The new official AGIE website has now been launched into Beta testing. Our latest newsletter is available here: http://eepurl.com/gG0l

A big thank you to the Brass Goggles blog and forums for getting us of the ground! We couldn’t of done it without you!

Leonardo Wolfe – AGIE Founder (www.theagie.org)

While visiting my girlfriend in Lyon, France for the annual festival of lights, I came across some very amazing sights.

Firstly, something I’ve never seen posted elsewhere. A giant mechanical globe that rotates weighing in at 350kg, taking 5 hours to construct from pre-made pieces and costing a hefty sum of around 30,000 Euros (If my memory serves me well).

The piece is made by an alternative art shop in Lyon called Symbialys.

Here’s some links:

The globe itself: http://www.symbialys.com/product.php?id=153

A stunning (photoshopped) photo: http://www.symbialys.com/pics/67_2.jpg

A brilliant (if slightly disturbing) video showing some more of their similar work: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbqqze_symbialys_creation

The other amazing sights I saw were the light festival itself but more so this year because the theme was heavily horological.

Here’s an example:

Lyon Festival of Lights Website: http://www.lumieres.lyon.fr/lumieres/sections/en

Video: Lyon Light Festival

Set against old lyon, a place with long cobbled street filled with people merrily drinking warm wine it’s a stunning sight. There’s also a brilliant old book shop in the old quarter with some amazing finds, here’s one of mine:

(Because I’ve had to reduce the picture you can’t see it very well but the books have a warm clean yellow antique glow to them and have been printed in elegant French hand writing with beautiful mechanical illustrations)

Combine this with France’s old architecture, one of the best light displays in the world and it’s simply breathtaking. I think what I’m trying to say is that it’s brilliant for anybody interested in Steampunk because you’re surrounded by everything that was there during the victorian age and before.

After living there for just under a year, I can’t recommend it enough!

Despite the subject matter, I felt this perfectly embodied some key points of the victorian age.

Enjoy! – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHze0SqB5Zg

& for Steampunk in general, this –  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HgejSCHRi8

Update: After a quick search, it looks like these have been mentioned in the forums but I’m including it here for those that only read the blog or have missed the forum posts.

To keep everyone updated with my my previous post/s, here’s some links regarding the official launch of the Aquitarian Guild of Inventors & Engineers or AGIE for short.

(Note: This name is still not set in stone and subject to change depending on the communities’ reaction however, this name will now be officially used until enough surveys and mailing list subscriptions have been completed.)

~

Official Website

TBD (Awaiting vote on Guild name)

~

Twitter Feed

Used for future AGIE updates rather than spamming Brass Goggles with posts.

~

Mailing List

The core AGIE mailing list.

We urgently need as many people as possible to join the mailing list but more importantly, take part in the survey! Anybody from any walk of life within the Steampunk community is welcome to join this list regardless of location. Please note we have a large opening for skilled artists to work with members of the guild in exchange for each other’s services as well. One of the guilds aims is to become the ultimate one stop repository of skilled proffesionals from the Steampunk community for both personal and corporate client bases. However the guild itself will always remain strictly none-profit. The exchange of money will be solely controlled by the parties involved. Authorisation most be sought from the guild prior to this so as not to bring the guild into disrepute for its other members. Providing previous examples of your work will satisfy this so that we hold a strong quality base.

~

Discussion Thread

Temporary base of guild discussions until a proper structure has been put in place and the name of the guild voted on. After which, the website shall have its own dedicated forums.

<

p style=”text-align: left;”>A NOTE FROM YOUR BLOG ADMIN – please take all discussion of this over to the forum.  Comment fields are NOT the place for lengthy discussion or debate. Thanks, Harold

Hi everybody,

Let me start by introducing myself. My name’s Leonardo Wolfe but feel free to call me Leo. I’ve long been the occasional visitor to the Brass Goggles website and once had a stint at writing for the blog however unfortunately, I think only a couple of my posts came to fruitrition. Long story short, I got myself into a commitment I couldn’t fulfil due to my terrible time management skills which leads me onto the irony that I’m a student with the British Horological Institute where I’m training to be a clock/watch maker.

So, why am I here darkening your doorstep? I have a proposition for all the amateur and professional engineers and inventors out there and I need your help however big or small to spread the word and join in.

I currently live in Cambridgeshire, England. The famous home of 84 Nobel Prizes and 8 Field Medals. The plan is to start in Cambridge and then to branch out nationally and potentially internationally. I’m hoping it really could become that big but I’m only testing the water here and it could go in the complete opposite direction. But what on earth am I talking about?

The idea is to start a guild (easy there MMORPG fans) of people that are mathematically and mechanically minded in the pursuit of creating devices and inventions from a period  now long gone but which we’re all here to enjoy, admire and relive. A rebellion against the torrent of cheap, mass produced capitalist junk that rolls out of the worlds factories to end up in the garbage day after day. Melted down to create the next fad and stale function. However we’d be by no means political and this is something that would have to remain key to the guild. Discrimination and snobbery also wouldn’t be tolerated.

So, due to the high level of talented students and professionals within the area, this seems like the ideal place to start such a project. Before we talk about drafting manifestos and creating secret handshakes (I joke), I need to gauge everybody’s initial interest. Now, the plan is we hold regular meetings within the Cambridge area however this will be determined by the average availability of those interested. A good idea if this takes off is to actually take minutes from our meetings so that we can publish them here or on a separate dedicated site so that others not so local and abroad can join in and contribute. As some of you may know, there’s regular lectures open to the public here in Cambridge and I don’t see why we can’t work our way up to some accredited recognition. However, this is a long way off. The plan is also to support each other in our inventions, that would be the heart of the guild be it swapping skills or maybe even applying for patents.

So, I need your thoughts and ideas. This isn’t my guild, it’s our guild! (As a note, the title “guild” is currently a working title)

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your ideas and suggestions. Also, a big thank you to Harold for allowing me start this project and post on Brass Goggles!

Lets get the steam ball rolling!

Direct E-mail: theagie@me.com.