Here’s what you can expect:

1. About 2 hours of downtime starting at 23:00 UTC today, to perform a full backup and migrate the database to a new drive
2. Intermittent downtime (should be no more than 30m at a time) throughout the day tomorrow as various components are updated and configuration changes are made
3. Maintenance should be complete by Friday, May 18, 2012 at 03:00 UTC

As always, keep an eye on @brasstech and the Status Page for updates.

‘A backdrop of ornate, Sgt Pepperish Victoriana…A band to watch, without question’ – The Sunday Times

 ”The Mutiny is as beautiful and dangerous as a Bengal tiger caught by the tail….an album that can work on so many levels because there are so many aspects to it” – Fatea

“Sunday Driver are a welcome breath of fresh air in a music scene that has been a little adrift in places over the last few years. Drift no longer, you’ve found your shaker makers.” The New LoFi

4 Stars! The Financial Times

It’s been three long years since the launch of Sunday Driver’s debut album ‘In the City of Dreadful Night’, a record that brought the band to international acclaim. Inspired by the backstreets of Kipling’s Calcutta and Gustav Dore’s dark visions of Victorian London the band created an album that was lauded by Fatea Magazine as, “A street festival distilled into music”.

Since the release of ‘Dreadful Night, Sunday Driver have added drums to their line up and much more steam and sitar to their sound. Their song writing has reached new heights of creativity and the band members are extremely excited about The Mutiny!

The Mutiny explores the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the effect of the Raj across Indian society from every day citizens recruited to the British army to Ghandi.

The band have worked with many members of the Brassgoggles forum, and are offering Brassgoggles first heads up that their single Concubine Waltz  can be downloaded for free from bandcamp!

http://sundaydriver.bandcamp.com/album/concubine-waltz

We’d advise jumping over to their website and picking up all 13 killer tracks!

http://sundaydriver.co.uk/merch.html

They ship CDs to any corner of the world.

Brought to our attention by Meredith Scheff at The Steampunk Workshop.

Steampunk Worlds Fair

Zeppelins – Air Travel of the Future?

As reader Matt Summers puts it:

“….the concept designs are decidedly lacking in copper and it’s lovely alloys as well as wood. There are lightweight bamboo based composites which are exceptionally strong and with a proper veneer of woods which have more of a soul they are aesthetically pleasing as well. The copper and brass need not be the great heavy masses which would challenge the lighter than air concept. Their presence though is needed. The technology of today might please the eye or the tip of the finger for a moment, but the the design which does not leave you feeling empty comes from another age:

• Wood with a soul which can resonate with your own.
• Metal with an inner fire that makes it glow even when cool to the touch.
• Buttons which are buttons and not pads or pictures to occupy the fingers as well as the mind.
• Machines which even without power or an operator to run them have an identity and occupy sight, touch and thought.
• Airships that want to fly and if released would climb skyward and explore the skies and the winds on their own.

Image courtesy of Dvice

See a little more detail at Dvice.

In short, these bills would put the onus on Brass Goggles to check every single site we link to in order to be sure they don’t have any material that infringes copyright on them. If we fail, we could be taken offline in the US, even though we don’t host any of the material ourselves. This is not something we have the capability to do – our volunteer staff is hard-working, but there’s no way we could check every single link.

If PIPA passes, it’s likely only a matter of time before our beloved blog and forum are taken offline.

If you care about this site, too, please:

• If you live in the US, contact your Senators about PIPA and your Representative about SOPA. You can use the link in the black bar at the top of the blog and forum to find them.  Phone calls are best!
• If you live outside the US, contact your State Department. Telling them that these bills will affect you negatively can lead to international pressure; and it will send the message that such legislation wouldn’t be desirable in your country either.

Photo by Montblanc Pen Lover

[via rare pens]

Image courtesy of Amoebabloke

[via technabob]