The Dharma Initiative and the Ba Gua

Update: Film link below no longer works, as the Hanso website is now all ugly and Flash-based. You can follow more of my “LOST” notes in the TV category.

Update: The Dharma Initiative Orientation film (SPOILERS!) is now up on the Hanso Foundation website. You’d think they would post a higher quality copy, that being the “official” website and all. Obviously polar bears got to the film reel and had a chew on it before they could do a capture and transfer to Flash.


At this moment, 9:26pm of 5 Oct 2005, there are exactly zero results on Google for “The Dharma Initiative.” That’s going to change starting in the next thirty minutes or so. I’m pleased to see that my “Lost” theory as of last episode was close, though not too close, but I knew the ba gua was significant. Possible spoilers follow; highlight the text to read.

My theory from before this episode, “Orientation”: [SPOILER]The ba gua, popularly a Chinese good luck emblem, is the logo of Dharma, a company involved in manipulating the fabric of chance and reality based on the thoughts and desires of its “customers.” The island is their testing ground, but something has gone wrong, and the experiment is pulling people to itself, stretching out tentacles of chance to anyone infected directly or indirectly, with The Numbers — a memetic pathogen which changes its victims’ luck, bending reality around them and ultimately drawing them to the island, where the experiment brings to life the thoughts and desires of the more “sensitive” survivors. The polar bear, the shark, the Monster, the anomalies and sicknesses, are all the result of Dharma Corp’s meddling in the fabric of reality, but ultimately have sprung from the tortured minds of the characters. Kind of like that “Shore Leave” episode of classic Star Trek.[/SPOILER]

Revealed on tonight’s episode of Lost: [SPOILER]The Dharma Initiative, a collective of 1980s scientists who conducted research in a variety of fields with the funding of a wealthy benefactor, refer to the island as a “station” with unique electromagnetic qualities. The Numbers are some kind of maintenance routine which resets Desmond’s counter and keeps something from happening. (A dimensional rift? The release of a world-threatening pandemic? Nothing at all?) It would seem that the various phenomena on the island are results of the scientists’ experiments from long ago. (But not too long ago; c’mon, Betamax was around by 1980. Dharma could have shot their instructional videos on tape. The “film” was so obviously an edited video with strobe and dust-and-scratches filters applied to it. Too much fancy graphics work and clarity for a simple 8mm or 16mm film.)[/SPOILER]

It’s kind of funny that the ba gua (or pa kwa, as I knew it growing up) is treated with such mystery in this series. I was surrounded by pa kwas in the Philippines, whose culture is strongly influenced by its significant Chinese heritage. (Both sides of my family are part Chinese.) Thousands of houses in Manila have the little red pa kwa mirror over their front doors to invite good luck and ward off evil spirits. I was not particularly fond of the emblem myself.

Updates: Also see The Hanso Foundation, and the same person seems to have registered TheDharmaInitiative.com. Collin vs. Blog has some background on Desmond’s choice of reading material. More on that, and references to the “black air,” from Mostly Muppet. Also note this reference to B. F. Skinner. Egoplex has some thoughts on The Numbers, 108, and solar rotations.

Ooohh, something that just occurred to me: when Michael’s ex (Walt’s mother) left to go to Europe with Walt, what was this huge, high-paying job she was going off to take? My theory is that it was something to do with the Dharma Initiative, which would explain Walt’s deeper involvement with the island’s goings-on. Maybe Walt has Polar Bear Summoning Powers or something.

More ruminations in the next entry.

Comments

  1. JustAGirl says:

    Fascinating theories! Thanks for sharing them.

  2. timsamoff says:

    Interesting, Paulo… Very interesting. Hmmm. :)

    And now, “The Dharma Initiative” isn’t coming up in Google anymore… What is going on? What does _that_ mean? ;)

  3. Julie says:

    ‘the same person’ who registered the sites is Disney corp…aka ABC…

  4. hahaha says:

    Walt’s mom was lawyer. The high paying job she got was as a partner at a law firm.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I don’t know if this was mentioned before, but everytime they show Walts comic book they show the page with the polar bear on it. So the bear could have come from walts imagination

  6. Anonymous says:

    The high paying job she got was as a partner at a law firm…in Amsterdam.

    The scientists who started the Dharma initiative were named DeGroot (a Dutch surname).

    There are other links to Amsterdam but I can’t think of them right now.

    All this means…maybe not a thing

  7. SourceOfEvil says:

    dude, “the guy” who registered the hanso foudation, is actually ABC network:

    Welcome to the Internet sites of the Walt Disney Internet Group (“WDIG”). WDIG includes Disney.com, ABCNEWS.com, ABC.com, ESPN.com, DisneyStore.com, Go.com, Movies.com, and FamilyFun.com and other Internet sites affiliated with The Walt Disney Company (each a “WDIG Site”). WDIG is operated by The Walt Disney Company and its affiliates (collectively referred to herein as “we,” “us,” or “our”).

    was found on the terms of use link down the page.

  8. Phillip says:

    There’s a secret link on The Hanso Foundation website, just under all of the other links, that displays the orientation video found on the island.

  9. horhay1704 says:

    Walt was not the only one who saw the polar bear so it couldn’t have just been his imagination.

  10. Dave Kellett says:

    http://www.the-dharma-initiative.org/ this is the website for the dharma initiative

  11. Paulo says:

    I don’t think so; an official “Lost”-related website would have the same representative from ABC in the WHOIS info, and there would be a subtle link to an official Terms of Use policy. No, there’s just a lot of fan sites popping up.

  12. Ed Ache says:

    Good stuff.

  13. iluvlost says:

    im from england and i havent seen many episodes but i love it never the less. i think the man in the phschoatrical ward is a man who use to live within the bunker that is why he repeats the numbers, obviously the numbers have a super natural meaning with their constant use within the film.

  14. Lost watcher says:

    did anyone see the swan symbol on the shark that swam by in the 2nd season premier? it was on its tail

  15. Krieghund says:

    I did indeed see the symbol on the shark. It’s the miracle of TiVo. Now I just need to hook up and old reel-to-reel tape recorder so that I can play back all the “backwards masking” audio from the Orientation film. And yes, Beta was around in 1980, but it’s a magnetic medium, and would have been erased by the strong magnetic current at Swan Station, hence the 8mm. It is also interesting that when the Orientation mentions zoology, the image shown is of two polar bears. So what is it that Alvar Hanso wants, anyway?

  16. Mike says:

    Dont know if this was discovered or not but Hurley’s numbers do add up to 108. Which was the counter reset number!

    Also in the Orientation film the founder is actually loche’s Father. When they pan ito the window of the headquarters window you can see him. This would explain Loche’s deep relationship with the island. I also beleive that loche has been to the island before!

    Keep them coming everyone!

  17. Linda says:

    Is anyone pursuing Desmond’s reference to his rescuer, Calvin, with whom Desmond took shifts to push the button every 108 minutes and who died at some point leaving Desmond alone? My path of inquiry: John Calvin (1509-1564), a leader of the Protestant Reformation, one-time lawyer, humanist and admirer of Erasmus before experiencing a “sudden conversion” which he claimed freed him from his father’s shackles (connection to Lock’s father?) Calvin believed in predestination — that there are the Elect (those whom God predestined for salvation regardless of their behavior on earth — connection to Lock? the survivors?) and the Reprobates destined for eternal damnation (the Others?) regardless of the lives they lead on earth. Calvin was labeled a heretic in his native France. He fled to Geneva, a refuge for exiles and expatriots at that time (the island?) So, is there a ratio — Calvin:the Elect::John Lock:the survivors of Flight 815? Is there a relationship between Calvin’s Geneva and the island? Is Calvinism a leitmotif of the series? I’m also going to pursue John Hobbes, Calvin’s philosophical opposite. Maybe the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, too.

  18. Maddy says:

    John Locke is the name of the philosopher involved in the United States Constitution.

  19. Aaliyah C. says:

    we all know that 108 is the sum of “the numbers”, but the days that the two guardians were supposed to stay in the hatch are 540, that is what you get if you multiply 108 times 5… does anyone know why these freakin’ numbers appear everywhere?

  20. Rodin says:

    1) The reference in the Orientation film to B.F. Skinner may refer to his behavior modification experiments where he tested how long someone would continue to do a certain behavior (enter a sequence of #s every 108 minutes) if they were told that failing to do it had bad consequences but were not told what the consequences were. The film does not mention any conquences or why – just an instruction that the behavior must be done.

    2)Desmond’s “lab” is station 3. I suspect there are other stations in the Dharma Initiative and that all of them are sprinkled across the island.

    3) perhaps the the man in the psycho ward was on the Island, but part of another station, where the crew were being conditioned that the Numbers were “bad”.

    4) The Orientation film mentioned several different types of scientific experiments other than Station 3’s electromagnetic focus. I suspect the polar bears are part of another DI station studying zoology and Walt’s premonitions make him valuable to the DI team studying paranormal psychology. Perhaps the French woman is part of another DI station.

    5) What went wrong at Hanso Foundation that they stranded Calvin since he was supposed to be replaced years ago?

  21. Tom says:

    Why does the “big guy” never discuss his relationship to the “numbers” ???

  22. Tom says:

    The girl from The Pit was having drinks with Jack in the Lounge before the flight….Correct??

  23. Zardos says:

    What does the old Dutch Guy want ?

    One of the Mission Statements of the Hanso Foundation is “Life-Extension”

  24. Zardos says:

    I cut sum audio out of the episode where Walt is reading aloud from a magazine with a polar bear in it….yes ?

    anyway i don’t know what he says (yet) but the background music sounds the same backwards as forwards.

  25. mike says:

    at the end of the film, the man warns not to use the computer for….. , then the film skips some dialogue. what he could have said was do not attempt to use the computers code for outside purposes. hence, the bad luck hurly had after playing the numbers in the lottery!

  26. Zardos says:

    we know what walt says (backwards) when he comes back all wet right ?

  27. lost watcher says:

    No Zardos, what does he say>>>??? I’m dying to know!

  28. Zardos says:

    the first parts hard to here. it goes

    *something* press the button, the button is bad

  29. stephen fell says:

    Hello all,

    I am from the UK and we are not event half way through the 1st series however after a trip to the USA i got me the 1st series on DVD. O yes I wont spoil it for anybody from the UK on here but what a show, I have been watching series 2 on the internet and it looks even better that the 1st.

    Just one question, what does jack and desmond seem to know each other ?????

    Thank you

  30. Mats Caspar says:

    I usually don’t watch Lost, but I found this article in a norwegian newspaper

    about the Hanso-video interesting(in Norwegian):

    http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2005/10/07/445691.h…

    The buliding in the video is the town-hall in the northern norwegian city of Narvik.

    The person clearly visible in the window is assumed to be Ivar Normark, father to a norwegian

    soccer-coach, who worked in the government in the town of Narvik between 1948 and 1991.

    The footage is also assumed to have been shot in the 80’s, due to structural work which is

    noticeable on the video. The video must also have been shot after 1972, due to the fact that

    the smaller building to the left of the town-hall was erected after this.

    The norwegian television-company showing Lost has written to Buena Vista to find out where

    they found the clip.

    Enjoy!

    Mats Caspar, Norway.

  31. Jay says:

    Walt is not saying that the button is bad. He says “Press the button, no button’s bad”.

    Also, the logo on the sharks tale is the Dharma logo, but not the same one as on the hatch. It is not the “swan” logo.

    Also, check back in episode 1. About 5 minutes in, Jack is on the beach with Claire. Just as someone is sucked into the running airplane engine, you can see a black mist swoop out of the sky, hit the engine, it explodes, and the back mist swoop back into the sky.

    In season 1 episode “Tabula Rasa” (for those with the DVD, Disk 1) at 41’42” you can clearly see the “swan” dharma logo on the burned out section of the plane, just to the right of Walt.

    One last thing. The Hanso Foundation site is NOT a fan site and IS an official lost site. It is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC. Sheck out the lower left hand corner, just under the copyright. There is a lighter “terms of use” link that takes you to Disney.

  32. lost watcher says:

    wow i love all this info… what a show!

  33. Ryan C says:

    Nice work y’all

    I have a theory I’ve been bouncing around…

    The black mist could be a swarm of nanomachines (a la Michael Crichton’s Prey) – which might explain Walt appearing, or the re-animation of Jack’s Dad – or even the polar bears.

    So Jack’s dead father shows up (remember that?) – and there’s a DI logo on the side of the plane. That got me thinking – what if everyone in the plane actually died also and got sprinkled over the beach then reanimated as part of “The Hanso Life-Extension Project”

    ..?

  34. Jay says:

    The polar bears are explained now. They are part of the zoological part of the island. Probably the same for the shark.

    I’m not too sure about the dying/ reanimation. The produces already said that they weren’t dead. And what about those who have already died? Boone? The woman who drowned? Ethan? The marshall?

    We haven’t figured out yet about Jack’s dad. Remember, he was having difficulty getting the body on the plane. Nobody ever said he was successful. He was successful on getting the casket on, but maybe the body is still in Austrailia.

  35. andy says:

    i don’t know if this is relevant, but bruce lee (yes, that bruce lee) had one of these hanging outside his house to balance out the chi and ward off the evil spirits that cursed his family. it was washed away in a storm and bruce died the next day. just thought it was interesting…

  36. Lex says:

    Awesome theories. Thanks for sharing.

    But the biggest key to me is the presence of the Dharma Initiative logo on the shark…

  37. Lee Whitehouse says:

    “dont push the button, the button is bad”

  38. Jay says:

    Lex.. the shark is part of the zoological portion of the initiative, just like the polar bears. I haven’t checked yet, but I’m going to go look at the DVD to see if I can find the logo on the polar bears too.

  39. Fredjemo says:

    there is an episode where Walt is reading a book on birds. Then a bird flies into the window… the same kind of bird as in Walt’s book.

    On the Island Walt is reading a comic with a polar bear, then a polar bear apears on the (tropical) island.

    I say Walt has some paranormal powers and that is why “they” want him so bad.

    I also think that the people on the boat are scientists from Dharma and Dharma has gone wrong.

    They think Walt may be the solution.

  40. Jay says:

    Push the button, no button’s bad

  41. Jay says:

    Walt is key to the others, just like Hurley is key to the survivors.

    Fate did not want Hurley on that plane. He was the only one who had big problems making the flight. Alarm clock, car trouble, wrong terminal, long security line, the plan was about to leave. Hurley is a factor, just don’t know what yet.

  42. Brian says:

    The numbers, on another site, was discovered to represent DHARMA in certain combinations…d being the 4th number…h being the 8th letter…and adding combinations of the numbers will give you the other letter (wrapping the numbers accoringly A being 27 again). Not sure if anyone caught this or if there is any meaning…in the orientation video the person said that they would stay at the station for 540 days…which is divisible by 108 (5). Any thoughts on these?

  43. Jay says:

    Brain,

    I don’t follow what you are saying about the numbers and Dharma. I follow that 4=D, 8=H, 4+8+15=27, because only 26 letters, 27 would=A, but then R is #18 in the alphabet and m is 13. Can you explain?

  44. lost watcher says:

    i think that number game is getting a little silly.

  45. Odin-Diaz says:

    Hello there i dont know if any of you saw the trailer for episode 4 at the end of episode 3 but if you did you may have noticed one of the smallest 2 see but biggest in mystery is Jin saying in perfect English

    ‘Everything is going to change’

    even tho he cant speak English. or can he now?

  46. Roy says:

    Yes, I did hear Jin speaking perfect English, what is up with that?

  47. Jay says:

    He probably learned it because he was going to run when they got to LA, just like Sun

  48. Todd says:

    My copy of the Dharma Initiative video is too fuzzy to tell, but perhaps somebody with a clear copy of the show could tell me if the DI patch on the lab coat of the guy giving the orientation is discernible? It’s clearly not the swan patch. It don’t think it’s the same symbol as the one on the shark. It would be cool if somebody could create a web collection of the different Dharma patch symbols. Is the symbol on the plane the same, or yet a different one?

    Also, the video copyright information says it was copyrighted in 1980. The video seemed a lot older than that to me, but maybe that’s just because a lot of the video clips were from the 70s.

    So I have a few questions for you Mats Caspar. Are you saying that this video clip is a real video clip from the 80s? And that the guy in the window is footage of a real guy, and not some character in the show? Somebody else mentioned that the guy in the window is Locke’s father. It does kind of look like him, maybe, but it also looks like cancer man from the X-Files. Mulder’s father. Any comments on who that guy really is would be appreciated.

  49. Mike V says:

    Another thing that everone might already know: John Locke(the real guy) had a theory of tabula rasa. That means “blank slate” in some other language. It said you were affected by your surroundings, not by your genes or hereditary things.

  50. Mike V says:

    I also didn’t catch the bird book and the bird flying in on Walt. I wish I had the DVD. I also think Walt said, “Don’t push the button, the button is bad.” Does anyone know if he said this before or after Lock, Kate, and Jack knew about the button?

  51. wayne says:

    John Locke can now walk due to something in the electromagnetic whatever from the station. When he wandered too far from it looking for that plane he and Boone found he began to stumble and couldn’t walk. Remember that?

  52. CT says:

    There has to be to the relationship between the experiments and Locke regaining use of his legs. What experiment are they running that could heal someone like that?

  53. Jay says:

    Mike,

    I did a screen capture of the logo on the plane. If you give me an email address, I’ll email it to you.

    To me, it looks like it is the Swan logo.

    I think Walt was saying “push the button, no buttons bad” but it would make more sense if he did say the button was bad. He said it just before Jack was going to push the execute button before Locke and Desmond interuppted him.

  54. Mike V says:

    Jay, I’d like to see that logo. Here is my email address. Please send it to me. 3bucksrule@mchsi.com

  55. Colin says:

    Has anyone mentioned the watch that I believe Walt ended up with on the raft?

  56. Mike V says:

    There are many other good points to read if you click on the B.F. Skinner link. He set up an experiment where a rat pulls a lever to get his food. He then even does it on a normal frequency. Familiar?

  57. Mike V says:

    Also, has anyone been successful in getting into the dharma initiative site or are they getting access denied?

  58. Jeff V says:

    Jay, I am somewhat new to this site but I was wondering if you could send me a clip of the logo. Jeff@itslowell.com. Thanks!

  59. wayne says:

    what is the swan logo?

  60. Josh K says:

    You are all making me feel real dumb… If I didn’t have to work and maintain a social life, I could really get into analyzing all this and rewatching episodes!

  61. sarah says:

    earlier someone gave the dharma initiative website, (www.the-dharma-initiative.org/)but if you go to http://www.thedharmainitiative.org, (i.e. without the spaces) it gives a similar logo, and then you have to login, anyone know what the login is?

  62. dave says:

    you don’t have to login, just click on the logo and the tape plays.

  63. atrenus says:

    has anyone seen this map of the interior of the map? If this address doesn’t take you there, type in mostlymuppet.com and look under archives.

    http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mapreal0ar.png

    P.S. Has anyone found a map of the island yet, all i’ve found is Rouseau’s map and it doesn’t give much.

  64. jayhawk says:

    Has anybody thought of a theory of the skeletons found at the caves in season 1, i remember jack finding the white and black stones, but here is an idea. Are they Dharma people or Desmond’s buddy Calvin? Are they people that Dharma tested?

    4815162342 as individual numbers adds up to 36

    540 divided by 36 is 15. 15 is one of the numbers. I don’t know if this is helpful, but just some more math to lost. Maybe 36 or 15 is the number of other people on the island. (other than related to the plane crash).

  65. atrenus says:

    If desmond was on a race in a boat, what happened to the boat? Same with Danielle, what happened to her boat, if it was a scientific expedition what happened to a pretty large boat? It couldn’t of have sunk because it had to take some time unloading all those batteries,guns, and other possesions.

    Does anybody have a theory to that?

    Has anybody established a timeline of who came to the island?

    Here is a basic one though i am not sure if anybody said anything about the date of the heroin plane. I assume it probably came before Rousseau

    1. Black Rock

    2. Dharma Initiative (?)

    3. Heroin Plane ?

    4. Rousseau 16yrs (?)

    5. Desmond 2yrs

    6. Flight 815

    Has anybody figured out why both the Black Rock and the heroin plane is from Africa?

    I think the ship came from Mozambique according to Locke. Where the plane is from I don’t remember.

    Can anybody connect this to what is currently going on?

  66. MissZeus says:

    I also would like to know how to login on that website. I believe it is different than clicking on the logo. It specifically has a pop up window asking for Username and password.

    I love this show and all this talk is crazy and intriguing at the same time. I had to look back myself at some of the details mentioned above.

    Also no one has taken the terue meaning of what Swan means: Affirm: to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true; “Before God I swear I am innocent”. Hmmmm….

    If anyone knows how to Login on the Website of DharmaInitiative.org, I’d like to know!

  67. jayhawk says:

    Does anybody think the name “Black Rock” possibly relates to New Mexico? They tested all sorts of scientific stuff, such as the bombs that ended WW2. The Manhattan Project, etc. Could it just be a coincidence? Maybe the Dharma Initiative is like the Manhattan Project.

    Do you think the reason why no one has known about the island is because its electromagnetic field screws up satellite gps in mapping? It is a pretty big island (so it seems) to be relatively unknown.

    I do agree with the idea that the orientation film when he says “do not use… is refering to the numbers which may be why all the bad luck has happened to Hurly and the guy in Australia who killed himself to escape from those numbers.

    Tentatively thinking, why would Walt’s mother/ micheal’s ex move to Sydney Australia from Amsterdam. I’m thinking that she worked for Hanso or Dharma in some way. remember Brian describing Walt as “special”. Also do you think she died of the ‘sickness’ if she visited one of the dharma labs?

    Maybe she was part of the experiment because of Walt’s special abilities. Possibly?

    And finally, does anybody see the Star Wars thing in Lost?

    The Father problem

    Hanso sounds like Han Solo

    Sawyer calling Micheal and Jin “Han and Chewie”

    Sawyer reminds me of Han Solo in his attitude, speech.

    In one of the blogs on this site somebody found an acronym of J.E.D.I which stands for something like Juxtapose E_____ Dharma Initiative.

    I think one of the writers of the show was a Star Wars geek or something. It is just starting to get a little obvious.

  68. Dave says:

    Also if you look at Desmond he has a picture of him with a woman… i think it was jacks wife because when he sees the photo he gives a confused look, and it wasn’t conicidence that he was running in the stadium, maybe desmond wanted to know if he could fix her becuase she was a part of his life, and when he said no he left her.

  69. jayhawk says:

    Speaking of Jack’s wife, did anybody else catch that the other guy in that accident was Shannon’s father?

    I think Desmond knew Jack’s wife somehow.

  70. atrenus says:

    Correction: The map site i posted earlier is of the interior of the hatch. It is made by some attentive viewer to the background. Its not great, but it is the first i have found so far.

  71. Mike V says:

    Does anyone know what the stuff Desmond shoots into his arm is?

    He even takes it with him when he runs away.

    Is it what he thinks is the antidote or preventer of :the sickness”?

  72. Mike V says:

    The comic book Walt is reading is of Flash and the Green Lantern. In it, they encounter a Polar Bear. The Green Lantern has a ring that allows him to make what he imagines real, like Walt. The Green Lantern character is an artist, like Walt’s dad.

  73. Shant says:

    Perhaps the numbers are from the periodic table of elements. 4-Beryllium, 8-Oygen, 15-Phosphorous, 16-Sulfur, 23-Vanadium, and 42-Molybdenum.

  74. jayhawk says:

    WOW! that is something i never even thought of. Chemistry with the numbers. Does anybody know what any of those elements can make?

  75. nonya says:

    Out of curiousity, I counted the the dashes on the Dharma Initiative logo. There are 36, and as jayhawk said above, “4815162342 as individual numbers adds up to 36”. Don’t know if this means anything.

  76. Roy says:

    When Kate gets out of the shower she said it was nice to take a shower if you don’t mind the sulfur smell and the water went cold a few times. This could relate to the number 16 sulfur??? Has any found the login yet????

  77. Dayne says:

    I think the sulfur smell is as a result of the Geothermals that were mentioned as a source of that outposts power. Which would make sense since most islands are as a result of volcanic activity.

    Geothermal energy is still one of the lesser developed forms of renewable energy due to it’s inconsistencies. Hence the shower going cold periodically.

  78. hmtksteve says:

    I found this by viewing the source on the login box at http://thedharmainitiative.org/

    function checkForm() {

    var url=”login/?uid=” + escape(document.forms[0].elements[‘uid’].value) +

    “&pwd=” + escape(document.forms[0].elements[‘pwd’].value)

    var hash = hex_md5(document.forms[0].elements[‘uid’].value + document.forms[0].elements[‘pwd’].value);

    if ((hash == “4ce8eb77952dcf34505de7e04fd68fc7”) || (hash == “732d9dda7f79c827c4453bda8f2d441a”)) {

    window.opener.location.href=url;

    window.close();

    } else {

    document.forms[0].elements[‘errorMessage’].value = “Invalid login”;

    document.forms[0].elements[‘uid’].value = ”;

    document.forms[0].elements[‘pwd’].value = ”;

    document.forms[0].elements[‘uid’].focus();

    }

    return false;

    }

    Anyone want to reverse engineer this?

  79. Joe B says:

    I’ve just recently gone to bigspaship1.com and I got a flash video. It has 2 polarbears standing up (as sprites, like a video game) They start moving toward, and then through each other. When they are on top of each other, a red circle appears roughly where their hearts are, and on a zoom, I can read “2FEN06” inside the circle. Also, the title tab when I have multiple sites open (Firefox) has a bunch of Morse Code representation, which translates to “chocolate/asclepius.” Asclepius was apparently a mythological Greek human turned god who was the god of medicine/surgery. So, any thoughts?

    Took a flash decompiler to both that flash and the one for the Dharma Institute where you get the “BAD IP” message. If I understand it all correctly, there is no way to get through. I only ever see 3 numbers turning green, and there is no page redirect or anything.

  80. Dayne says:

    Actually a Fen is a Chinese Imperial unit of measurement for mass and weight.

    1 Fen is equal to 9,842065e-06 long hundredweight in US measurements. What all this (9,842065e-06)means I couldn’t tell you but the -06 may be pertinent to the 2FEN(06).

    What, may I ask, led you to that web site and what relevance does it have to the topic. I’m not being a thorn I’m simply trying to make the relation.

    Thanks

  81. Marcello says:

    I tried to use chocolate/asclepius as username & password to login to http;//www.thedharmainitiative.org. It’s highly unlikely that the two sites are related, but who knows…?

    Didn’t work, anyway. Anyone could login to that site?

  82. coolio says:

    has anyone explored a religious idea behind the island? i have heard various ideas that they are all dead and in purgatory. these have now shown to be wrong.

    is locke jesus? OR A PROPHET?

    intersting idea above!!!!

  83. Roy says:

    Desmond had a partner that we don’t know how he died. What about the episode where they find 1 extra person not on the flight roster. Don’t they kill that guy??? could that of have been Desmond’s partner??

  84. Anonymous says:

    The Dharma Initiative I beleive picked out every one on flight 815 and they all have ties through there family or friends to the The Dharma Initiative

  85. coolio says:

    does any one know how to login in to the DI website? any help at guessing the password or username would be helpful.

  86. MissZeus says:

    Ok, I am fixiated on trying to log onto this site.

    I’ve tried (with no good results):

    Usernames: Polarbear, Swan, Greenlantern, Chocolate, Asclepius, Surgery, Dharma

    Passwords tried: 2FEN06, 2FENO6, 36, 108, 540, 4815162342

    And I used all with all combinations. Anybody else trying this hard to get in?

    Also, I emailed a scientist in Switzerland about the elements to see if they were combined into some kind of compound what would it be? Hope to get an answer.

  87. coolio says:

    thanks for your reply MissZeus. i seem to have tried many of the same things!

    will post it up if i get in

  88. jomama says:

    great posts so far! lots of thought-provoking ideas out there. how ’bout this one: does anyone know what the significance of The Dharma Initiative symbol is in relation to the Ba Gua wheel? And did anybody else notice that the Swan Yin-Yang symbol is depicted as an upside-down representation of the Ba Gua, where they’ve inverted the North-South compass points? what’s up w’ dat?!

  89. Flint says:

    Has anyone else thought that the who island is station 3? In the training vid it mentions that DI has facilities all over the world and the one they are on is there for the magnetic properties.

    It could be possible that all the bunkers are connected thru the doorways that are now filled with the cement, and Sayid had said that the last time he heard of something being covered up with concrete like that was Trinoble (sp?)

    I don’t think the polar Bears have anything to do with walt (as in summoning them out of thin air) because Rousseau mentioned them to Sayid when she had captured him. So I would think that they have been there on the island for a long time.

    Just some of my thoughts

  90. bryan says:

    you know this is all interesting but eventually someone from Hanso is going to get into the discussion and feed you some nice red herrings to get away from the truth

  91. bryan says:

    On the http://www.oceanic-air.com/ site there is some stuff which appears then disappears the source reads

    If anyone should find this message, please get word I’m alive and stranded on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. Please send help soon. Things are bad. And they’re getting worse…

    Its another Disney site, too.

    Sally

    I survived a horrific plane crash and am stranded on an island somewhere Northeast of Australia and Southwest of Hawaii. In the event that I am never found, please forward word of my fate to my parents.

  92. Cough says:

    Heres something interesting from Mr Clucks site. I saved a frame from the animated GIF

    http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/7833/mrcluck19oj.gif

  93. bryan says:

    From http://en.wikipedia.org/

    Oceanic Airlines is a fictional airline used on television and in movies, not to be confused with Trans Oceanic Airlines which was an actual Australian carrier from the 1940s and 1950s. Nor should it be confused with Ocean Airlines, which, according to their home page, “is a new all-cargo airline with its operational base and company headquarters located at Brescia Montichiari Airport, Italy. Ocean Airlines was established in 2003 to meet customer demands for quality air freight services from Italy to Asia, Africa and North/South Americas”.

    Because many films and programs featuring significant footage of airliners tend to have plots involving the plane meeting various disastrous ends, use of a real airline name and logo is understandably undesirable; Oceanic Airlines has been a popular choice as a plausible fictional alternative. As such, portrayal of Oceanic Airlines as being disaster-prone has become something of an inside joke among television and movie fans: for example, popular TV review site Television Without Pity sold a set of limited edition shirts and messenger bags branded with an “Oceanic Airlines” logo and the slogan “Getting halfway there is all the fun!” The Oceanic slogan from Lost seems especially apt for the danger-prone airline: “Taking You Places You’ve Never Imagined!”, as does its logo: a highly stylized bulls-eye.

    Producers of the 1996 movie Executive Decision filmed extensive exterior aerial footage using an actual Boeing 747 painted with the fictional airline’s logo. Other uses of Oceanic are apparently from different people coming up with the name independently, while several other productions have incorporated recycled footage from Executive Decision.

    [edit]

    Films and television shows featuring Oceanic Airlines

    Executive Decision — Oceanic Flight 343 from Athens to Dulles, Virginia was hijacked by terrorists.

    Panic in the Skies

    Nowhere to Land — Oceanic Flight 762, also from Sydney to Los Angeles. Nerve gas onboard.

    Lost — Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles disintegrated at a low altitude over the Pacific Ocean after drifting thousands of miles off course. At least 48 passengers survived the crash. It should be noted that a tie-in website created by Lost’s producers showed Oceanic as going out of business. The website even permits those viewing the site to access a “track flight” page — the number 815 and the departure and arrival points (Sydney and Los Angeles, respectively), are already keyed into the tracking fields. When the “track” button is clicked, a page is accessed displaying flight information for six oceanic flights, the information containing numerous in jokes (for example, the arrival airport code for flight 671 is listed as “JJA”, the initials of Lost creator J.J. Abrams; more provocatively, information for flight 572 lists the status of the flight as “Giveus”, the departure airport’s code is listed as “THE”, and the arrival airport’s code is listed as “BOY”). The seating chart section of the site for Oceanic Flight 815 has “The Numbers” written below. If the page is refreshed a number of times certain seats turn green indicating a link. The Link for Shannon Rutherford’s seat leads to an anagram for character Ethan Rom.

  94. jayhawk says:

    In response to ‘Trinoble’ he really meant Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster that occured in 1986. To stop the radiation leak they covered the site with tons of concrete.

    Did anybody catch the new dharma symbol in the bunker where Ana Lucia took Micheal, Sawyer and Jin? Also did anybody else notice that it seemed abandoned and in worse shape than Desmond’s.

    I think this new bunker is a totally different one because if they were doing something to the shark(s) wouldn’t that facility be close to the ocean or some body of water on the island? Just a wild theory.

  95. camaro44 says:

    locke said he hasnt seen a computer like that in 20 years, doesnt this make the station seem kinda old.

  96. Furioso says:

    Looking further back on the dharma symbol which is an i-ching symbol, the hatch marks around the swan are only Identical to one other that I have seen , the pre 1883 pre revolutionary Korean flag thus tying in Suns father, jin’s father in law who ran some sort of mob corporation, does anyone remember what kind of factory suns father was trying to build? remember he had Jin strong arm building permits from a politician to get it started?

  97. Randy says:

    I didn’t see where anyone mentioned the invisible thing that ripped the pilot out of the plane. I don’t remember the name of this old Science fiction movie but the people that lived on this planet were real intelligent and created the ultimate invention. Through their power source an id could be created from a very deep fear. It too was invisible yet had power to destroy. With the power generating from the station, perhaps such a condition could be duplicated. The writers of Lost could have easily added something like this in.

  98. R3 says:

    I just found this site and I am a huge fan. I also found another site that shows a blown up version of the “swan” logo. If you look closely it looks more like a snake with it’s tongue sticking out than a swan. Just a thought. Keep it coming.

  99. kyle says:

    Has anyone considered that the “island” is really a Wal-mart and Jack is the gm? I have.

    Another thing I found to be interesting was that Locke has a scar through his right eye. The second letter in ‘right’ is i, which is also the 9th letter in our alphabet. 9 being how many pieces of chicken Hurly stole from his old job!!

    think about it…

  100. SEAN says:

    WOW — GREAT IDEAS EVERYONE !! IM NEW TO THIS MESSAGE BOARD AND I WAS JUST WONDERING, DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS ABOUT THE BABY? IS THERE A SIGNIFICANCE TO A NEW LIFE ON THE ISLAND? THE FRENCH CHICK TOOK THE BABY IN HOPES OF TRADING IT FOR HER OWN SON, BUT IN REALITY ” THE OTHERS” WANTED WALT. WHATS THE DEAL WITH “THE OTHERS” TRYING TO TAKE ALL THE KIDS? MAYBE THEY WANT TO REBUILD THEYRE COLONY WITH KIDS WHO ARENT AFFFECTED WITH THE SICKNESS? I DUNNO, JUST BRAINSTORMING……

  101. SEAN says:

    hmmmm…i think hurley ate an 8 piece meal……but im sure he wishes he had more chicken now :)

  102. sean says:

    R3 — a snake is what i thought it was at first glance, until i saw the film.

  103. sean says:

    ok — just had another thought. i went to that website dharmainitive thingy and i saw the swan symbol. the dashes surrounding the swan are not all alike…….anyone know morse code? dashes and spaces may spell out something…possibly a username and password ??? just a guess but need someone smarter then me to figure it out if it actually IS morse code.

  104. Jennifer says:

    I read something that one of the people on the plane has something or has made something that can cause time travel. And maybe the island is in the past not the future.

    Has anyone else heard this?

  105. kletus says:

    Is the Narrator of orientation Jin’s father…

  106. sean says:

    ok—ignore that morse code thing…that was stupid, my only excuse is that ive been awake for 37 hrs straight and my only form of nourishment has been 4 lbs of M&M’s……………

  107. sean says:

    one more comment and ill stop…..maybe……does anyone know what the tattoo on dr. jacks arm is? i can never seem to get a good look at it…..

  108. Hamstertech says:

    Check it out:

    Go to http://thedharmainitiative.org/orientation/

    Watch the film…

    About 5/6 of the way thru, after the Dr. explains the computer procedure via the model of the dome, there’s a close-up of his eyes. Use the slider to get to the beginning of the sequence, and move forward frame by frame via the play/pause button. There is an extra ghosted frame here w/a white Dharma-style logo in the top right corner: a flying swan? a spider? You decide. (You can’t isolate the frame w/the slider, must use the play/pause.Also can’t do this on the Flash version on the Hanso site. Can’t believe the details these guys are going to to amuse people.)

    Enjoy!

  109. Scope says:

    I know this is ancient history for the series, but it came to mind with the Locke/Hurley scenes this week: Hurley own’s Locke’s paper company, and is therefore, technically, his boss, right? So, it’s kind of funny that Locke is giving Hurley orders.

    (In the Hurley episode season 1, the accountant mentions buying a box company. Locke works at a box company.)

    And don’t read too much into using 8mm film vs. betamax due to the magnetic nature of the area. The cira early 70’s computer mainframes have big honking magnetic tape drives on them. I was trying to date the tech. in the cave, and it’s all over the map, but seems mostly early/mid 80’s. (Exercise bike, Apple IIe-esque computer, etc.) But, there must have been some resupply since then, because the bottle of liquid laundry detergent I think I saw on the washer in the season 2 opener looked a little too recent.

  110. kletus says:

    Found this at the beginning of the source code of the seating chat page od Oceanic-air.

    >I would like to inform my financial >institutions that I will be late making my >September mortgage payment as I am STRANDED ON >A FRIGGIN’ ISLAND IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!

    >Please have the Government send a search team >immediately. OR don’t. Shouldn’t all the >taxes I pay cover an expense like that?

    –>

  111. kletus says:

    Also,

    I cut and pasted the hidden message on the oceanic-air home page. I was trying to read the message as posted above. I by “accident” I pasted html. What do you know… a cool set of drawings from Micheal’s letters to Walt. And a diagram/map? of something. Mother Mouse Ears are getting tricky…

  112. Anonymous says:

    4 8 15 16 23 42 — 4 (8 15) 16 – Flight 815. Any significance here? Just a thought.

  113. kletus says:

    ok and what the heck is this

    http://www.oceanicflight815.com/

    seating chart page way to much info to absorb but def. woth the explore…

  114. AAron says:

    Did anyone notice that if you go to the driveshaft website(http://www.driveshaftband.com/driveSHAFTMusic2.htm) and look at the discography section under music at the top of the page, in the special thanks section it lists the names of several notorious Seinfeld characters?

  115. sulepa says:

    dharma can mean life or death depending upon the religion. dharma & greg was also an abc show.

  116. Anonymous says:

    Help me with the seating chart please… Is there something wrong with my computer? I can only get the seat info for:

    Locke

    Charlie

    The Marshall

    Jack

    Boone

    Shannon

    Rose

    Kate

    Ana Lucia

    How do I get everyone else to appear? Also why does the F keep flashing at the bottom? And when you click on Kate, why does the flight number change to 777?

  117. sulepa says:

    why does the pre-board check in give me the name ETHAN ROM with boxes underneath to make an anagram?

  118. sulepa says:

    on the pre-board check in that i just mentioned, if you anagram it into the boxes as “other man” not only do the letters center themselves perfectly, you get a quick video clip that startled the heck outta me when it started.

  119. Edubs says:

    What if this is some big experiment in itself. Not to much to study, but the writers wrote something, and are letting us take it the rest of the way. Maybe they have no idea what season three is going to be. They are just listening too all of our crazy crackpot theories and taking what they like? I mean, all of what you could be saying could be true. Its like writing a story with a group of friends, just one person writes a sentance and then each other person writes one. ALthough in this instance, some guys got together, used all the other shows that fans get rabid about as a basis and thought, lets get them started, and then take form thier ideas, and in the end maybe produce nothing but a never ending show that would go anywhere, and in theory never end or have any meaning.

  120. David says:

    doesn’t this remind you of The Lord Of The Flies?

  121. Ace Miel says:

    Hi there, Paolo and the rest of the guys. Very nice thread you have here. I am from the Philippines and works as a web designer here is Makati City. The logo of the Dharma Initiative really looks like a Ba Gua although there seems to be a hidden code in the design of the lines used, a kind of morse-code. We have a Ba Gua at home too, so I’m also familiar with the shape.

    Here’s my bit. I checked out the login at the URL: http://thedharmainitiative.org/ and opened the source for the login popup and saw at the top of the code that a javascript point to this location: http://thedharmainitiative.org/md5.js.

    I also found out they are using a Javascript MD5 algorithm for the login password and the lines in their code goes like this:

    function checkForm() {

    var url=”login/?uid=” + escape(document.forms[0].elements[‘uid’].value) +

    “&pwd=” + escape(document.forms[0].elements[‘pwd’].value)

    var hash = hex_md5(document.forms[0].elements[‘uid’].value + document.forms[0].elements[‘pwd’].value);

    if ((hash == “4ce8eb77952dcf34505de7e04fd68fc7”) || (hash == “732d9dda7f79c827c4453bda8f2d441a”)) {

    window.opener.location.href=url;

    window.close();

    } else {

    document.forms[0].elements[‘errorMessage’].value = “Invalid login”;

    document.forms[0].elements[‘uid’].value = ”;

    document.forms[0].elements[‘pwd’].value = ”;

    document.forms[0].elements[‘uid’].focus();

    }

    return false;

    }

    Although I haven’t seen any of these MD5 hashes reversed-engineered, knowing that these hashes are there to access the login might help somehow in our quest for the username and password:

    “4ce8eb77952dcf34505de7e04fd68fc7” and “732d9dda7f79c827c4453bda8f2d441a” (from the script above).

    Here is the website where the script was taken, including a demo of a script calculating the hash for any password using MD4, MD5, and SHA-1:

    http://pajhome.org.uk/crypt/md5/

    I haven’t read much yet on this type of authentication so I’m just guessing that maybe people who are interested in “decoding” the username and password for the login might be able to use this demo script for an easier search of the said username and password by trial and error and comparing the results to the hashes calculated. Maybe somebody out there can confirm or gun this crazy idea down. Thanks and nice show for all of us who appreciate a good puzzler.

    P.S. I get my shows via torrent so I watch the latest episode every Thursday local time, several hours after some guy has shared it via torrent. People who don’t know the torrent sites and are interested may email me. No flames please, I don’t take criticism well.