Bill’s Lost Site

I have to fess up by saying that I am not a hot air balloon expert. However, a little research can go a long way.

During the interrogation Henry mentions that when his balloon is in the air that it contains 550,000 cubic feet of helium and 100,000 cubic feet of hot air. Is he bluffing? Seriously, those numbers sound good. But do they jive with typical hot air balloons?

Over at thinkquest.org they have a section on balloon dimensions. If I am reading this right it appears as if the capacity for a balloon that would carry between 1 and 5 people would be between 14,000 and 32,000 cubic feet. That is way off from the numbers provided by Henry.

But … I found an article describing Steve Fossett - the nut job who tried to fly around the world in a balloon solo style (I can’t recall if he did finally make it). Anyway, here is a description of his balloon:

Fossett will fly a helium and hot-air balloon combination, known as a Roziére. The balloon envelope will be much larger than the one used in his August 1998 flight - containing 550,000 cubic feet of helium, as opposed to 450,000 cubic feet before, and it contains 100,000 cubic feet of hot air. The balloon envelope is 140 feet tall and 60 feet wide. Click HERE for the link.

So this matches up exactly with what Henry was saying. Did he have a similar balloon to Fossett? Did he simply use Fossett’s dimensions for his bogus trip story? Hopefully we will find out soon.

OK - so we know the counter hit zero. We also know that the numbers changed into pictures. However, I couldn’t find a good screen cap until now. Here is what it looked like.

The word over on the Fuselage is that the images are really hieroglyphics. We can clearly make out 4 of the images - the 5th one never cycled through clearly enough to tell for sure what it is (although some people believe it is the symbol for a child).

There is endless debate over the translation of the hieroglyphics (if that’s really what they are). However, the consensus seems to be that translated the message is something like, “Cause to Die” or “You Will Die” or “Go Die”. The excellent post at the Fuselage can be accessed HERE. I have to warn you, at the time of this writing the post was already 38 pages long. It would take a solid hour to read everything but it is a good read.

So, assuming that it is hieroglyphics and assuming that the translation is correct I have a problem. Why use hieroglyphics? Why not just say, “Your Screwed” or something to that effect. If you are going to give a warning it seems odd that you would use Egyptian symbols to convey that thought. Also, when the symbols were appearing there were other symbols that we see for just a second. The best analogy that I have read is think of the clock like a slot machine. It cycles through many options - the numbers 0 through 9 and some symbols. For some reason the clock set to the symbols in the picture posted above.

What does it all mean. Well, if the translation is correct then it doesn’t sound like good news for our Lostie’s. I guess time will tell.

Coming from the Fuselage …

Henry Gale is an interesting name in a couple of ways.

First, Gale is used to describe the blowing of wind at a relatively high rate. Out of all the ways Henry could have ended up on the island he came via a balloon that was pushed off course, most likely through an unexpected gale of wind.

Second, the name Henry Gale will be familiar with the fans of the Wizard of Oz. That would be Dorothy’s uncle’s name. Of course Dorothy is taken up in a tornado (again wind) and is taken to this magical land (similar to our island?). Oz is special in that people can develop character and do things they never before dreamed of doing (Locke and his hunting). Oz could also ruin people through trials to test their courage, strength, etc. Most importantly, Oz was a controlled environment. The Wizard pulled all of the strings.

Sound familiar … I think so.

Not a pilot by any stretch of the imigination but I did a little research on ADF Beacons.

ADF stands for Automatic Direction Finder. Once activated they send out a signal that others can pick up on and navigate to. This type of equipment is very common on boats and on planes. It would be logical that Henry would carry something like this on his plane. That would also bolster his story about why he stayed on the beach so long. If he really used an ADF beacon then there is some hope that it might get picked up by a receiver.

We all wondered what would happen when the timer reaches 0. I’m not sure that we got an answer but here is what we do know.

Locke missed deadline and the timer did hit 0. Locke continues to try to enter the code after the fact. We don’t know if the system accepted the code after it hit 0 or if what happened would have happened anyway - even if Locke didn’t enter the code.

Once the timer expired you could definitely hear that something was happening. To me it sounded like a door was opening. I envisioned a missle silo that is opening up prior to an attack. However, since I have neither seen or heard a real missle silo as it prepares to attack I would not count myself an expert on the subject.

Anyway, at the same time the numbers are replaced with symbols or pictures. The first picture to appear is on the far right side. The image is clearly a bird. However, the other images that appear are less clear. One looks like it could be a rocket or missle, another looks like an arrow. The 4th one we just barely see and didn’t really look like anything to me. We never see what the 5th number turns into. I have a new post on the subject with pictures. Click HERE for that post.

For 12 seconds we wait between when the timer hits 0 and when it resets. At the end of the 12 seconds it sounds like whatever opened or was engaged is shutting down. Once the timer resets everything returns to normal.

What it all means I have no idea. However, it was very interesting … and it will be worth watching out for to see if anything has changed or was triggered by allowing the timer to drop to 0.

*** UPDATE *** I have added a new post about whispers being heard while Sayid “interrogates” Henry. Great stuff. Click HERE to go to the post.

Here is the information that Sayid was able to extract from Henry. Keep in mind that I think Henry is full of it so trust nothing he says but here goes:

Name: Henry Gale
Lived in: Minnesota
Wife’s Name: Jennifer Murphy (Maiden Name)
Crash Date: 4 months ago - maybe longer
Location: North side of the island? That is where the cave was that they lived in.
Equipment: Emergency Transmitter - an ADF Beacon (click HERE to learn about this)
Wife’s Status: Dead
How Did She Die: She was sick. She developed a fever and 2 days later she became delirious
Balloon Description: 140’ High., 60’ Wide, 550,000 cubic feet of Helium and 100,000 cubic feet of Hot Air (click HERE to read about hot air balloons)
Business: Sold – owned Mining operation – mined non-metallic minerals
Rich: Was rich … no longer though

Couple of other thoughts. First, I think he is definitely an Other. While being interrogated he appeared to be less afraid than a man should. Sayid had pliers out and was ready to break/rip fingers off and yet the man was calm. He then started to probe Sayid about who he lost on the island. He was in control of the situation.

Second, the man asked no questions about the group. He wasn’t curious at all? Stuck on a deserted island for 4 months and you finally meet people. You don’t have anything to ask? He doesn’t need to. He already knows more about them than they can imagine.

Third, why did he run. I know that Danielle is loopy an all but seriously. Sayid cuts you down and appears to be a good guy. Sayid has the gun. Why run – why not find out what is happening. To me the escape and Danielle’s shot seem to be a set-up.

But then again I could be wrong.

I am not a big fan of the idea that people just happen to end up on this island. I think the folks here are all supposed to be here. I also doubt that anyone crashed on this island.

If we assume that the guy caught in Danielle’s net is an “Other” then we have some problems. Was he really caught? If so, why was he walking alone? Why did nobody come to rescue him? Why was he dressed nicely - he had shoes and looked presentable. The “Others” - the ones that we weren’t supposed to see have all been ragged looking and barefoot.

So, I think you can make one of three conclusions - either he was sent in to infiltrate the group pretending to be a survivor of a balloon accident and was caught by Danielle. Option 2 - he really is a survivor of a balloon accident and was caught by Danielle. Option 3 - the whole thing is a con. By having Danielle “capture” the guy and turn him over she wins trust with the group. Trust that could prove to be valuable down the road.

Things are improving. Loved the episode. Here is what stood out:

1. Sayid’s flashback is from Desert Storm (appx 1991)

2. Where did Sayid learn perfect English? Nobody else in the room spoke any English. My guess is that Sayid’s family is wealthy … more on that later.

3. Danielle went to get Sayid to tell him about the captured Other. She mentioned that she was going to get Sayid in his tent at night. Yet, she is milling around the camp many, many hours before nightfall.

4. Related to #3 - is Danielle in on this? Was the capture a set-up? Click HERE for my thoughts on this.

5. I am not a frog expert but I am willing to guess that the frog is very specific to a certain region of the world. That might help us understand that we are talking about somewhere in the South Pacific or possibly an island off the coast of Africa.

6. How could Sawyer be surprised that Jin doesn’t like him any more? Is Sawyer really that dense?

7. Salad dressing is good for 7 years. It would stand to reason that Dharma was planning on repleneshing the hatch at least every 7 years. Maybe not though.

8. Our captured buddy - where was he walking through the jungle for 2 days? What was he hoping to do? Also, his clothes sure looked neat. He had an undershirt and then a nicer shirt over that. Maybe he found another hatch with a working Neptune Washer/Dryer set-up.

9. The man’s name is Henry Gale from Minnesota. Click here for more details that were extracted from the confession.

10. Danielle is a really good shot. To take the guy down while he was running - to hit him in a place that wouldn’t kill him but seriously disable him - wow. Not bad for a scientist.

11. Why didn’t the American interrogate Sayid’s commanding officer?

12. Sayid’s father was “a great hero”. Again - I bet this translates to wealth or opportunities which led to Sayid being trained in English.

13. Man Sawyer is a jerk. Why not give Hurley the frog. It’s not like I’m from PETA or anything but seriously - let the thing live.

14. The numbers went down to 0. Click here for my thoughts on that.

15. The soldier that is dropping off Sayid looks at a picture of what is presumably his daughter. Low and behold - it is a picture of Kate.

— BONUS —

Normally I don’t write about the previews for the next episode … but this one looked good and there were a couple of images that flashed that caught my eye.

1. We see doors in Claire’s flashback with the words “Escape Hatch”. What in the world has an escape hatch.
2. The Dharma logo is associated with the medical logo - the snake around the staff. Is Dharma’s fundamental research related to medicinal studies? Or is just this particular hatch?
3. It shows Claire on a table with a long needle being poked in her very pregnant tummy. Claire is awake during this and looks to be very calm.

I found some great screen caps from the preview. You can clearly see each of the items I highlighted above. Click HERE to view the pictures. Thanks to the blog The Tail Section for the pics.

Can’t wait to see what happens next.

*** Update *** Click HERE for a transcript of whispers in this episode.

From the Fuselage …

It appears that the call letters for the radio station that Sayid and Hurley picked up are WXR.

What’s interesting about the station is that it dates to 1945. The station broadcast out of Alaska and was ran by Coast Guard Radio.

There is a website that someone posted that describes this in more detail. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to bring up the site. Here it is though.

The Glen Miller band was the group that produced Moonlight Serenade that Hurley and Sayid picked up on the short wave radio.

Glen Miller’s band was the biggest of the bands in his era. He was a patriot to his country, serving in WWII.

However, the real interesting thing about Glen was how he died.

Traveling from England to France his plane disappeared. It was never found. The assumption was that it crashed and all occupants were killed.

Sound familiar?

For a quick bio of Glen Miller click HERE.

This is the book title that Locke is shaking upside down in the latest episode. The story is pretty interesting and was eventually turned into a Twilight Zone.

The basics are this (as I recall - I read the story years ago):

Man is believed to be a Confederate soldier in the Civil War. He is captured and taken to Owl Creek Bridge. Union soldiers wrap a noose around his neck and push him over the side to hang him. Only problem is that the rope breaks and the man falls the ground below. He manages to survive the fall and dashes off to the safety of his home to be reunited with his wife. Happy ending - The End.

Well, actually the end is him swinging from the bridge with the rope around his neck. The rope never broke. The entire story took place in a matter of seconds and was completely in his mind.

For those interested you can read the short story HERE.

Now the question is … did the writers throw this in here as a clue or red herring?

So, there does appear to be a book set for release called Bad Twin. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. Here is the link: Bad Twin

Off the Amazon page here are the details about the author:
Bad Twin is the highly-anticipated new novel by acclaimed mystery writer Gary Troup. Bad Twin was delivered to Hyperion just days before Troup boarded Oceanic Flight 815, which was lost in flight from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles in September 2004. He remains missing and is presumed dead.

What does this tell us? First, folks that are on the island did in fact get on a plane in Sydney. Second, the plane presumably crashed (or is missing). Finally, the story takes place now. Since the intro states that the plane crashed in 2004 we can assume any sort of time-travel/time-warp theories are not correct.

Very interesting plug here by the writers.

Another side note on this Bad Twin manuscript. We know that Lost writers love their anagrams. Ethan Rom is arranged into “Other Man” as an example from Season 1.

Well, Gary Troup can also be re-arranged into the most dreaded theory of all, Purgatory. I think the writer’s have a very sick sense of humor.

Thanks to the Fuselage for pointing this out.

Finally, there is a story in the LA Times that discusses this situation. It can be accessed at: LA Times

Again, not one of my favorite episodes. We learned that Sawyer is a jerk, that Charlie is mad at Locke and that Kate is jealous over the relationship between Jack and Ana Lucia. With that said, here are the points that I took note of:

1. They had a rocket launcher and what appeared to be body armor in the armory. Why would they need anything like that?

2. There are a total of 7 heroine statutes left.

3. The combo for the lock is mentioned again. Right 7, Left 33, Right 18

4. You know Charlie is really on the outs with the Losties. His new shelter didn’t include a tarp! I think even Vincent has a tarp for his set-up. Charlie is stuck with what looks like an airplane blanket. Ouch.

5. Cassidy is Sawyer’s long con’s name.

6. Is there a chance that Cassidy is in on the con? She seemed to be very alert as to the fact that Sawyer was conning her. At the end of the episode it looks like Sawyer takes her money but wouldn’t it be interesting if Gordy and Cassidy are in on this together to get Sawyer?

7. Elegant is the name of the magazine that Kate brings to Sawyer. I did some research and could not find this magazine anywhere. Most likely it is fictional and never existed so you can’t use it to date the hatch. Some over in the Fuselage have commented that it looks like Farrah Fawcett on the cover of the magazine - placing it between 1978-1982.

8. Bernard is a dentist.

9. When Hurley brings Sayid the short wave radio Sayid mentions that it is worthless. However, later in the episode Sayid says that they can pick up signals that are thousands of miles away. Doesn’t sound worthless to me. I wonder why Sayid initially dismissed the radio.

10. When Ana Lucia asked Jack for the combo to the armory was she joking? She played it off like a joke but I think she was testing the boundries to see how far Jack’s trust for her has progressed.

11. How in the world did Charlie sneak up behind Sun, place a bag over her head, tie her hands with a belt and then drag her through the jungle? That seems like it would be a pretty difficult task.

12. “Owl Creek Bridge” is the name of the book that Locke is shaking upside down in the hatch. Here is the post about the book which contains a link to the story.

13. What was Locke looking for? I would assume another hallowed out book? I wonder if Locke discovered that more of the filmstrip had been spliced? Also, why look right then? Did Sun’s disappearance somehow trigger a need to look for something?

14. Sawyer’s con buddy is named Gordy.

15. Why did Sawyer take 6 months to con Cassidy. Seems like he would have plenty of opportunities to take her cash. When he came back from meeting Gordy all of Cassidy’s cash was laying in a briefcase on the table.

16. Kate knows that Sawyer had an accomplice. How long until they discover Charlie was the one that bagged Sun?

17. The name of the manuscript that Hurley is reading is called “Bad Twin”. Click HERE for more info.

18. Glen Miller’s Moonlight Serenade was the song Hurley and Sayid heard. Click HERE for the post on the Glen Miller Band.

19. The call letters for the radio station are WXR. Click HERE to read the post about this station.

20. Why did Sawyer count? Was it simply to allow an appropriate amount of time before returning to the house? If so, Sawyer might want to invest in a watch.