popular thinking

TRYING TO FIND MEANING IN LOST: The search continues. In tonight's episode, "Everybody Hates Hugo," we get lots of flashbacks for how Hurley's life was when he found out he won the lottery with THE NUMBERS. Obligatory cross-reference scene has Hurley and former Mr. Clucks coworker (played by DJ Qualls) checking out a Driveshaft CD at the record store. We also find out that of the 23 (!) survivors from the rear of the plane, there aren't that many still hanging out in another Dharma Industries facility (logos noted), but that one of them is Bernard, who is married to Rose (although we didn't recall these two being an interracial couple -- did first-season flashbacks back this up?). Obviously, the two groups of crash survivors have played out their first 40-odd days with quite different results. Front part of the plane lost a couple of people but otherwise gotten along smoothly; rear section survivors seem to be playing out a "Lord of the Flies" mentality. Preview of next week's episode would have us believe that rear-section survivors have had multiple clashes with the real "Others" (as in the folks who nabbed Walt from the raft). All of which leads to more head-scratching. As Jack asks Sayid, so what do you think is going on?

Other oddness: Why does some of the food stored in the hatch pantry have a short shelf life?

Play the theory game: Check out any of these sites. The blog 815 has plenty of links and speculation. The Hanso Foundation site has several links; among them, The Hanso Life-Extension Project, The Hanso Foundation Electromagnetic Research Initiative, The Hanso Quest for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, The Hanso Mathematical Forecasting Initiative, The Hanso Cryogenics Development Imperative, The Hanso Juxtapositional Eugenics Development Institute, The Hanso Accelerated Remote Viewing Training Facility, and a "hidden" link to The Dharma Initiative, which lets you watch the orientation film. As other sites already have noted, the scientists in that film look more than kinda sorta like two of the "Others" on the boat that nabbed Walt. All of which leads to more head-scratching.