I have seen some ambitious steam projects and this one adds to the list:

So, it's not without trepidation that I say that it's time Britain built the Analytical Engine. After the wonderful reconstruction of the Difference Engine we need to finish Babbage's dream of a steam-powered, general-purpose computer.

The Analytical Engine has all the hallmarks of a modern computer: it has a program (on punched cards), a CPU (called the 'mill') for doing calculations and it has memory. Of course, it's not electric, it's powered by steam. But the principles that underlie the Analytical Engine are the same that underlie the computer I'm writing this on.

This project looks to be a bit pie in the sky, with a million $ price tag, which is why I love it! If you are going to dream, dream big and use the power of others to make it happen. The mastermind behind the project, John Graham-Cumming a coder/techie who started the project as blog post this is now gaining support.  On TWiT #269 the host pledged 1k to support the effort.

Information on how to support the project after the jump:

Looks like they are abuout 5% of the way to funding the project, which is preaty amazing for a month. I am in for $20, if he can get 47,000 more people on board!