The WTF from 1726



  • His lordship ... desired me to observe a ruined building, upon the side of a mountain about three miles distant, of which he gave me this account: “That he had a very convenient mill within half a mile of his house, turned by a current from a large river, and sufficient for his own family, as well as a great number of his tenants; that about seven years ago, a club of those projectors came to him with proposals to destroy this mill, and build another on the side of that mountain, on the long ridge whereof a long canal must be cut, for a repository of water, to be conveyed up by pipes and engines to supply the mill, because the wind and air upon a height agitated the water, and thereby made it fitter for motion, and because the water, descending down a declivity, would turn the mill with half the current of a river whose course is more upon a level.” He said, “that being then not very well with the court, and pressed by many of his friends, he complied with the proposal; and after employing a hundred men for two years, the work miscarried, the projectors went off, laying the blame entirely upon him, railing at him ever since, and putting others upon the same experiment, with equal assurance of success, as well as equal disappointment.”

    Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

    Looks oddly familiar, doesn't it?



  • @IMil said:

    That he had a very convenient shack
    @IMil said:
    a club of those projectors came to him with proposals to destroy this shack
    @IMil said:
    to be conveyed up by pipes and engines to supply the shack
    @IMil said:
    would turn the shack with half the current
    @IMil said:
    and after employing a man for 8 years, the work miscarried

    Did I get your meaning correctly? 



  • Human nature doesn't change.

    PS: extra points for originality


Log in to reply