Steampunk. Never heard of it? Trust me. You'll encounter the term more often from now on. Briefly and somewhat simplistically, steampunkers play with the illusion that time periods can coexist. They imagine what things might have looked like if our technology had been available to the Victorians, and then they create those things. Those who make steampunk objects primarily modify Victorian antiques, but they also use antiques from other eras, recycled items, salvage, and plain old junk. And while often their creations qualify as art, they commonly also have a specific, practical purpose. There are rideable steampunk bicycles, playable steampunk guitars, steampunk clocks that tell time, and steampunk houses that people live in. Both an aesthetic and an interior-design solution, steampunk is also, for some, a philosophy of life.