Cereal (with banana):

Thanks for the links, dcp. Fascinating stuff.

I'm willing to hand-wave "the radio works!" for the sake of the story, but it irks me that the shot they gave us of the hand at the instrument panel shows Boone fumbling with the wrong instrument. The knobs he touched were on the transponder. The com radio is the left side of the next box down.

I think that making Mary (a) a Perpetual Virgin, and (b) immaculately conceived was the early Church's way to counteract the stories spreading about how Jesus was the product of a pre-marriage affair of Mary's, and that Joseph was a cuckolded sap who bought his fiancee's story about an angel blah-blah-he's-the-son-of-God-I-swear!-cakes.

Also, making her the next thing to divine made her a pure vessel and gave the Church a way to explain how the Son of God could be both divine and human, instead of all-divine as other heretics (such as Marcian) said.

Here's a plausible way the writers might have used to make flight 815 crash without having it break up in mid-air:

From [link] about 3/4 of the way down:

I experienced a lengthy ground delay, before departing for Tokyo from LAX, when the preflight inspection revealed a failure in the primary pressurization control system. All major components of that vital system were replaced, but the computer still enunciated the failure code. Finally, one thoughtful mechanic suggested replacing the on/off control switch in the cockpit. That solved the problem. That switch, as all other switches in that cockpit, was subjected to excess humidity for a considerable period of time because Boeing had responded to crew complaints about “low air humidity” in the cockpit. For the first time, Boeing made a cockpit humidifier an option to the airlines, when it built the 747-400. Whether that humidifier actually helped reduce fatigue symptoms of cockpit crews, as claimed by some, is debatable because the only “evidence” is anecdotal experience. What is certain knowledge, however, is that the extra humidity gradually caused the deposit of a thin film of a chalky white substance over the entire overhead electrical control panels in those cockpits, similar to the stuff that builds up on shower walls. The defective pressurization control switch was so corroded from that substance (my conjecture is mineral deposits with possible microbial growth) that it culminated in a short circuit failure. Since the other identical switch, that controlled the secondary backup system, was just as old, it too was replaced with a new one.

It is not too far-fetched to imagine a scenario where a B-747-400 is forced to ditch in the ocean because both pressurization control switches failed on the same flight, forcing the pilots to descend to 10,000 ft. so everyone could get enough oxygen to stay alive. Flying at that altitude greatly increases the fuel consumption, per mile traveled. That, in turn, would force the pilots to divert to the nearest emergency airport which could be a very long distance away, if the failure occurred in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In theory, they could make it to an emergency airport before running out of fuel, but if any other factors (bad weather, additional equipment failure, stronger winds than forecast, etc.) intervened, the result could be an ocean ditching.

Remember the Ethiopian Airlines hijacking and subsequent ditching back in 1996? [link]

There were 48 survivors.

"as a Christian, David Fury should..."

The dangling modifier strikes again!!

This is why grammar is good, people.

A modifier that dangles is a generous way to interpret that, Nutty.

What worries me is I'm afraid the producers may be seeing Jack in spy/cowboy-vision, where the "good" protagonist is good because he's the main character rather than because he's someone who actually behaves in a moral manner. And never gets called on it. I would have liked that scene between him and Kate much better if she'd been somewhat disgusted and said "so your Hippocratic Oath doesn't matter, but impressing me does? What happens if someone you don't like gets sick and I'm not around to show off for?"

I wasn't bugged by it, because my impression was that Jack's resolve to not be the Good Doctor lasted only a few seconds once he saw Sawyer actually in distress; if he was doing it just for Kate, he would have agreed up at the caves. Instead, he told Kate he wasn't going to approach him, but then actually did it when not in front of Kate; if he was doing it 'for Kate', then I'd expect the reverse.

Also, I think this methodology of dealing with Sawyer shows a lot of promise. Sawyer's a huge problem; he has to be dealt with, because he's exactly the sort of person that can trigger the descent into Lord of the Flies-land. So far they've tried torture, which didn't work. Being sweet to Sawyer, which not only didn't work but triggered his 'I'll make them see how shitty I am, I'll demand sexual favors!' reaction. Pure alpha confrontation (the briefcase) which did work but required Jack to take serious leave of his Hippocratic oath.

Everyone working together to help him and thus making him part of the team/society, but at the same time with enough mocking to not trigger his 'everyone needs to hate me so I'll do something really vicious!' reaction seems to have strong possibilities. We'll see how well it works when the next crisis hits.

But it is required for her logistically and Catholically to be a womb worthy of god, a second Eve (also congenitally sin free).

This confused me even as a child. God arranged for Mary to be born free of sin even though her parents were sinners. If this is possible, then why bother making Mary immaculate? Just give Jesus a tin-foil hat or something to protect him from her sinful womb. Maybe reverse the womb polarity and add some Tachyon pulses just to be sure.

This confused me even as a child.

It's ecunemical handwaving, Rick. Forget it. t /Chinatown

Just give Jesus a tin-foil hat or something to protect him from her sinful womb.

As someone who hopes to give birth someday, allow me to say OW.