Welcome, castaways! Lost 1.12

[levdrakon]

@WhyNot

Note to Levdrakon: datura is very, very potent. It’s possible to give yourself an experience not unlike Boone’s simply by pruning it without gloves and rubbing the leaves between your hands into a ball to throw it all away. :smack: I. Thought. I. Was. Dying.

Seriously, datura is not for the uninitiated, or for recreational use. It should only and if ever be used under the strict supervision of a medicine man or shaman who is trained in dosage and use. It’s very, very possible to overdose on it from only skin contact. An overdose includes respiratory and heart failure. The leaves, the seed pods, the seeds and the roots are all active. I have no idea why it’s legal and other plants aren’t.

I’m glad it is still legal though. I hate it when the government tells me what I can or cannot grow. Datura is a really nice plant.

I’d like to know more about Locke as the “Colonel.” What was this group he was hanging with, and is that where he learned all this survival stuff?

He mentioned being a Webelo. My roommate told me that’s for handicapped kids, but I don’t believe it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find anything out about Webelos by googling. Just how long had he been in a wheelchair?

[Rillian]

@levdrakon

I’d like to know more about Locke as the “Colonel.” What was this group he was hanging with, and is that where he learned all this survival stuff?

He mentioned being a Webelo. My roommate told me that’s for handicapped kids, but I don’t believe it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find anything out about Webelos by googling. Just how long had he been in a wheelchair?

Colonel: This was just a nickname (apparently) for Locke used by him and a friend when playing a board game a la Risk during breaks at work - the “box company”.

Webelo: not just for handicapped, it’s for any boy and is a transition rank between Cub Scout and Boy Scout in the Boy Scouts of America program.

From scouting.org

Webelos. This program is for boys who have completed third grade (or are age 10). A boy may begin working on the Webelos badge as soon as he joins a Webelos den. This is the first step in his transition from the Webelos den to the Boy Scout troop. As he completes the requirements found in the Webelos Handbook, he will work on activity badges, attend meetings led by adults, and become familiar with the Boy Scout requirements–all leading to the Arrow of Light Award.

How long in a wheelchair? We learn in the Locke backstory episode that he has been a wheelchair for four years, but we don’t learn what put him there.

[levdrakon]

@Rillian

Colonel: This was just a nickname (apparently) for Locke used by him and a friend when playing a board game a la Risk during breaks at work - the “box company”.

Webelo: not just for handicapped, it’s for any boy and is a transition rank between Cub Scout and Boy Scout in the Boy Scouts of America program.

From scouting.org

How long in a wheelchair? We learn in the Locke backstory episode that he has been a wheelchair for four years, but we don’t learn what put him there.

Do we know for sure the “Colonel” is just from role playing? Could it be from some sort of militia thing?

I didn’t know that we knew for sure he was in a chair for four years. That clears that part up. But now I still want to know when he picked up all this hunter/survivor skill stuff. Before, as part of some real training, or after, as part of his role playing life?

[Monstre]

@Rillian

Webelo: not just for handicapped, it’s for any boy and is a transition rank between Cub Scout and Boy Scout in the Boy Scouts of America program.

Right, and to add to this – I started out in Cub Scouts when I was a kid. The first “badge” you earn is the Wolf Badge, then the Bear Badge, then the last “rank” is Webelo. The word actually comes from “We’ll Be Loyal scouts”.

I dropped out somewhere between the Wolf and Bear badges, if I recall. Didn’t stay in it too long.

[Rillian]

[QUOTE=Monstre]
The first “badge” you earn is the Wolf Badge, then the Bear Badge, then the last “rank” is Webelo. QUOTE]

Nitpick: The first rank of Cub Scouts is Bobcat, then Wolf, then Bear, then Webelo. At least since the mid-70s until today.

[Rillian]

@levdrakon

Do we know for sure the “Colonel” is just from role playing? Could it be from some sort of militia thing?

I didn’t know that we knew for sure he was in a chair for four years. That clears that part up. But now I still want to know when he picked up all this hunter/survivor skill stuff. Before, as part of some real training, or after, as part of his role playing life?

We don’t know for for certain, but we do know Locke’s boss at the box company, Randy, taunts Locke about Locke’s friend calling him Colonel. Randy says he went through Locke’s personnel record and there was no mention of military service.

Given Locke’s rather pitiful attachment to a phone sex worker, Helen, and his drudge job at the box company, I presume the writers mean for us to assume that Locke learned his survival skills through reading in preparation for the walkabout, and not that he has a secret Special Ops background.

[Larry_Mudd]

@Rillian

Nitpick: The first rank of Cub Scouts is Bobcat, then Wolf, then Bear, then Webelo. At least since the mid-70s until today.

I don’t know if it’s peculiar to Canadian Scouts, but when we were coming up it was “Beaver” before “Wolf Cubs.” Beavers. Eesh.

[Monstre]

@Rillian

Nitpick: The first rank of Cub Scouts is Bobcat, then Wolf, then Bear, then Webelo. At least since the mid-70s until today.

Yeah, that sounds right… I remember Wolf being the first big one – the very first one was some piddly little thing that was too easy to get. And hey, I can’t be expected to remember every little thing from when I was 7 or 8 years old.

Given Locke’s rather pitiful attachment to a phone sex worker, Helen, and his drudge job at the box company, I presume the writers mean for us to assume that Locke learned his survival skills through reading in preparation for the walkabout, and not that he has a secret Special Ops background.

Yep – that’s what I’ve taken it to mean. Although his personality sure has taken a 180 degree turn. From a guy who has deluded himself into believing that his favorite phone sex girl would go away with him, to a guy who is wise, intuitive, and seemingly a born leader.

[Monstre]

Clarifying – I think that actually Locke has done more to prepare than just read about survival skills. I think he’s probably practiced and prepared in some other ways, although obviously not ways that required walking. But I remember the bit about no military experience, and I think his only hunter/tracker/etc background is whatever preparing he did for his Walkabout.

[Briny_Deep]

Thought I would offer a bit of speculation on Boone’s last name, Carlisle or Carlyle. Thomas Carlyle was another Enlightenment philosopher who wrote on leadership. He rejected both democracy and monarchy, and believed in natural leadership through charisma and heroism. (Boone is now definitely in the “follow thou me” camp w.r.t. Locke.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle

Wish I could draw some sort of connection from Shannon Rutherford to Baron Rutherford of Nelson, the father of nuclear physics, but I can’t seem to. Maybe Shannon will have bigger surprises up her sleeve.

[Askia]

Sorry I’m late joining the party.

Nobody here has said it, so I will: I think now we know who knocked out Sayid weeks back. It wasn’t Ethan, it was Locke. Same sneaky behind the back blow to the head.

I don’t believe anyone here has made mention of Michael finding his own luggage yet. He was looking inside a small wooden box, which he quickly hid from Walt, that made him seem introspective and wistful. It’ll be interesting to know what brought that on in next week’s backstory. Maybe we’ll get a clue as to why Walt is supposedly so lucky.

BTW, I don’t believe Walt’s found comic book has anything to do with him supposedly “wishing” the polar bears into existence. I think it was meant to be foreshadowing for the sharp-eyed viewer. Didn’t Rosseau see the bears, too?

TCM came out of the ground and can fly-- at least, during Boone’s dream quest. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s any truth to it. Did Boone see the “real” TCM or not? Did the salve create the Shannon hallucination or did something else cause it? Personally, I think it had something to do with TCM.

Boone essentially was asking himself questions using Shannon as a proxy: Locke tied me up – why? What is the metal in the dirt? If it is a hatch, where does it go?

So much of Lost seems to be leading below the surface: the TCM came from the ground, Rosseau’s lair is partly buried, the island’s transmission sources are below ground, the metal hatch is buried. Locke is excavating clues.

Sayid assumes the compass Locke gave him is defective – but what if Locke gave it to Sayid as a clue to the real nature of things? It reads the “wrong” magnetic north. Sayid himself says, “A minor magnetic anomoly might explain a variance of two or three degrees, but not this.” So maybe he’s right and the compass is defective… or maybe it’s working just fine and there’s a MAJOR magnetic anomoly on the island that causes the compass to read wrong. What could that mean? The source of the transmission…? Where the Others are?

Locke is building a coalition. He’s got Boone, Charlie. He can intice Walt and he’s angling for Sayid. Seemingly untapped are Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Michael, Sun, Jin, Hurley, Rose and Shannon and the rest of the survivors. Claire is with Ethan and the Others. Rosseau is unallied, perhaps a wild card.

Interesting to see where this all goes.

[BiblioCat]

[QUOTE=Rillian]

@Monstre

The first “badge” you earn is the Wolf Badge, then the Bear Badge, then the last “rank” is Webelo. QUOTE]

Nitpick: The first rank of Cub Scouts is Bobcat, then Wolf, then Bear, then Webelo. At least since the mid-70s until today.

Even more of a nitpick: When the boys are in First Grade, they’re Tigers. Second Grade is Wolves and Third Grade is Bears. Fourth and Fifth Graders are Weblos One and Weblos Two, respectively. The first badge they can earn as Tigers (or whenever they join) is the Bobcat, then they earn the Tiger or Wolf or Bear badge when the troop has its Blue and Gold Banquet, usually in the Spring.
My son is a Bear, and he has nearly done all his requirements to earn his Bear Badge. At the Blue & Gold Banquet, he’ll get the Bear Badge. Then about a month or so later at graduation, they’ll do a little ceremony where the boys “bridge up” where they walk over a little bridge (it’s a little corny), and the leader takes off his Bear kerchief and puts the Weblos kerchief on him.

[Monstre]

@Askia

TCM came out of the ground and can fly-- at least, during Boone’s dream quest.

Looked to me like a small tree being ripped out of the ground – not the TCM itself, which we still haven’t seen.

So maybe he’s right and the compass is defective… or maybe it’s working just fine and there’s a MAJOR magnetic anomoly on the island that causes the compass to read wrong.

Yep, that’s what I was thinking, too. I think there’s definitely more that will be found out underground, something affecting the compass readings.

[jsc1953]

A question that’s too snarky for the official Questions thread: why, on a flight from Sydney to LA, were there so few Australians?

[Monstre]

@jsc1953

A question that’s too snarky for the official Questions thread: why, on a flight from Sydney to LA, were there so few Australians?

Well, there was Claire… I think she’s Australian?

Maybe only the tourists survived the crash. Perhaps the island has more insidious plans for them.

[RikWriter]

@jsc1953

A question that’s too snarky for the official Questions thread: why, on a flight from Sydney to LA, were there so few Australians?

Because no one from Sydney would WANT to go to LA?

[Rillian]

@jsc1953

A question that’s too snarky for the official Questions thread: why, on a flight from Sydney to LA, were there so few Australians?

Isn’t that Sydney to Singapore?

Why would Jin and Sun be flying to South Korea by way of LA?

When Jack is checking in, he says to the agent, “a hearse will be meeting me at LAX in 16 hours to take my father to the funeral home.” A flight from Sydney to LAX takes less than 13.5 hours. Is he checking in 2.5 hours early?

[Askia]

@Monstre

Looked to me like a small tree being ripped out of the ground – not the TCM itself, which we still haven’t seen.

I saw no tree. I checked. I saw a hunk of ground fly up and the actors instantly reacting to the sound. Then there were two edits from a bird’s eye view of whatever was chasing them before it lifted Shannon off the ground. I watched that sequence at least seven times. That said, if this were a herbal hallucination, this means little. If this were a TCM-induced hallucination (don’t ask me how or why) that somehow included an interactive Shannon phantom this observation may have some merit.

[levdrakon]

@Rillian

Isn’t that Sydney to Singapore?

Why would Jin and Sun be flying to South Korea by way of LA?

When Jack is checking in, he says to the agent, “a hearse will be meeting me at LAX in 16 hours to take my father to the funeral home.” A flight from Sydney to LAX takes less than 13.5 hours. Is he checking in 2.5 hours early?

In this day and age, for international flights 2.5 hours is normal. Especially when you’re trying to check something like a coffin.

[silenus]

Speaking of bad trips…

http://www.freewebs.com/lostfoundation/sawyersong.html
Sawyer goes Llama!