There are an interesting group emerging

who should not be considered luddites.

They call themselves  Steam Punks. They love to work

with, even make,  steam engines. They love to dress up

in Victorian Era clothing; speak verbously like those back 

then; they love to work with their hands,

and to make things like Tiffany  ornaments or Gilded furniture.

ALSO, they love and dream about steam-powered airships,

etc. Shades of Jules Verne!

But about their dreams of an Victoria Era steamship

that can carry passengers at over 20mph, 1000′s of feet up,

hundreds if not thousands of miles.

  Well? I think they had the technology back then!

What do you think?

Yes, forget helium, think hydrogen for lift.

Forget aluminum frame, think bamboo.

Forget gasoline and internal-combustion engines,

think burning benzene-alcohol (no dangerous sparks)

in a thin wrought-iron firebox containing boiler-tubes

instead of a  thick-shell spherical or cylindrical boiler.

Think double-expansion steam-engines (invented

in 1802, forgotten until  the 1870′s) .

Forget lining the thin sheet metal firebox inside with

heavy firebrick, line it with asbestos instead.

How am I doing engineers? arm-chair engineers

or professional?