# Lost 4.03: "The Economist" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556 "2008-02-14T04:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/61 "2008-02-15T15:23:59Z")
[QUOTE=Edward The Head] It was four total, Frank, Sayid, Desmond and the body. Charlotte stayed back saying she had things to do. I also see where my confusion came from over the clocks. I thought it was a timer and not a clock so I thought one said 25 minutes, the other 31 minutes, so it took the rocket 6 minutes longer to get there. Not that the actual time matters that much, I got the point about the time difference. [/QUOTE] No doubt it was a [31-minute difference](http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/2008/02/time-difference.html) ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/62 "2008-02-15T15:26:01Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] I was a little suprised that Jack and Faraday just stood around while a missile fell near the feet. Personally, I would have ducked. [/QUOTE] I’m surprised they shot a missle so close to their ‘copter. I was half expecting them to destroy the freakin’ thing. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/63 "2008-02-15T15:27:49Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] So, weren’t there a bunch of other Others out there? What are they up to? -Joe [/QUOTE] That’s a good question. What the heck happened to all the rest of the Others? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/64 "2008-02-15T15:34:24Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] That’s a good question. What the heck happened to all the rest of the Others? [/QUOTE] When we saw them last, they were on their way to the Temple. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/65 "2008-02-15T16:06:17Z")
[QUOTE=Trion] I’m surprised they shot a missle so close to their ‘copter. I was half expecting them to destroy the freakin’ thing. [/QUOTE] It wasn’t really a missile. No explosive. I suppose there’s a chance it could have hit a rotor or something else on the helicopter, but it was basically just a piece of metal, not designed to damage anything. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/66 "2008-02-15T16:09:01Z")
[QUOTE=Shoeless] IIRC, the number on the tail of the helicopter was some letter-842-some letter. (8 and 42.) [/QUOTE] In the season opener, there were lots of occurrances of “the numbers” in the murdered kid’s room when Ghostbuster Miles showed up. The other Others went to The Temple to hide when Ben took off for the radio tower last season. I wonder about the Italian guy that Sayid killed. Surely he knew, in advance, who Sayid was or else why did he make a point to chase him down on the golf course? Seems odd that he was taken by surprise. My friends are swearing that we only know who 2 of the Oceanic 6 are-- Hurley and Sayid. I say no way, that Jack and Kate have to be part of that group, too, even though they haven’t explicitly claimed to be. Thoughts? **tanstaafl** : I like your theory! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/67 "2008-02-15T16:09:51Z")
What does Naomi’s bracelet say? I can’t quite make it out in the picture linked above. " ----- always be with you RG" I would assume the “-----” is “I will” but it doesn’t _look_ like “I will” in the picture. Anyway, what if Naomi and Sayid’s girl are operatives of a similar sort for the same organization and this is a bracelet such operatives wear to remind them that they are being watched by their superiors. Or okay, more probably, Sayid gave her the bracelet. (Because otherwise it seems like he would have noticed it earlier and thereby known that the lady knew more than she was letting on.) -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/68 "2008-02-15T16:11:04Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] My friends are swearing that we only know who 2 of the Oceanic 6 are-- Hurley and Sayid. I say no way, that Jack and Kate have to be part of that group, too, even though they haven’t explicitly claimed to be. Thoughts? **tanstaafl** : I like your theory! [/QUOTE] Jack got a “golden ticket” and was thinking about “growing a beard” in order to disguise himself from all the fans. Pretty clearly one of the six. Kate probably is, too, especially given the preview for next week’s episode. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/69 "2008-02-15T16:14:34Z")
[QUOTE=Meltdown] Bumping – this is driving me crazy. I rewound it and watched it a couple of times and I couldn’t figure it out. Is there a transcript available on line somewhere? [/QUOTE] I happened to be watching the closed captioning.\* He said something to the effect of “That’s how you recruited me to do your killing for you.” -FrL- \*I originally started doing this because my little 11 month old sleeps on me until I go to bed and she tends to be a loud breather in her sleep, right in my ear, and sometimes wakes up crying. But I sometimes use captioning now even when I don’t have to because it often reveals the content of whispered or backgrounded conversations you wouldn’t have heard otherwise. Kind of cheating, I guess. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/70 "2008-02-15T16:15:05Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] My friends are swearing that we only know who 2 of the Oceanic 6 are-- Hurley and Sayid. I say no way, that Jack and Kate have to be part of that group, too, even though they haven’t explicitly claimed to be. Thoughts? [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure that in the trailers hyping the revelation of the “next” member of the Oceanic 6, they said it was the fourth member we’d be seeing. Perhaps I’m confabulating, but that’s what I remember ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/71 "2008-02-15T16:17:15Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] It wasn’t really a missile. No explosive. I suppose there’s a chance it could have hit a rotor or something else on the helicopter, but it was basically just a piece of metal, not designed to damage anything. [/QUOTE] Given enough speed, a piece of metal can do a lot of damamge. It looked to me like it was travelling fast enough. Then again, considering that it didn’t burry itself too far into the ground when it landed, I suppose it wasn’t that bad after all. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/72 "2008-02-15T16:21:21Z")
The island feels kinda like Tolkien’s Undying Lands…hard to get to directly; existing on a slightly off-kilter plane, and you can’t get there unless you’re special and/or know precisely where you’re going. Unrelated to last night’s episode: I just noticed something about the official Lost logo (used at the end of every commercial, upcoming preview, etc). It shows a cliff, and a reflection in the water – but the reflection is of something unrelated. Can anyone tell exactly what is being reflected in the water? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/73 "2008-02-15T16:22:03Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] I was a little suprised that Jack and Faraday just stood around while a missile fell near the feet. Personally, I would have ducked. [/QUOTE] I was surprised that Jack even let Faraday do his experiment in the first place. What an idiot-- Oh, yeah, let’s just let these people who are not here to rescue us fire rockets at us!! Interesting that time is slower on the island than out in the world. I wonder if that means when they’re rescued, they jump from 4 months to close to our current time without having to have the 3 or so years pass by. I was going to do the math, but the ship might be close enough that it is probably also being affected by the time warp. Oh, and don’t anybody be fooled by the peaceful helicopter scene towards the end-- that lovely weather can’t last after what Faraday told them about sticking to the same course no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/74 "2008-02-15T16:22:25Z")
I’m having trouble with the 31 minutes thing. Why is it the projectile came 31 minutes late, but the voices on the phone were not delayed at all? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/75 "2008-02-15T16:24:58Z")
Thanks Frylock! I have to figure out how to work my closed captioning. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/76 "2008-02-15T16:29:35Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I’m having trouble with the 31 minutes thing. Why is it the projectile came 31 minutes late, but the voices on the phone were not delayed at all? -FrL- [/QUOTE] The speed of light is constant, no matter what the reference frame. ---
**Author:** ![wasson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@wasson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wasson)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/77 "2008-02-15T16:32:00Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] Unrelated to last night’s episode: I just noticed something about the official Lost logo (used at the end of every commercial, upcoming preview, etc). It shows a cliff, and a reflection in the water – but the reflection is of something unrelated. Can anyone tell exactly what is being reflected in the water? [/QUOTE] It’s a cityscape. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/78 "2008-02-15T16:38:10Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] It wasn’t really a missile. No explosive. I suppose there’s a chance it could have hit a rotor or something else on the helicopter, but it was basically just a piece of metal, not designed to damage anything. [/QUOTE] A bullet is also just a piece of metal and this particular piece was traveling about 5 km per second. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/79 "2008-02-15T16:38:12Z")
The Misfit (linked to in the OP) has some funny lines, but I like the one where he says “I thOUGHT Saytid OVERREACTED slightly WHEN he lost THE golf BET by shooting the MAN!!” ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556/80 "2008-02-15T16:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] The speed of light is constant, no matter what the reference frame. [/QUOTE] I thought of that, but I’m not so sure that explanation works. (It may nevertheless be what the writers have in mind.) I’ll mull it over some more. But if time dilation due to acceleration is supposed to explain it, then that’s some _crazy ass_ acceleration the projectile had to have undergone somewhere on the trip to lose a whole 31 seconds, since the losties are apparently close enough to the boat that there is no noticeable delay between their speaking on the phone and the reciever hearing it on the other end. I don’t know the math in any detail, but it seems like the acceleration required for that amount of dilation over that small of a distance would be enough to rip the projectile apart. But I may just have the physics wrong, not to speak of the math. -FrL- [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-4-03-the-economist/437556.md?page=5)