# Lost 1.18 "Numbers" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600 "2005-03-02T15:48:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/221 "2005-03-04T02:59:40Z")
> [@Kingspades](#): > > Anyway, the fact that the five “regular” lottery numbers (as opposed to the “powerball” which was 42) are less than or equal to 26 made me think they could correspond to letters. By translating them and shifting the cypher, the closest thing I could get to anything interesting was “QUBCK” (which is, of course, the sound a French Canadian duck makes). Oh, well. And QUBCK, unlike QUACK, does not echo. That is where the confusion comes from. (actually, now I got this image of a duck dressed in a mounty uniform going “Quack, eh?”) ---
**Author:** ![Squonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squonk)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/222 "2005-03-04T03:04:01Z")
Sorry if I missed this… Did Locke know it was Claire’s birthday? It’s hard to believe he just happened to build a crib for her on her birthday. And if he knew, how? > [@Odinoneeye](#): > > Did anybody else think that the bowl that Locke asked Claire to hand him was the same stuff he used on Boone. Hmmm. > [@Kingspades](#): > > Anyway, the fact that the five “regular” lottery numbers (as opposed to the “powerball” which was 42) are less than or equal to 26 made me think they could correspond to letters. By translating them and shifting the cypher, the closest thing I could get to anything interesting was “QUBCK” (which is, of course, the sound a French Canadian duck makes). Oh, well. Not going into details, but I have salt in my nose after reading that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/223 "2005-03-04T03:12:53Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Any thoughts on how Australian-Suicide-Guy used the numbers to guess how many beans there were in the contest? I’m having a difficult time envisioning how someone could collect 4,815,162,342 beans in one place… > > Maybe it was 4+8+15+16+23+42 = 108 beans, but that seems like too few… Good question. I couldn’t figure out how that would work either. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/224 "2005-03-04T03:15:28Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > You’re both wrong. > > Locke and Boone _and_ Hurley open the hatch. They peer in, and Hurley says, “Whoa, dude. Didn’t expect that!” Then Oscar the Grouch pops out. ---
**Author:** ![satogata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@satogata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/satogata)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/225 "2005-03-04T03:23:04Z")
> [@Sir Prize](#): > > Good question. I couldn’t figure out how that would work either. One alternative is 4_8_15_16_23\*42 = 7,418,880. At 10 beans per cubic inch (okay, them’s small beans), that’s a cube about 90 inches (7.5 feet) per side. That’s a whole lotta beans, but a feasible number for a near-impossible-to-guess game. Now I’m tempted to dial 741-8880 and tell the person who answers to watch out for the curse. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/226 "2005-03-04T03:29:49Z")
Do we have any proof that Walt’s luck is different than Hurley’s. The people around him seem to have bad luck. His parents split before he was born. His mother died. His father-in-law was freaked out by him. He was on a plane were many (most?) of the passengers died. I guess the father-in-law might make Walt different. He saw that there was something going on with Walt. Hurley has to deal with everyone getting upset whenever he mentions the curse. Even the widow of the guy in Australia. It’s worth noticing that Hurley seems to be able to counter the curse sometimes. E.g., stopping the guy from replacing the light bulb and helping Charlie get off the bridge. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/227 "2005-03-04T03:35:46Z")
> [@satogata](#): > > One alternative is 4_8_15_16_23\*42 = 7,418,880. At 10 beans per cubic inch (okay, them’s small beans), that’s a cube about 90 inches (7.5 feet) per side. That’s a whole lotta beans, but a feasible number for a near-impossible-to-guess game. > > Now I’m tempted to dial 741-8880 and tell the person who answers to watch out for the curse. > 😉 The other alternative is that it is a phone number - 481-516-2342. However, 481 isn’t a US or Canadian area code. Oh well… ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/228 "2005-03-04T03:51:38Z")
> [@Squonk](#): > > Sorry if I missed this… > > Did Locke know it was Claire’s birthday? It’s hard to believe he just happened to build a crib for her on her birthday. And if he knew, how? > … Perhaps he read her diary, too, but he tends to notice more detail than Charlie. Like the entry she made one year before on that date that said “Happy Birthday to Me!”. Or perhaps he was just lucky that he happened to decide to make her a cradle and give it to her on the day that happened to be her birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/229 "2005-03-04T03:57:15Z")
> [@Sir Prize](#): > > Do we have any proof that Walt’s luck is different than Hurley’s. The people around him seem to have bad luck. His parents split before he was born. His mother died. His father-in-law was freaked out by him. He was on a plane were many (most?) of the passengers died. > > I guess the father-in-law might make Walt different. He saw that there was something going on with Walt. Hurley has to deal with everyone getting upset whenever he mentions the curse. Even the widow of the guy in Australia. > > It’s worth noticing that Hurley seems to be able to counter the curse sometimes. E.g., stopping the guy from replacing the light bulb and helping Charlie get off the bridge. Father-in-law? Walt’s married? Man, that’sworse than Kentucky! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/230 "2005-03-04T04:04:43Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > If scantily clad was the only thing on our minds, we’d be watching _America’s Next Top Model_ on UPN instead. Well, if you’re going to be picky, then let’s say “scantily-clad _interesting_ castaways.” Happy now? If I want to look at fashion plates, I have the internet. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/231 "2005-03-04T04:38:34Z")
Those numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42\*) are all retired uniform numbers on the New York Yankees. Maybe one of the writers is a Yankees fan? Zev Steinhardt \*42 was retired all around MLB for Jackie Robinson in 1997. However, players that were wearing it at the time were allowed to continue wearing it. No doubt had MLB not done so, the Yankees would have retired it for Mariano Rivera after he retired. ---
**Author:** ![jeffh3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@jeffh3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeffh3000)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/232 "2005-03-04T05:07:33Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Hurley is Hispanic? How did I miss that? > > $156 million? Hmmmm…how _you_ doin’? 😉 > > Question: How the hell did Claire know it was her birthday? I can assume someone is keeping track of the days, but Claire has amnesia and lost her memory since right before the crash. Did I miss a conversation where someone told her, “Oh, yeah, today is the 17th?” > > I don’t know why they don’t invite the French chick to join them. And what is this mysterious illness she keeps talking about? > > Did anyone notice that while everyone around him has bad luck, Hurley seems to keep coming up roses? The sneaker company burned down, but it was overinsured. He was arrested, but won a false arrest lawsuit. The plane crashed, but he’s spry and is able to avoid traps. I wonder if Hurley will continue to have an invisible shield around him. This whole episode reminds me of 2 shows. First is a show called “strange luck” in which the main character had tremendous good and bad luck, horrible things would happen around him, but he would always escape unscathed. The other is an episode of X-files which this is almost a duplicate of. The character had great luck, but the better his luck got, the worst everyone around him luck became. He eventually bought a lotto ticket, won and then everyone started dieing around him. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/233 "2005-03-04T05:11:52Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Our Amber alert (No. CA) was when Hurley visited the Australian widow. She just mentioned the car crash that lost her her leg, when BBBBRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! > > So, anyone mind recapping the rest of that conversation? **Widow** : On the way 'ome, pickup truck blows a tire on the 'ighway. Hits us head on. Lost my let that night. **Hurley** : What about Sam? **Widow** : Barely a scratch. Most people would consider themselves lucky. But not him. He was never the same after that. He started keeping a record. Anything terrible that happened to anyone 'round us, he believed it was all because he used those numbers. He moved us out here in the middle of nowhere, hoping it would stop. **Hurley** : Did it? Did he ever find a way to make it stop? **Widow** : Yep… He put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger… What is it you’re looking for, Mr. Reyes? **Hurley** : I used them… the numbers. To win the lottery. And now I think I’m under the same curse. **Widow** : Curse? There’s no curse! **Hurley** : But you just told me… **Widow** : Do you think I’d still have my leg if Sam hadn’t have picked the right number of beans? You think that floods wouldn’t have happened, that homes wouldn’t have burned down? that people wouldn’t have died?! **Hurley** : Well… yeah. **Widow** : You make your own luck, Mr. Reyes. Don’t blame it on the damn numbers! You’re looking for an excuse that doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/234 "2005-03-04T05:13:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Lost my let that night. LEG. Grrrrrr… “Lost my **leg** that night.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/235 "2005-03-04T05:27:16Z")
> [@](#): > > “You make your own luck, Mr. Reyes. Don’t blame it on the damn numbers! You’re looking for an excuse that doesn’t exist.” A lot of people have speculated that Walt has some power that can make things happen. What if Hurley has the same power? Maybe everyone else is right - maybe he is making his own luck. Perhaps the only reason these bad things are happneing around him are because he believes he is cursed by the numbers. ---
**Author:** ![jeffh3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@jeffh3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeffh3000)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/236 "2005-03-04T05:50:13Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > Which answers the question of what happens when lucks collide. 🙂 > > [WAG Tinfoil Hat On] > **Hampshire** , I like it. I think you may be right, in a sense–the people who put the hatch there, though they may not have been trapped inside, broadcast those numbers … why? > > So whoever sent them there (military, whatever) would know which “unit” they were, and maybe come get them. > > Why the numbers are cursed … I’m still working on that. 🙂 > [/Tinfoil Hat] Well the orginal “numbers” broadcast was supposed to be a distress call as well, CFL just changed it. I assume that the broadcasters were stuck at one time as well. (maybe the numbers are even co-ordinates to the island in some way we have not determined) My big question is how did getting CFL and her team there help the orginal broadcasters(referring to the “luck” of the numbers). My thought is that they are still there, and are what CFL is so afraid of. Knowing JJ Abrams and the story so far, I would guess that there will be a “good vs evil” battle at some point. With some people possibly going to the other side. This may have been playing out on the island for a long time and CFL is the last survivor of her “side” from the most recent round and explains the “mystery illness” that her crew had. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/237 "2005-03-04T09:28:01Z")
Yeah, my bad for saying the broadcast was picked up in Australia. Got that mixed up in my brain. But still, I think it’s a valid question (so much so that I’m repeating this conversation in the Lost Questions thread). The guy was at some sort of listening post (right?? Now I’m paranoid) which to me implies that it’s at least a semi-permanent type of thing where one could expect someone to be stationed for a long time. Once the first guy left, someone else should have replaced him and been in position to pick up the CFL’s broadcast. But to me, the more important point is that it pretty securely demonstrates (to me, anyway) that the island is physically located on our Earth and communication with the outside world is not impossible. ---
**Author:** ![EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilHamsterOnCrack)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/238 "2005-03-04T11:30:03Z")
The thing is though, Hurley wasn’t thinking he had bad luck when he won with the numbers, so that whole “you make your own luck” thing doesn’t fly with me. It wasn’t until he was at his bank(?) that he found out about the numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/239 "2005-03-04T15:46:14Z")
Yes, but as most of the people around him said, sometimes bad luck just happens. Perhaps his grandfather just died because he was 70 years old and it really was just a freak lightning storm that killed the priest. But then, by thinking he was under a curse and believing bad things were going to happen around him, Hurley’s “power” caused them to happen. If Walt can make a polar bear appear by reading a comic book, then Hurley could make a house catch on fire or a guy jump out a window. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/240 "2005-03-04T16:14:25Z")
Interesting. Are you speculating the numbers can be benign but that Hurley’s power over them manifested itself negatively because he was expecting it to? Also, would anyone be surprised if Walt had seen those numbers before? Walt’s luck, while good for him, has been bad for others as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600.md?page=13)