been yet been pegged as properly "steampunk" as far as I know.  I may be wrong...
7.art: For me just what I build, and mostly photographs from the Victorian period for inspiration.

8.Steamy recipes?

One cake recipe I found: SOFT CRULLERS
This cake recipe requires that you sift three-quarters of a pound of flour, and powder half a pound of loaf-sugar; heat a pint of water in a round-bottomed saucepan, and when quite warm, mix the flour with it gradually; set half a pound of fresh butter over the fire in a small vessel; and when it begins to melt, stir it gradually into the flour and water; then add by degrees the powdered sugar and half a grated nutmeg. Take the saucepan off the fire, and beat the contents with a wooden spaddle or spatula, till they are thoroughly mixed; then beat six eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Beat the whole very hard, till it becomes a thick batter. Flour a pasteboard very well, and lay out the batter upon it in rings (the best way is to pass it through a screw funnel). Have ready, on the fire, a pot of boiling lard of the very best quality; put in the crullers, removing them from the board by carefully taking them up, one at a time, on a broad-bladed knife. Boil but few at a time. They must be a fine brown. Lift them out on a perforated skimmer, draining the lard from them back into the pot; lay them on a large dish, and sift powdered white sugar over them. Soft crullers cannot be made in warm weather.

9. Description of a con: Do you mean con or convention?  For the former Just regular business in Victorian Times, like selling "Snake Oil."  For the latter I haven't gone to one yet.

10.Steampunk jokes: Your friends reactions a few hours after they ate the "soft crullers"

[SteamJam]

Informant info
1.name(or forum/persona name) SteamJam
2.Age(optional) Look 25, feels 800
3. how you came to discover steampunk It discovered me
4. how you currently identify with steampunk I get to live it

II.please describe....
1. costumes None
2.important calender dates none
3.crafts none
4. steampunk slang(if any)
5.rite of passage (Was there a event that made you feel like you were "officially" steampunk?) Wearing goggles for the first time to keep steam out of my eyes
6. steampunk music. No
7.art no
8.Steamy recipes? There is steampunk food?
9. Description of a con "Lots of drunk people on the party floor."
10.steampunk jokes Its all kinda silly to me, but fun

[SirValdemar]

folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)

Take it as you will but folklore has the above definition as well as others that can be found here http://www.dictionary.net/folklore and doing a bit more research there are debates about its definition.  The op should not be seen as being lazy for his approach as a questionnaire method of information gathering is an acceptable form and widely used by many researchers and organizations to glean information.

And none of those have any mention of a modern, new subculture. Culture and subculture are rather different things.

I just want to make sure Insanity Assasin is definitely on the right track, has checked this with the teacher/tutor, etc, before getting too far along in this work.

For anything to do with "what people know and what people think" questionnaire and interview are important, if not essential methods for information gathering. I'm certainly not questioning that.

I see your points but would you consider it possible if not probable that a culture or sub culture or the revival of a past culture done in a mutate form such as steampunk would be something that could occur within a generation?

Generation X or Gen X as it is called is my generation which encompasses a range from the very late 60's to the mid late 80's or roughly the earliest average point when gen x members are able to procreate and bear offspring of their own ( gen y or what is now being called the new recession generation ) every 18 years.  You could compare steampunk to RHPS followers or to trekkies or starwars followers all of which have had documentaries done on them and about them, RHPS itself was documented in the late 70's on a show narrated by Leonard Nemoy putting it within 3 - 5 years of its theatrical release because it gained a massive cult following of people that celebrated it and still do to this day ( there are some early steampunkish elements in the film ).

Ok done rambling, been up for 18 hours.

RHPS = Rocky Horror Picture Show.   BTW, there are elements in many films going back to the trip to the moon that bear close relation to steampunk designs used today so there is another potential discussion point right there to debate how long steampunk has been around or at least the idea. 

[Flynn MacCallister]

folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)

Take it as you will but folklore has the above definition as well as others that can be found here http://www.dictionary.net/folklore and doing a bit more research there are debates about its definition.  The op should not be seen as being lazy for his approach as a questionnaire method of information gathering is an acceptable form and widely used by many researchers and organizations to glean information.

And none of those have any mention of a modern, new subculture. Culture and subculture are rather different things.

I just want to make sure Insanity Assasin is definitely on the right track, has checked this with the teacher/tutor, etc, before getting too far along in this work.

For anything to do with "what people know and what people think" questionnaire and interview are important, if not essential methods for information gathering. I'm certainly not questioning that.

I see your points but would you consider it possible if not probable that a culture or sub culture or the revival of a past culture done in a mutate form such as steampunk would be something that could occur within a generation?

Generation X or Gen X as it is called is my generation which encompasses a range from the very late 60's to the mid late 80's or roughly the earliest average point when gen x members are able to procreate and bear offspring of their own ( gen y or what is now being called the new recession generation ) every 18 years.  You could compare steampunk to RHPS followers or to trekkies or starwars followers all of which have had documentaries done on them and about them, RHPS itself was documented in the late 70's on a show narrated by Leonard Nemoy putting it within 3 - 5 years of its theatrical release because it gained a massive cult following of people that celebrated it and still do to this day ( there are some early steampunkish elements in the film ).

Ok done rambling, been up for 18 hours.

RHPS = Rocky Horror Picture Show.   BTW, there are elements in many films going back to the trip to the moon that bear close relation to steampunk designs used today so there is another potential discussion point right there to debate how long steampunk has been around or at least the idea. 

I'm an X/Y borderline. (...though I think we define our generations as a little earlier. X start with the start of the 60's.)

And, no. To start with, I can't see what you're getting at. If you're saying "a subculture is like a culture", then, no, I still strongly disagree with that. Doccos and folklore have nothing to do with each other, I don't understand at all why you brought that up.

That's not to say that I. A.'s teacher doesn't accept the idea, but it seems so removed from anything to do with folklore to me that I just want to be sure, like I already said, that I. A. has checked it with them before investing too much time in it.

This is not something that needs arguing against or defending, this is just advice from an older student who's made that mistake to a younger one, to make sure they aren't doing the same.

[Danbury Shakes]

I.Informant info
1.name(or forum/persona name)      - Danbury Shakes
2.Age(optional)              - Older than I want to be (40)
3. how you came to discover steampunk   - random chance when I was looking for gardening supplies
4. how you currently identify with steampunk  - mostly Victorian/Velvet/Dress clothing - with sci-fi added for fun

II.please describe....
1. costumes   -   I don't have costumes - I do however wear dress shirts, waistcoats, velvet jackets and cravats - but more on a day to day basis mixed in with jeans and "smart casual" work clothes
2.important calender dates - nothing that would have any importance to any one else outside my family (birthdays, anniversaries, etc)
3.crafts - Wire wrapping silver jewellery (twisting silver wires around beads and semi-precious stones), painting 20mm Romas

4. steampunk slang(if any) - I don't talk slang, I USE dialect (I'm a Geordie - we're touchie about this)

5.rite of passage (Was there a event that made you feel like you were "officially" steampunk?) - I don't think you can be OFFICIALLY steam punk as that implies someone has to decide if you are or not.  Personally I'm not sure if I am "Steampunk" - I just like wearing what I wear.

6. steampunk music - I always think that if you say "This is what steampunk sounds like" steampunk stops being a sub-culture but becomes a musical culture.  Looking at the variation of individuals on BrassGoggles I can imagine that the musical tastes will vary a great deal.  I listen to a wide range of music from "Blind" Lemon Jefferson up to Rob Zombie. 

7.art - I love Dali

8.Steamy recipes? - I'm sure there is a Steampunk Cook Book somewhere, unfortunately I don't have a copy.  If I remember I think it was called something like "Fuel For The Boiler"

9. Description of a con

10.steampunk jokes

[stockton_joans]

.Informant info
1.name(or forum/persona name) - Ben Middleton AKA Stockton Joans
2.Age(optional) - 24 (i think)
3. how you came to discover steampunk - originally via the GURPS Cyberpunk offshoot supplement of the same name and then rediscovered via t'internet when the subculture began to form.
4. how you currently identify with steampunk - appreciation of Victorian era tech / fashion with Sci-fi twist , a more Victorian / steampunk vibe in my creations (leather / metal work) and mad science experimentation.

II.please describe....
1. costumes - none, though i am slowly (read as "as quickly as funds allow") introducing Victorian garb into my everyday wear, with Steampunk accessories for special occasions.
2.important calender dates - all and none, time is a curious thing (lunch times doubly so) and the recording of its passage is a meaningless endeavor.
3.crafts - leather and basic metal work (no welding or forging...Yet!)
4. steampunk slang(if any) - not used
5.rite of passage (Was there a event that made you feel like you were "officially" steampunk?) - making my first pair of goggles, although i considered myself Steampunk before this event it still felt like a Rite of passage.
6. steampunk music - abney Park
7.art - imitates life, but life is far more interesting
8.Steamy recipes? - take 1 part H2O and bring to the boil
9. Description of a con - abbreviated form of Convict, a member of society who, after being first accused, and then proved of committing a crime has been sentenced to being incarcerated for a period of time at her Majesties pleasure.
10.steampunk jokes - sticking nonfunctional gears onto an everyday item in the belief that this then makes it Steampunk.

[SirValdemar]

folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)

Take it as you will but folklore has the above definition as well as others that can be found here http://www.dictionary.net/folklore and doing a bit more research there are debates about its definition.  The op should not be seen as being lazy for his approach as a questionnaire method of information gathering is an acceptable form and widely used by many researchers and organizations to glean information.

And none of those have any mention of a modern, new subculture. Culture and subculture are rather different things.

I just want to make sure Insanity Assasin is definitely on the right track, has checked this with the teacher/tutor, etc, before getting too far along in this work.

For anything to do with "what people know and what people think" questionnaire and interview are important, if not essential methods for information gathering. I'm certainly not questioning that.

I see your points but would you consider it possible if not probable that a culture or sub culture or the revival of a past culture done in a mutate form such as steampunk would be something that could occur within a generation?

Generation X or Gen X as it is called is my generation which encompasses a range from the very late 60's to the mid late 80's or roughly the earliest average point when gen x members are able to procreate and bear offspring of their own ( gen y or what is now being called the new recession generation ) every 18 years.  You could compare steampunk to RHPS followers or to trekkies or starwars followers all of which have had documentaries done on them and about them, RHPS itself was documented in the late 70's on a show narrated by Leonard Nemoy putting it within 3 - 5 years of its theatrical release because it gained a massive cult following of people that celebrated it and still do to this day ( there are some early steampunkish elements in the film ).

Ok done rambling, been up for 18 hours.

RHPS = Rocky Horror Picture Show.   BTW, there are elements in many films going back to the trip to the moon that bear close relation to steampunk designs used today so there is another potential discussion point right there to debate how long steampunk has been around or at least the idea. 

I'm an X/Y borderline. (...though I think we define our generations as a little earlier. X start with the start of the 60's.)

And, no. To start with, I can't see what you're getting at. If you're saying "a subculture is like a culture", then, no, I still strongly disagree with that. Doccos and folklore have nothing to do with each other, I don't understand at all why you brought that up.

That's not to say that I. A.'s teacher doesn't accept the idea, but it seems so removed from anything to do with folklore to me that I just want to be sure, like I already said, that I. A. has checked it with them before investing too much time in it.

This is not something that needs arguing against or defending, this is just advice from an older student who's made that mistake to a younger one, to make sure they aren't doing the same.

So then what is steampunk to you?

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

I. Info. ( I have an adverse reaction to the designation informant ....I have participated in things in my past in which being labeled an "informant" would get you deadified pretty quickly )

1. name: Thomas Elihue Thistlewaite, Sgt. Major, Her Majesty's Royal Horse Marines, retired.
Also known as The Right Honourable T.E. Thistlewaite, Baron Luxborough.
2. age (optional): Oh how I wish it were optional! 55 years in Real Life, 155 according to Thistlewaite's biography...he is not entirely biological anymore, you see, and has been ingesting Taoist alchemical potions since around 1900.
3. how you came to discover Steampunk: I was searching for steam gauges on Ebay, and kept encountering the term. Finally became curious enough to Google it, and the rest is, as they say, history.
4. how you currently identify with Steampunk: I actually haven't changed much from before I heard the term, I was always a Steampunk, I just didn't know it.
II. please describe:

1. costumes: I have to agree with most of the previous responders..I do not consider my clothing to be costumes. I have waistcoats, tailcoats, riding breeches, high boots, top hats, fedoras, ascots...a bit of everything. I also have military uniforms, but these are worn nowadays only occasionally. My accessories
include stickpins, pocketwatches w/ chains, goggles ( when appropriate) and guns...lots and lots of guns.
2.Important calender dates: Not so much...the usual Holidays, when I might dress up a bit more than normal, Christmas, New Years etc.
3.crafts: Oooo..I make guns, I modify cars, I build buildings, I sew, I make goggles....whatever comes up..if I want something and can't find anything that suits me, I'll make it from scratch.
4. Steampunk slang: Typical Victorian terms...."topping" = excellent. "Jove!" etc.
5.rite of passage: No...I was too old for any such, and, as I said, I was Steampunk long before I ever heard the term.
6.Steampunk music: My taste in music has always been very eclectic...I like everything from Sousa marches to Big Band to Rock to Bluegrass and Old-timey. I play many different instruments, including my favourite, the accordion.
7.Art: Yep. Here we go....







That's a representative sample, there is quite a bit more scattered all over the Forum.

8.Steampunk recipes: Gin & Tonic. Absynthe, mix w/ ice water drizzled over sugar cube.

9.Description of a con: ummm...black & white horizontally striped pajamas with a leg iron accessory?

10. Steampunk jokes: Puns are quite popular, and I make small jokes here frequently, but it has to be spontaneous.

Hope this helps with your project.

Cheers!
~Thistlewaite


7.

[Flynn MacCallister]

I'm an X/Y borderline. (...though I think we define our generations as a little earlier. X start with the start of the 60's.)

And, no. To start with, I can't see what you're getting at. If you're saying "a subculture is like a culture", then, no, I still strongly disagree with that. Doccos and folklore have nothing to do with each other, I don't understand at all why you brought that up.

That's not to say that I. A.'s teacher doesn't accept the idea, but it seems so removed from anything to do with folklore to me that I just want to be sure, like I already said, that I. A. has checked it with them before investing too much time in it.

This is not something that needs arguing against or defending, this is just advice from an older student who's made that mistake to a younger one, to make sure they aren't doing the same.

So then what is steampunk to you?

I repeat:

This is not something that needs arguing against or defending, this is just advice from an older student who's made that mistake to a younger one, to make sure they aren't doing the same.

The discussion you are trying to have here is not relevant, and I am not at all interested in discussing it, beyond making sure that Insanity Assassin has cleared this with the teacher, and isn't powering off on the wrong track. That is all.

[Mister Fox]

I.Informant info
1.name(or forum/persona name)
Dylan Fox
2.Age(optional)
29
3. how you came to discover steampunk
My partner discovered it as part of research for a novel she was writing, and took me along to Whiby with her...
4. how you currently identify with steampunk
I see it as a lifestyle, a way of thinking and interacting with the world.


II.please describe....
1. costumes
I don't really have costumes.  My wardrobe is slowly becoming more 'steamy' with Victorian/Regency-inspired clothes made from hard-wearing and utalitarian materials like denim or cotton drill, or 'upcycled' clothes that I don't wear any more (e.g. old shirts being turned into waistcoats, jeans into breeches)
2.important calender dates
29th March (my birthday). 10th July (my partner's birthday).  As most dates are arbitarily decided upon based on an inaccurate calander, what's the point in attaching significence to one date and not another.  Celebrate when you want to celebrate!
3.crafts
Picking up a knack for sewing, but I lack the tools and knowledge for much else.  Looking forwards to learning, though.
4. steampunk slang(if any)
Cogglings--Steampunk Children.
A goggle--collective noun for a group of Steampunks.
Steamy--things relating to Steampunk.
5.rite of passage (Was there a event that made you feel like you were "officially" steampunk?)
I was in the tea rooms at Whity, April 2009.  I was talking to people, interacting, getting on with them.  Suddenly I realised... I'm comfortable here!  It was the first time I'd felt comfortable in a group of strangers.
6. steampunk music
Anything that has an evocative sound and lyrics which explore what I consider 'Steampunk' themes, things like self-discovery, technology, myth/fairytale, fighting for what you believe in, that sort of thing.
7.art
Sounds good to me.
8.Steamy recipes?
Anything I can make at home in my kitchen with ingredients that people would have had seventy years or so ago.
9. Description of a con
A well-dressed man goes into an expensive resturant, and waits for ten minutes.  When the waiter asks what he wants, he replies that he's waiting for someone.  Half an hour goes by, and the man is still alone.  The waiter asks if he wants to order yet, and the man replies that he's waiting for someone who has something he wants.  It's an exceptionally rare and expensive violin, and the well-dressed man intends to buy it for 'a bargin'.  He tells the waiter that has to go, but gives him his card and asks it to pass it on to the violin owner should he come in.  The well-dressed man leaves.
Quatar of an hour later, an shabby-looking man comes in carrying a violin case.  The waiter recognises him as the man the well-dressed man was waiting for.  He goes over to him and says that the man left quatar of an hour ago.  The violin man looks disheartened, and says he was counting on selling the violin to pay off some of his debts and get some food.  The waiter gets a glint in his eye.  He offers the violin-man one tenth of what the well-dressed man was planning to offer.  It's still quite a sum of money.  The violin man is reluctant, explaining that the violin is his only real treasure and, although of limited monetary worth, has great sentimental value.  The waiter ups his offer, , the violin man declines, and this continues until the waiter is offering half of what the well-dressed man was planning to offer and the violin man capitulates. 
The waiter stores the violin and checks he has the business card, and looks forwards to doubling his money when he calls the well-dressed man in the morning.
The violin is, of course, worthless and the well-dressed man and violin man split the money 50/50.
10.steampunk jokes
Please see The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing.

[stockton_joans]

ah ha, a fellow niel gaiman fan, good show

[Mister Fox]

I expected the reference to be picked up, but not in the first post afterwards!  You're on form, sir.

[stockton_joans]

not so much on form as board at work and constantly checking the verious topics for any sign of life

[Mister Fox]

Ah, yes... I've had something of an 'F5 day' today, and expect to have another tomorrow.  It really is quite disheartening to find that the vast oceans of the Internet have so little to offer in these times of crises.

[phuphuphnik]

Here you go:
1.Phuphuphnik
2.34
3. Steampunk discovered me. Olser styles and materials appeal to me, as do the simple complexity of doing things. Film instead of digital for example.
4. If I understand the question correctly, I use the term steampunk to explain how I blend my preferences for the old and traditional while living in the modern world. I don't shun moderninity, I choose to live beyond it.
II.please describe....
1. Costumes are different than everyday dress. This is important to understand. I wear a waistcoat, trousers, bowler etc as my clothes. For Formal events, parties or social events I may go for more gaudy overtly *steampunk* fashion, or costume.
2.Birth of my children, 4th of july, Aug 19th birth of the Great Bird of the Galaxy.
3.Knitting, flint knapping, and other pre-industrial hindi-works. Basically things people did out of need that we now do for recreation.
4.steamy=nifty, shiny is borrowed slang meaning good, A-Okay etc.
5.Being asked If I was a steampunk. I sighed, my wife declared I always had dressed like that.
6. I'll tolerate most music, and my tastes are varied. I have never heard what I would describe as a steampunk band. This is for a couple reasons, like they dress punk, but play modern music instruments, or claim to be neo victorian but don't follow music styles of the mid to late 19th century.
7.Art is what it is. As far as steampunk art people seem to toss a gear on a fob and call it art. I'm Okay with that, it isn't for me, but it is so subjective. My media of choice is photography.
8.Can you bake over an open fire? I don't mean fry, I mean make a pie, bread, BAKE!
9. I SMOFF
10.So, this Dandy walks into a bar, Then the ruffian wielding it makes off with his purse!