a voyage to laputa

This was one of the last places Gulliver*, the head man, went during his voyages.

On that trip he was stranded in Laputa, then went to Balnibarbi to catch a merchantman home, and there took side trips to Luggnagg and Glubbdubdrib, whence he reached Japan and a ship for England out of Nagasaki.

Laputa is a place I used to frequently visit in my younger days. It's a curious sort of locale, where you can become sidetracked by fascination. The scientists there do all sorts of wonderfully interesting research, like this fellow engaged in extracting sunbeams from cucumbers. Unfortunately, his work, like that of all the other researchers on this airborne, floating island, has no practical application whatever. It's a complete waste of time.

In the dark, moist atmosphere of Laputa, bizarre and exotic theories sprout like poisonous mushrooms, for the object of all this frenetic activity is not clarification, but obfuscation. Efforts to shine a light on any topic whatsoever are discouraged, and instead the casting of murky shadows over all and sundry is counted as a social good.

i think I'll go back to the real world, where history only happens once.

*Synopsizing a portion of "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift, English, 18th cent.