OK, this has been floating around on the edges of my mind and so far, no one has questioned it, that I can find. And boy, it takes a LOT of time to read all the posts on all the threads in order to make sure!


We know a whole new batch of food of all kinds has been dropped on the island. The only question so far is "Why didn't anyone hear/see a plane?"



What about WHY is the island still being provided for? One theory is that the Others took over and so far, the Dharma management is unaware of their own loss of control over the island, that the Others have kept this a secret from them. This leads to the conclusion that they can, if they wish, report to the management in the first place, right? That they are required/requested to make progress reports of some kind, maybe? Is that the role of the all-powerful, universally feared "HIM"?



But an even larger question in my mind is: From WHERE is this food being provided? It is obviously from somewhere outside the immediate island's sphere of influence, I think. So is there a Widmore Manufacturing and Packaging warehouse out in the "real world"? All of the packaging has the Dharma label on it. Is it even labeled with the type of food in the package itself? (I might have missed the "Mac & Cheese" designation.)



And what about shipping? Perhaps a secret contract with Oceanic - only aren't they now bankrupt?



We are talking major, huge businesses here. The level of secrecy and of conspiracy alone are mind boggling! But this labeled shipment had to be planned and packaged somewhere! Any one care to help me sort this one out? What theories are out there? I'm bogged down...even LOST!

OOOPS - I forgot that I did find this comment on Mac's blog, very near the bottom, so someone else has been wondering about it, too:


"keep wondering about the food-drop. Apparently, some on- or off- island organization has the capacity to manufacture, produce, label and number food items with the Dharma brand, and deliver them when needed. So it seems that there is a substantial organization controlling the resources the island has over what appears to be an extended period of time. And, if they bring those sorts of resources to the island, couldn't they have the capacity to bring "human resources" as well? If whatever controls the island (and remember one of the producers said in an early interview "if it really is an island")required new or relacement humans for its studies/experiments, it would bring them in just like it does the food, by some sort of means, such as a staged airline disaster or ship wreck. There's an external mechanism in control. Oh well, just some thoughts."

-- Posted by: maries at April 14, 2006 12:23 PM



Thanks to maries, now I don't feel too off base but have been wondering about this for a long time. Any more ideas?

LostLady, lots of ideas but I kid of burned myself out on this one in "How Do Supplies Get Dropped" on the second page of threads. There are 107 posts of smokin' ideas on this very subject.

I think it was talked out until nobody could come up with a fresh idea.

A good weekend to you!

Pagecarl, you are right, and I've read all 107 posts. With the exception of one of yours, that thread deals with all the theories of what was involved during and immediately after the drop itself. I.E. hearing planes, the lockdown, Roussoeus batteries, etc. etc. My questions are more about the source of the food and the people behind the planning, manufacturing, printing labesl, shipping, and all the other logistics that had to go into making a drop in the first place. But I understand your point, because there's nothing to get a toehold on to even begin any theories about any of this stuff. There's nothing available in the show to go with, guess I am just questioning things too closely.

But wouldn't it be interesting if Hurley's box factory was at one time a source for the packaging? Or Rose worked for a label & shipping company in New York? Just wild conjecture - it would be cool if there was a tie in to the characters. OK - I'm done now.

There are 107 replies, which makes 108 posts.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!

quote:

Originally posted by LostLady
But wouldn't it be interesting if Hurley's box factory was at one time a source for the packaging? Or Rose worked for a label & shipping company in New York? Just wild conjecture - it would be cool if there was a tie in to the characters. OK - I'm done now.

LostLady, I do think the dynamics of the supply drop are interesting. At this point it seems they could very well be a part of someone's back story.

There are two parts to what interests me; what happens on the island and what happens off-island to get the food there.

On island I wonder if all of the hatches, whether active or not, are supplied. This could answer the question of whether the others (or someone on the island) have contact off the island or if the supply drops are automatic.

Off island it would be interresting to know the connections between whoever is making the supply runs and the originators of the island experiment. Are the supply drops simply an automated exchange set up and paid for years in advance of are they done by someone directly associated in some way with the island experiments.

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:

There are two parts to what interests me; what happens on the island and what happens off-island to get the food there.

On island I wonder if all of the hatches, whether active or not, are supplied. This could answer the question of whether the others (or someone on the island) have contact off the island or if the supply drops are automatic.

Off island it would be interresting to know the connections between whoever is making the supply runs and the originators of the island experiment. Are the supply drops simply an automated exchange set up and paid for years in advance of are they done by someone directly associated in some way with the island experiments.

The idea of a conspiracy so wide and so deep boggles the mind. It would have to involve hundreds of people (? or not ?). How would they keep them all silent? Would it matter if the peons in the supply chain knew anything? Probably not. But the managers and planners would have to know something, even if the drops were paid in advance and on an automatic schedule. The human mind is always curious... somebody is bound to start getting nosey.

HA! Maybe that's where the Others came from - they got too nosey and were transported to the island to keep them quiet! lol

I really hate this food drop storyline.The losties are so giddy about this manna from Heaven and don't seem to question if it's safe to eat? I know the Rose/Bernard storyline showed how the need to want to leave the island only sems to be pressing if there is a deep desire to get back to civilization. Once he learned that Rose was cured on the island he was content to stay there.This island is full of scary happenings and yet the cast aways are becoming complacent.This food drop and the lack of concern about where it came from is troubling. I agree that the people who transport it might be getting curious as to the project and maybe they are dropped there if they get too nosey. Baloon, Henry, fake Henry, all could be tied to this food drop . I still hate it .though

But think about it- while they might be so very curious about where the food came from and how it got there it is still food- food they don't need to search for and a variety of darhma goodies that are familiar- like cereal, ranch dressing and candy bars. I think that while they might want to find out where the food comes from they are not going to not eat it.
It all kind of reminds me of a mouse in a maze kind of experiment. How conditioned would one become to act in a certain way: if you push this button each 108 minutes and stay in a certain area you will get all your needs met via food and supplies. Would it become a comfortable learned behavior or would you want to know more and break the rules??

Okay LostLady, you made me curious so i googled Widmore and came up with this Duh Duh Duhhhhhhh

http://www.widmorelaboratories.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Spacemonkey:
Okay LostLady, you made me curious so i googled Widmore and came up with this Duh Duh Duhhhhhhh

http://www.widmorelaboratories.com/

Yeah............ If thats not a FAKE FAKE FAKE fan site then I'm not a licensed and practicing web designer and technical writer.... wait a minute... I AM!

Yeah it's fake but i thought it was kind of funny if you read the whole site. it was more as a "here look at this" then a "Oh my gosh i found something that is crucial to this show"
Okay and i just got kind of sarcastic sorry!

quote:

Originally posted by Spacemonkey:
Yeah it's fake but i thought it was kind of funny if you read the whole site. it was more as a "here look at this" then a "Oh my gosh i found something that is crucial to this show"
Okay and i just got kind of sarcastic sorry!

I agree - it is funny for sure... Like some over-excited fan thought "I'm going to buy a SUPER COOL domain name, and try to fool EVERYONE that I know alot about LOST!" *giddy clapping*

I especially like the disclaimer at the bottom of the homepage: This is a REAL webpage. If it wasn't, you wouldn't be here...

Puh-lease!

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
I especially like the disclaimer at the bottom of the homepage: This is a REAL webpage. If it wasn't, you wouldn't be here...

Puh-lease!

That, and the Immaculate Conception Pregnancy Test. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
Yeah............ If thats not a FAKE FAKE FAKE fan site then I'm not a licensed and practicing web designer and technical writer.... wait a minute... I AM!

So, SKM, web designers need a license? I didn't know that. (really, I'm serious)

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:
So, SKM, web designers need a license? I didn't know that. (really, I'm serious)

License? You want to see my license? I don't have no license. I don't need no stinking license. Bang-bang-bang!

Two brownie points to the first person to correctly and completely identify the reference.

quote:

Originally posted by Spacemonkey:
Okay LostLady, you made me curious so i googled Widmore and came up with this Duh Duh Duhhhhhhh

http://www.widmorelaboratories.com/

LOL - - COOL!!! Makes me think there be a spy among us!

quote:

License? You want to see my license? I don't have no license. I don't need no stinking license. Bang-bang-bang!

Two brownie points to the first person to correctly and completely identify the reference.

Replace "License" with "Badge." Most would I.D. it as Blazing Saddles, but it was originally from Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Confession: I saw something about this on TV several months ago.

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
Yeah............ If thats not a FAKE FAKE FAKE fan site then I'm not a licensed and practicing web designer and technical writer.... wait a minute... I AM!

So, SKM, web designers need a license? I didn't know that. (really, I'm serious)

Ha - no, I was just giving myself more credibility than I deserve. You can get a certificate through a community college/VoTech school, but I'm taking the more expensive route. What can I say - I'm a princess!

My somewhat lame defense for my gratuitously bloated self description is - I'm in my master's of science program for Technical and Professional Communication, minoring in Web Design. I already have my BA in Technical Writing, as well as do it for a living (when I'm not trolling this blasted forum)...

Thanks for calling me out. That was the nicest "flame" I've ever gotten here...

quote:

Originally posted by CaptNemo:

quote:

License? You want to see my license? I don't have no license. I don't need no stinking license. Bang-bang-bang!

Two brownie points to the first person to correctly and completely identify the reference.

Replace "License" with "Badge." Most would I.D. it as Blazing Saddles, but it was originally from Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Confession: I saw something about this on TV several months ago.

And the judges say, "Close enough. Plus 1 bonus point for the Blazing Saddles reference."
I went to imdb and found two other references to the quote.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Gold Hat: Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges

Blazing Saddles (1974)
Mexican Bandit: Badges? We don't need no stinking badges.


"Crossing Jordan" (2001)
Jordan: Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges.


And my just-found favorite:
"Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005)
D.A. Investigator Lennie Briscoe: [muttered] Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges... [to the woman who asked to see them] I said yes, yes, of course you need to see our badges.


Of course even though imdb didn't mention it I'm sure that this quote is refenced in The Simpsons. I often wonder how many of their culture-reference jokes go under-appreciated by the masses who don't get the references. Sometimes I get very scared about the lack of culture in America. I'll bring up a topic with my (very bright) high school students and they have no idea what I'm talking about until someone says "Wait a second. Yeah, I remember Chief Wickham saying something like that on The Simpsons last week." But when I was a kid I didn't get all the reference is Rocky and Bullwinkle, and I turned out OK. (I guess I'm OK, but Wilson isn't so sure about that.)

So Capt, here's lookin' at you, kid.

Let us not forget the latino pet show host from "UHF" "Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers!"

quote:

I often wonder how many of their culture-reference jokes go under-appreciated by the masses who don't get the references. Sometimes I get very scared about the lack of culture in America.

Agreed.

One day I would like to teach a "20th Century American Cultural History" class. We would watch clips of famous movies, old Abbott and Costello routines, read several classic modern novels, etc. It would be a nice break from the Military, World Civ., and Ancient History classes.

quote:

Originally posted by CaptNemo:

quote:

I often wonder how many of their culture-reference jokes go under-appreciated by the masses who don't get the references. Sometimes I get very scared about the lack of culture in America.

Agreed.

One day I would like to teach a "20th Century American Cultural History" class. We would watch clips of famous movies, old Abbott and Costello routines, read several classic modern novels, etc. It would be a nice break from the Military, World Civ., and Ancient History classes.

The funny thing about this for me is that while I was in Barcelona, I had several offers to teach American idiom as a university course. Overseas, people DIE to learn all about America, from the silly to the sublime. Yet Americans just let it all drop away. At one time I believed it was just the way kids growing up are. Yet even when I was young I found an interest in some things old, such as WWII and the dust bowl era that my parents had gone through and retain that today.

I agree. Anymore it seems that if it isn't about making oodles of money, nobody cares.

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
Yeah............ If thats not a FAKE FAKE FAKE fan site then I'm not a licensed and practicing web designer and technical writer.... wait a minute... I AM!

So, SKM, web designers need a license? I didn't know that. (really, I'm serious)

Ha - no, I was just giving myself more credibility than I deserve. You can get a certificate through a community college/VoTech school, but I'm taking the more expensive route. What can I say - I'm a princess!

My somewhat lame defense for my gratuitously bloated self description is - I'm in my master's of science program for Technical and Professional Communication, minoring in Web Design. I already have my BA in Technical Writing, as well as do it for a living (when I'm not trolling this blasted forum)...

Thanks for calling me out. That was the nicest "flame" I've ever gotten here...

So rare to find another technical writer! That is also what I did for a living, for about 8 years. I am now a Systems Analyst.

quote:

Originally posted by lost_me:

So rare to find another technical writer! That is also what I did for a living, for about 8 years. I am now a Systems Analyst.

Ha! It is indeed rare - although explains why we're both here on Dorks Anonymous.

So tell me, do you get the giddy butterflies in your stomach when you read your toaster instruction manual??

lol actually, no.

I hate instruction manuals and seldom read them. Ah, the irony.

lol

quote:

Originally posted by lost_me:
lol actually, no.

I hate instruction manuals and seldom read them. Ah, the irony.

lol

Then I definitely win the bigger dork award. I actually SAVE my instruction manuals...

What can I say - Inserting Tab A into Slot B turns me on.

lol

Well, yes, I can see how that would turn you on.

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
What can I say - Inserting Tab A into Slot B turns me on.

"Slot B"????
Homey don't play those kind of games.
I may have to rethink attending that post-finale party.

See now, I'm Systems Analyst, but not a Technical Writer. I don't read my manuals (because no self-respecting techie EVER reads instructions), but I date them and save them in a file for the warranty. About once every 5 yrs I cull the ones for the appliances that have been thrown away.

quote:

Originally posted by patcon:

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
What can I say - Inserting Tab A into Slot B turns me on.

"Slot B"????
Homey don't play those kind of games.
I may have to rethink attending that post-finale party.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - please, PLEASE, give us another new episode. The natives begin to get restless when we can't vent on new episodes.

Although I do think the entire slot B discussion is beginning to get away and run with a life of its own. How low can it go?

And just for the record, I just sold a stereo pre-amplifier which I bought in 1972 to a guy in Italy. Not only did I have the original manual in pristine condition, still in its plastic wrapper, I also still had the sales receipt from the military exchange in Frankfurt where I bought it. Is that anal, or what. Opps, here we go with the "slot" discussion again.

So the party is over here now? Anyone ever see the comedy bit by Brian Regan about the instructions on the side of the box for toasting pop tarts?

I think this thread needs a little of THIS applied to it...

Who knew that a little mention of Slot B could take on a mind of it's own...

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
I think this thread needs a little of THIS applied to it...

Who knew that a little mention of Slot B could take on a mind of it's own...

SKM, I want to meet you! Where in the WORLD did you find that? It has made my Friday morning much more interesting attempting to consider where and how you surf the 'net to run across that little item (and what it is I refuse to consider). I enter the weekend suitably astounded.

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
I think this thread needs a little of THIS applied to it...

Who knew that a little mention of Slot B could take on a mind of it's own...

SKM, I want to meet you! Where in the WORLD did you find that? It has made my Friday morning much more interesting attempting to consider where and how you surf the 'net to run across that little item (and what it is I refuse to consider). I enter the weekend suitably astounded.

Ha, thanks Page, but a magician never reveals her secrets. I would highly recommend that you explore that site though - engrish.com - but prepare for a serious ab workout.

So far Ugotta had been the only one confident (or, dare I say... cocky?) enough to post his very own picture. But, I figure, you're all going to see me when I pick you up from the airport, so you might as well know for whom you're looking. This picture is about all I can find.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SKM325,

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
Ha, thanks Page, but a magician never reveals her secrets. I would highly recommend that you explore that site though - engrish.com - but prepare for a serious ab workout.

So far Ugotta had been the only one confident (or, dare I say... cocky?) enough to post his very own picture. But, I figure, you're all going to see me when I pick you up from the airport, so you might as well know for whom you're looking. This pictureis about all I can find.

Ouch! There's that red hair thing goin'. That's not playing fair.

Sure it is - that's about as natural as Horny Remover.

quote:

Originally posted by SKM325:
So far Ugotta had been the only one confident (or, dare I say... cocky?) enough to post his very own picture. But, I figure, you're all going to see me when I pick you up from the airport, so you might as well know for whom you're looking. This picture is about all I can find.

Very cute, SKM. I must confess, though; Hurling posted her pic first, or a link to it anyway. She was kickin' butt in her karate gi.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ugottaride,

How did I miss that?!? You remember the thread?

LINK
Congrats on your black belt, hurling!

Happy Friday everyone. Bottoms up!

Wow, I'd hate to meet her in a dark alley. Speaking of the pics, I had to change my link - I didn't realize there was some incriminating Midwest-style party photos in there. D'oh!

And, isn't it a bit early to be riding the foamy wave? Noon your time, isn't it?

quote:

Originally posted by ugottaride:
LINK
Congrats on your black belt, hurling!

Happy Friday everyone. Bottoms up!

Damn, I've been working all day and missing the party!
Thanks Ugotta. It's hard work beating people up. (But immensely satisfying.) In my next life I'm gonna be a bouncer.

SKM, you look young enough to be my daughter. But I only like boys, so if Ugotta is drinking legally, I think I'm safe. And I think Carl, Pat & Gnomon are closer to my age, so maybe I won't feel like a ridiculous old fool......

DAMN - That's exactly what I didn't want when I posted my picture!!

Yes... I'm young. Just 25. However, I hope that it gives patcon some hope for the intellectual future of the next generation of Americans.

Damn, and I'm usually good about exploring the fun links people provide! My dad is from KC, MO originally, and one of my best friends is from Ft Wayne. I'd be curious to see just how the bible belt likes to party. And yes, it is about noon, but no it's not too early, and unfortunately that pic is not from today...haha.

Hahahahaaaaaa...I was just about to post again! I was simply going to put, "What, no tongue?"

Wait, now where'd your 2nd post go? Confession is good for the soul, or so I've heard. You didn't think I wouldn't actually go back and double check now, did you?

P.S. If you really don't want it up, edit your post to delete the link and I will do the same from my quote.

I don't want that comment inscribed in stone when I run for president!!

I love the fact that anyone who sees your "tongue" comment sitting there, out in the middle of nowhere, will think you're postal.

P.S.S. That was thoughtful, Donkey Hotey. Thanks.

Now, now...what have I ever said that indicated that I cared what people thought of me?

quote:

Originally posted by ugottaride:
Now, now...what have I ever said that indicated that I cared what people thought of me?

*scratching head* Good point.

k, well, I think it's safe to say this thread is officially jacked! but as I was reading down I came up with some thoughts to contribute before jackedness occurred, so here they are:

are the Others definitively NOT Dharma people? nothing says that for sure.

Wouldn't it be nice if the Losties made the connection that the logo on the food means it is for their specific hatch and went over to check out the medical hatch again and see if there was a food-drop for that one near it too?

Boooooooo...the thread was dead. I'm hijacking it back.

Go Red Wings!