Re: IF electricity==true
I think there are two reasonable technological cutoff points for including electricity in a steampunk aesthetic:
Liberal: semiconductors are not allowed. Simply assume that the PN junction does not work, thereby disabling the LED, the silicon rectifier, transistors of all kinds, and the microchip (as we know it, anyway).
Conservative: not only do semiconductors not work, but neither do thermionics. The thermionic valve (or "vacuum tube" for Yanks) was invented in the early part of the 20th century; although cold-cathode effects were known for some time before then, it was difficult to find uses for them.
Note that even the "conservative" definition still permits "vacuum tube like" technologies which actually rely on striking an arc in a gas medium, eg. the mercury-arc rectifier, the Dekatron and the Nixie tube.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
