LT197: Number Crunching

SARA AND THE JUMP POINTS

Sara writes to propose a question about whether the jumping points are spaced 108 minutes apart. She notes that my last post was sort of a gentle reminder to not forget about the numbers.

To answer this I think we first need to remind ourselves of some evidence we have. The producers have stated that the “power” behind the numbers will never be fully explained. If we have learned anything from this show is to not take everything the producers say literally. But for now it is all we have. To me it seems like a distraction technique on the part of the producers.

Many fans however are convinced the numbers are just an interesting element…a sweetening effect, if you will, but with little direct purpose.

If you take the majority of viewers and the producers, well, the numbers then might have nothing to do with the jump points.

However, I’m not convinced yet. Not only do I propose they represent Doomsday, but they don’t go away. The walkie-talkie was repeating the numbers as the French team landed on shore. You don’t include something like that without some purpose.

Ok, once you decide if the numbers even have a direct impact on the events, then we can answer your question. I do not see a pattern of 108 minutes between jump points.

But let’s crunch some numbers to find out.

--Starting Point: December 30, 2004 and the island moves.

--Jump Point #1: 1998-2002

The time spent in this time period is measured by how long it would take Daniel to get to shore, explain a few things and then head off to the Swan Hatch. Could that have happened in 1 hour and 48 minutes? Sure, I’ll buy that.

-- Jump Point #2: January 2005

The time spent in this time period is measured by the group arriving at what is left of the Swan Hatch (not much) and how long it takes Richard to treat and talk to Locke. This part seemed hurried to me, but we could say 1 hour and 48 minutes. Sure, let’s keep going.

-- Jump Point #3: Between 2001 and 2004

This jump seems to be closer than Jump Point #1 and again fails to connect with a number.

The time spent in this period is how long the group spent at the Swan Hatch now that it was back. Sawyer tried knocking and Daniel spoke to Desmond. This didn’t seem to take but minutes, but I will say it felt a lot less time was spent here then say a full day.

-- Jump Point #4: 1954

Now we get a 50-year jump from Starting Point and 46 years from the last jump point. Again, no patter here.

The time spent here is equal to how long it takes to go from the creek, to the camp, be held in a tent, and be walked to the Jughead bomb. Yeah, it could be about two hours.

-- Jump Point #5: November 1, 2004

The time spent here is to walk part way to the beach. Sure, that fits the 108 minute window.

-- Jump Point #6: 2005 or later

How long to reach the beach, grab a canoe and get paddling? Seems plausible.

-- Jump Point #7: 1988

This is where we left off and some time has been taken for Danielle’s team to reach the shore.

CONCLUSION: I think it fits. Each phase lasts 108 minutes! See? The numbers do mean something!


WHY LATIN?

The Latin language lost its place in the 1600’s. My guess is that someone selected this language because it was their native language. Richard? Just how old is this guy?


SUN FILES

When Sun has the package delivered to her we see photos of Jack and Ben together. And there is a file containing a report. The camera gives us all a clear shot of it:

The last post identified the website where this report came from, but a few more facts should be pointed out. The fake report lists Yaknapatawpha County. This happens to be one of William Faulkner’s favorite fictional places used in 21 of his books. His writing style made extensive use of jumping around the timeline. The book title that caught my eye was “A Rose for Emily”, two LOST names.

The report mentions an animal hospital and we’ve seen Ben at a place like that.

The report mentions Oxford City Cab and guess what? There is an area of town known as Oxford. Remember how Desmond tried to go to England to find Daniel’s mother at the college? Maybe Daniel meant Oxford, an area of town in Los Angeles and there wasn’t time to explain.

The envelope, the numbers on the bottom of the report and the gun contain “1”, “3” and “6”. In the summer game we saw a sign that read “John 316” and “John 3:16” is a popular Bible verse. These numbers are being associated with Sun now.

Speaking of the gun, who gave it to Sun? Widmore? Ben? If Ben, I’m betting it is loaded with blanks.

Speaking of her delivery, did you notice the candy box has slots of 16 pieces? But one is strangely missing resulting in 15 actual pieces.


THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Recall Locke’s group found evidence of a wreck? Among the debris was a can that read, “Besixdouz”. Converting to numbers we get Be-Six-Douze or B612. There is an asteroid that is named B612 and the history of that asteroid states that scientist named in honor of the planet that was home to The Little Prince.

As for the French being spoken, here is the translation:

Man 1 - I already told you we should never have followed those stupid numbers

Man 2 – It is not my fault, Robert, Brennan should have held the sonar

Man 3 - But I did it Montand. I already told you the instruments aren't working.

Woman - A man in the water!

Man - What? I thought we were all here!

Man - We are! He's not one of ours - so who is he?


JAILHOUSE ROCK

Recall when Hurley is making his call from prison. Did you notice who is being walked in the door in the background? Dave!

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LT196: Rikki, Don't Lose Those Numbers

KATE’S ADDRESS

Sayid is demanding the assassin tell him who sent him. He tells Sayid to check his pocket. In there he finds Kate’s address. Are we to believe that Kate hired this guy to kill Sayid? No.

This means there is either another piece of paper that Sayid was to find OR the assassin was attempting to motivate Sayid to contact Kate. I’ll go with Door #2.

No one can motivate people to carry out his wishes better than Uncle Ben. People are willing to kill and die for this guy. This theory is strengthen when we consider Ben how he pushes everyone to their proper places.


THE NUMBERS

A lot of viewers are expressing their lack of interest in the numbers, but not me. A lot of readers of TIDBITS tell me they feel the numbers are like a running gag to provide some distraction in the form of a side game. First, let me point out that very little has zero meaning on LOST. Second, consider that the joke is very stale if that is their only purpose. Third, I’ve suggested a meaning for the numbers that will have a major impact: they point us to the Doomsday of April 8, 2015, at 4:23.42 in the afternoon. Boom!

No theme or mystery has been pushed harder or longer than the Numbers. Consider in the latest episode we see the number 42 here:

And everyone was told to meet at slip 23 at the marina.

Not sure if this counts, but the life raft for the French Science Team had 8 sides to it.

All of them get heard on the walkie-talkie the French Science Team is listening to…just as Danielle told us was the reason for checking out the island.


SUN’S INVESTIGATION REPORT

The package delivered to Sun included an investigation report. It seems that someone discovered the website this came from. Check it out here: http://www.crimescene.com/beauty.archive/evidence.pi.report.html

The name on the report was altered, but everything else remains the same. This site is used for armchair sleuths to hone their skills. Do notice the address on Pinecrest shows up a lot and for some reason I get Heroes out of my head! HA!


AND THE WINNER IS…

…for Best Babysitter is NOT…Sun! Sorry, but what has gotten into her? She thinks it is a good idea to tell Aaron’s mother that she has plenty of candy and TV for the little tyke?

Oh, and sit in your high chair eating greasy fires while Aunt Sun leaves you unattended and checks out her new gun.

And I don’t think Babysitting 101 teaches anyone to drag the kid out into the night so the sitter can leave the kid unattended in the car while she knocks off a couple of people she holds a grudge against.

The best irony of it all? Jin isn’t dead!

However, the bigger question is where did Mommy Dearest leave little Ji Yeon? Someone has suggested that Sun’s baby might be dead!


PERSONALITY SHIFT

I have to write this. I try hard not to knock the show. When Nikki and Paulo were mucking up the screen, I stayed quiet. The thought in my head was that everyone contributes in some way. But it is time to speak out about one woman: Juliet.

Juliet cries a lot. She cries during job interview. She cries when begging Ben to send her back home. She cries at the morgue (ok, I’ll overlook that one). She cries when she burns the muffins.

Her best skill set is remaining naïve. She just sort of avoids uncomfortable situations. She doesn’t question much about the submarine ride, what is in the drink, and barely investigated her ex-husband getting hit by a bus the way she suggested days earlier.

But now, Juliet has turned into a top notch detective. She is pressuring Daniel with “if you have something to tell me, now is a good time.” She is interrupting Locke and others at critical points of their discussions.

Come on! This woman was shattered by divorce, a dying sister, a lifelong cause she couldn’t solve (legally anyway), a job change and a new environment…and now she reveals she understands Daniel’s time message, is perceptive enough to figure out nosebleeds mean something and for good measure: she knows Latin in three years? Please!

Ok, it is out of my system.


TIME WARPING

An avoid reader of TIDBITS named MJ writes and is for some reason reminded of Harper. She is the therapist for the Dharma Initiative and married to Goodwin. MJ is reminded of when she magically appeared to Juliet in the jungle and gave her instructions to go kill Daniel and Charlotte.

We all saw it as strange how she just appears and then disappears. She isn’t the only example. MJ points out the moving cabin. This made him wonder if the other items, people, and such haven’t been time warping along.

Maybe Harper and Jacob see a flash right before they time warp, but not the viewer. It gives us something to ponder. Do you have any ideas to build on this?


THE VAN

Here is a picture of Ben’s van:

The words on the side read: “Canton Rainer”. This is an anagram for “reincarnation”. Hmmm…


NEXT ON TIDBITS

There is a lot to cover about this episode, but I wanted to get something posted as soon as possible. But look for more in the coming days because it just might convince you that the people shooting at Locke and his canoe-mates might be the very people they are trying to save.


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LT195: The Little Prince Initial Thoughts

MS. LITTLETON

If I have this worked out right, then it was Ben using Lawyer Norton that orchestrated Ms. Littleton's appearance in Los Angeles. Why? To make Kate needy for help. Mr. Manipulator knew that Kate would attempt to find the persons behind the blood test, discover it was a family relative and then she would need some assistance. Clever man.


SUN

So everyone is know gathered at Slip 23 at the marina including Sun who is forced to drag little Aaron along. Ok, that seemed a bit odd to take a young child along for a murder, but hey, it did get her there...and the little prince.

Sun is brought there because she wishes to kill Jack. She blames him for Jin's death (wrong!). Sun mentioned once that she blamed two men...we assumed she meant Jack and she told her father he was the other. So how did she know to arrive at the marina? Did someone call her?

Why did she have to smuggle a gun into her house? And those survelliance photos means she hired someone to track Jack. That leads to another party involved and more risks.


HURLEY

So he is an orange. Sorry, that was just what he reminded me of in that prison jumpsuit. He gets released after a hearing in the morning meaning the Oceanic 5 + Ben have to wait it out at the boats. And did you notice they group was being watched? Was that from Sun's perspective or is even another party involved?

Ok, enough thoughts on our LA crowd...


NOSE BLEEDS

The question of the week was why only Charlotte was bleeding. We sort of got that answer when several more developed the symptom. Daniel offers the explanation that time on the island might have been a reason why some were getting the nose bleeds and others were not.

Daniel left me with the impression that the longer you were on the island the sooner you would bleed because he asked Miles if he might have been on the island previously, right? Again, these are initial thoughts so bear with me.

Ok, we know Juliet has been there 3 years. Sawyer for 108 days.

Miles for over 3 years? And Charlotte even longer?

I'm getting flashbacks to a very old post that mentioned The Children of the Island. For the detail post, I'll try to track that down because I'm getting my own flashbacks about this. Miles belongs to Dr. Candle/Halliwax and Charlotte is the child of...


TIME RULES

You tell me. It is obvious that timelines are intersect and crossing over. We have Danielle and Jin sharing the same space, if not time.

At other times we have the camp site back, but no Survivors and they are sharing space with someone who drinks Ajira Airlines water. So clearly, the timelines are intersecting. This makes our Jump Point tracking next to impossible!


FINAL COMMENTS

Aaron sure sleeps a lot and doesn't talk much for a 3 year old.

That nice French scientist really, really, really reminded me of a younger Daniel. It was his facial expressions and mannerisms. You heard it here first if true.

It wasn't raining when Jack and Kate pulled up to the motel and not that long after it is pouring. I'd give my "Get Lost" lapel pin to know just to know the set of rules for the rain!

If you recall that poster for Season 5 where the cast is in that room with branches growing in it, I'm sure that Sun's outfit in the hotel room matched her outfit in that picture.

Well, you know the routine...I'll be working up the in depth coverage and posting over the next few days!


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LT914: Watchmen II

This post is a continuation of the previous posts on the topic of the book “Watchmen” and it correlations with LOST. We pick up with Chapter 4 which uses a very recognizable style…

CHAPTER 4

Dr. Manhattan, one of the heroes of the story, is sitting alone in 1985 and looking at a photograph of a man and a woman. The couple is at an amusement park in 1959. The book reads, “In twelve seconds time, I drop the photograph to the sand at my feet, walking away. It’s already lying there, twelve seconds into the future.”

Manhattan observes that the photograph is currently in his hand, but it also on a wall in a bar 27 hours into the past. He drops the photograph.

Dr. Manhattan then observes the stars that are millions of miles from the sun and their light is already ten minutes old. He reminisces that his father admired the sky for its precision for he repaired watches.

He comments, “It’s 1945 and I sit in a Brooklyn kitchen fascinated by the cogs of a watch. The photograph lies at my feet, falls from my hands, is in my hand. I am watching the stars, admiring their complex trajectories through space, through time.”

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Well, I think you get the picture. We then flash back when Dr. Manhattan was in college and he accidently left a watch inside a science chamber. While retrieving the watch he gets locked in and the program begins to run. The experiment is to remove the intrinsic field from concrete block #15.

He disappears. But he does not go away. His energy still exists and over time the lessons he learned from the first-hand experiment has given him the knowledge to regenerate himself over a long period of time. He likens the process to fixing a watch.

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Dr. Manhattan then flashes back to a visit to a former friend of his. With his newly regenerated body he is able to travel in physical form…to the Antarctic. His colleague is running highly questionable tests here.

He returns to his place of solitude and thinks, “But this is an illusion. Thing shave their shape in time, not space alone. Marble blocks have statues within them, embedded in their future.”

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Dr. Manhattan is alone with his thoughts for he has been banished. It has been discovered that he causes cancer in anyone he spends time with. He finishes with the thought, “I am standing in a kitchen in Brooklyn in 1945, reaching for the watch pieces to put them back together again…the photograph is in my hand, falling…lying in the sand at my feet.”

The chapter closes with this literary quote:

“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.”

- Albert Einstein


CHAPTER 5

An old man is visited by a stranger. The old man once was powerful but he is fighting old age. His visitor begins by asking about a list.


IMPACT OF THE BOOK

It seems clear to me that the producers of LOST have been heavily influenced by this book. I want to report any possible answers to the many questions of LOST that this book holds. I would highly recommend that you take a closer look at it. Or as the book would say: maybe you have read the book already, and will, and are.

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LT193: One Thing Leads To Another

ARMY MARCHES BACK

It seems a popular theory is that the US Army was there with bombs in order to time travel. If you recall the opening scene in Season 5, one of the workers in the Orchid tunnel jokes about travelling back in time to kill Hitler. Dr. Halliwax should have replied, “Yes, sir. Exactly.”

The theory is that the United States had a desire to take the bombs back before the start of WWII (or earlier?) and to use them to stop the war from ever happening. This has shades of avoiding the Cuban Missile Crisis or any other major human event.

Or the more simple explanation might not include time travel but merely the testing of new weapons. This is a verified fact that the US tested bombs in the South Pacific at the Marshall Islands.


JUGHEAD A DUD

The bombs dropped on Japan were atomic bombs, not hydrogen bombs like the Jughead. This model was never tested and it seems about five were ever made.

Faraday sees chemical burns on one of the Others and reasons he must have been near the bomb. However, a hydrogen bomb can’t do that. The only risk involved is if the plutonium inside was converted to a liquid form. This is possible, but it requires inhaling or ingesting the stuff to have any negative effects.

The plutonium in the Jughead was a solid form and surrounded by explosives. The science behind these bombs was that if precisely positioned explosives were properly exploded at very controlled time, then the pressure would actual compact the plutonium into a tighter ball. The high temperatures and the high pressure applied would then cause a nuclear reaction. So, setting off one explosive or one entire side of the explosives by a stray bullet would not likely cause enough compact pressure on the ball of plutonium. The worst case scenario is that some of the plutonium might liquefy and spread out on the ground.

In order to render it inert as Daniel suggests one would simply cut the wires to the explosives surrounding the plutonium. Then you would remove or deactivate the explosives by soaking the bomb in water.

Yes, the plutonium ball in the center of the bomb is radioactive threat. If ingested or inhaled it can cause radiation sickness, or it can cure cancer. Strange how nature works. And plutonium might have other odd effects such as impacting pregnancies.

Encasing the plutonium in concrete is a temporary solution as the radioactivity of plutonium lasts for thousands of years and concrete lasts but a few hundred years in the best of conditions. Still, you have to do something with the stuff.

After this research, the best course of action would be to a) cut the wires, b) seal the whole thing as is in concrete casket and c) ship it out to the ocean and drop it in the deepest part you can find. Widmore Industries seems adept at this type of ocean burials, so contact them.


I SEE LOST IN EVERYTHING

If random folks on the street were given a poll on what first came to mind with the word “Jughead” then I’m betting an untested bomb of the 1950’s were not the be top response. My bet is the #1 answer would be the Archies comic book character.

Just to prove how I can see LOST in everything, let’s go down this path first…


MERLIN

In yesterday’s posting I introduced the comic novel, Watchmen. A character in the book develops a special aircraft that he nicknames “Archie”. The character explains this is a shortened nickname of Archimedes, the name of Merlin’s pet owl. This fits when you know that the character in Watchmen goes by the nickname of the Night Owl.

This leads us to Merlin who was part fictional and part real. In the literary works that introduced us to Merlin we learn that he was born of demonic origin to become the Antichrist. This plan was thwarted when his mother realized the plan and quickly got the baby baptized.

The connection is that Aaron is like Merlin who avoided a possible future life of evil – one observed by Claire’s psychic – by being baptized by Mr. Eko. The island perhaps was not thrilled with this turn of events and literally took its anger out on our favorite pseudo-priest.

See the connection? Jughead leads to Archies, which leads to Archimedes, which leads to Merlin, which leads to evil plans, which leads to evil plan averted by baptism, which leads to Aaron being baptized, which leads to Eko paying the ultimate price.

And that is how I can see LOST in everything!


BACK TO JUGHEAD

In a similar line of thinking, Jughead leads to Archies comic book which simply leads to the Jughead character in the Archies comic book. Clean and simple is always better!

In an earlier post it was pointed out that Jughead’s real name in the comic series was Jones and it seems like we have seen that name somewhere. HA!

A little digging into Archies comics and I learned that Jughead had his own comic book spin-off. Here is a cover from the first issue:

Notice the redhead on the cover who reminds me of Charlotte. And let’s not forget her last name and first initial lines up with a LOST-connected author named C.S. Lewis.

It is always nice to find two or more connections to LOST in a wild goose chase, so let me be pointed out that Jughead’s pet was a dog named “Hot Dog”.

If we examine other full names for “Archie” we not only get Archimedes but we get Archibald.

There is a scientist we should all know for the sake of LOST. His name is John Wheeler. We should know him because he coined the terms “black hole”, “wormhole” and a theory that the universe is a constant time loop that is busy creating the past, the present and the future at the same time.

I can’t but help to think of Dharma WHEEL with the last name Wheeler. And his middle name is Archibald. Mr. Wheeler’s work is taken a bit further by another scientist whose lays out his time loop theory in some detail in a book called “Paradigms Lost”. Hmmm…

Wheeler had a major critic throughout his lifetime named Heisenberg who laid the groundwork for the uncertainty principle. Heisenberg argued that even the most carefully constructed plans were subject to the random variability of uncertainty. Heisenberg’s concepts suggested that the nice order of Wheeler’s theory was flawed because something was always changing the rules. It seems a little more than coincidence that Ben Linus complained about someone changing the rules during his life of time loops.

In order for Wheeler to keep his credibility, he had to respond. He wrote a book entitled, “The Great Smokey Dragon”. Smokey?

The correlation of possibly unrelated factoids stems from the name of the episode. If this is the case we come up with four interesting names: JOHN, WHEELer, ARCHIE, BALD. Can you say John Locke?


OTHER STRANGE CONNECTIONS

Foucault’s Pendulum was seen in the lab of Ms. Hawking. It is also the name of a book by an author named Mr. Eco. This author’s trilogy begins with a monk (think the hooded garment) who investigates a demonic influence (see Aaron’s baptism above). The middle book is Foucault’s Pendulum and the final book is entitled “The Island of the Day Before”.

Need more convincing? The third book is about guy who shipwrecks on an island on the earth’s dateline. The chapters in this book reference the Underground, a review of Hell, and the plurality of worlds.


RELATIONSHIPS

LOST has long focused our attention upon relationships from family ties to love triangles. But how about the possibility of a relationship between the island and the Survivors? What if the island needs a constant and the Oceanic 6 serves that purpose? Without them, the island is jumping through time like Desmond did before he contacted his constant. The island NEEDS the Oceanic 6.

The producers have hinted at the possibility of the island being a sentient thing. Very early in the show we had people wondering if someone’s consciousness was implanted in the Swan Hatch walls, we sure can allow the room of what we normally think as non-living rocks actually being very much alive.

Before you dismiss this do consider that another comic book introduced this same concept with The Thing. The Fantastic Four orange pile of rocks is very much portrayed as being alive right? And his real name is BENJAMIN JACOB GRIMM. I’m sure if I look hard enough there is a connection to The Shield, Vic Mackey and hopefully Jessica Alba!

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