Mine wasn't a question rather than a general statement about the timeframe of this season and season 3. Sorry if there was any confusion.

Scene A: Desmond makes call to Penny in phone booth
Scene B: Desmond arrives at Oxford; calls Penny, no answer
Scene C: Desmond arrives at auction
Scene D: Desmond arrives at Penny's; she informs him that the number didn't work because she had moved

I think most people have assumed that B-D are the two days of leave that Desmond mentioned that he had when he called Penny from the phone booth. However, I think her moving and setting up shop would be very quick in a matter of days (plus she looked comfortable, so daddy paying doesn't seem like a likely fit either). What I am suggesting is that Desmond's return (?) to Oxford was at a point is considerably later than when Scene A took place, and not his 2 days of leave. It may still be within 1996, but instead of March, maybe it's now November or something to that effect.

Who said anything about aliens? An advanced civilization is all that's required here; why couldn't a future human civilization be behind all this? Considering that time travel is a big part of the Lost universe, this is something to seriously consider.

I really don't think there is even an advanced civilization involved here. I simply believe that there is something to the island that Hanso/Dharma was trying to exploit which would ultimately do harm to the rest of the world and Ben and his people are trying to protect that. I also believe that Ben has Sayid out doing his dirty work in order to wrap up all loose ends so that the island remains a secret from the rest of the world. This would ultimately make Ben a good guy despite doing bad deeds to keep the island out of the hands of people who have bad intentions.

You're probably correct. each time desmond's mind leaped back to the past of course it was to different points. for example, the day he got the information from penny's father about her new residence his conscience went back to the present. then when the next time he leaped to the past it could've of been months later after he talked to penny's father. each leap to the past was with new information to a mind that had no recall of the previous leaps.

Here's what has been troubling me about the situation:

A.) Charles Widmore - We now know he obtained the Black Rock book after the Desmond/Penny splitup, but before he sponsored the sail race.

Was the sail race a gimmick to get Desmond to the island? Enter mysterious Libby with an expensive boat which she just gives to him ....

Here is where it gets interesting. Remember when Penny confronts Desmond at the stadium in season two? Desmond mentions that he heard she was engaged. She doesn't answer this. Doesn't it sound odd for her to be tracking him to this degree if she was engaged, and previously made it known she didn't want to talk to him? What changed her mind?

Sometimes people long for someone they think they can live without. I think that Penny and Desmond both realized that they wanted to be with each other after some time apart. That is the great thing about being a human.

Thanks for that correction. My bad. I was thinking of the system failure incident with Kelvin Inman. Still the same year though so the point is the same.

But weren't his first few leaps to the past all within minutes/hours of each other? First one: wakes up in his barracks with that drill instructor yelling at him. Second one: Screws up the punishment pushups. And so on, through the phone call to Penny.

I'm with you. That theory fits within the parameters the show has established. A floating city in space would be a giant jump the shark moment and turn of the vast majority of the audience. It's an interesting theory, but I'm not buyin'.

I would accept a manufactured environment ala Jurassic Park (novel) because that could be supported by the clues given. I'm just not sure what leads one to believe it's an island in space though. Based on what we are given, the island, theoretically, could be hundreds(thousands?) of years in the past, or hundreds of years in the future because of the wormhole(all the theories about what year it is on the island are based off a calendar we know nothing about, btw). That would also account for the differences in the sunlight or star patterns without going Star Trek on the audience who think they are watching a drama. That would "fit" within the parameters the writers have established. Not saying that's what I believe, just throwing it out there.

I'm beginning to think that the island and 'real world' are in sync. I know the producers have said this, but I don't think they are trying to slip a fast one on us. What I think is happening is that the field around the island acts as a barrier and has an effect on items passing through it - much like light passing through another medium (e.g. water). I think this is why the missle took so long to arrive and Faraday said the stars look different. Lastly, I think the coordinates that Ben gave Michael are the weak point in the field that allows for passage without ill effects (like the sub). We still don't know if the pilot actually followed Faraday's instructions to a T, or if he went slightly off. Also, there's the variable of Desmond's EM exposre, even if the pilot did follow the course.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason. The phone call happen quite a while after their punishment laps. Desmond is loading a truck then at the phone one of his troopmates thanks him for all the crap they had to do that morning and makes him drop the change. Next time he returns, he is still bent over picking up the change. At one stage isn't he running down a staircase when he jumps forward and is still in the staircase when he returns. So it seems a little inconsistent.

SO, does Walt have the same powers that Desmond has? Isn't that how he was able to appear to Locke at the end of Season 3 when Locke was shot and left for dead?

A couple of thoughts:

- In the season 2 finale, I believe we saw Desmond being dishonorably discharged for failing to follow orders. I don't think we got an explanation. Could it be that we was discharged for going AWOL during the period in 1996 when he went to find Daniel Faraday?

- In Desmond's flashback episode that dealth with his time at the monestary, Desmond had a revelation (after a night of heavy drinking) that he could not marry his fiancee. Perhaps he doesn't fully remember, but his mind travelled to the future, where he was somehow convinced that he needed to leave his fiancee. All that he was left with was the vague feeling that this was something that he needed to do.

- When Desmond joined the monestary, we saw a badly photoshopped picture of the brother with Mrs. Hathaway from "Flashes Before Your Eyes." In light of what we now know, it seems that Mrs. Hathaway and her colleague might be trying to guide Desmond's path for some reason and ensure that he winds up on the island. Maybe in future episodes we will see more "time travellers" guiding the paths of other Losties. (I don't know if that creates a paradox or not -- some of this stuff is beyond me.)

It seems that only the mind travels, not the body. Therefore, Walt's present body would have to still be on the island right by Locke. Unless Walt has some other power beyond what we have seen so far from Desmond.

I had forgotten about Faraday saying that about the stars! Another clue that fits my theory. The stars are wrong because they're nowhere near our local space.

Also the time slowdown due to the fact that they're travelling at relativistic speed perfectly explains the time "delay" for both the missile and the helicopter. It takes longer because on the island, time moves slower to an outside observer.

In fact, now that I think about it, we already have all the information we need from the payload experiment to determine what this time slowdown is and we can then calculate how fast they're going. In Faraday's payload experiment, the time of the payload clock and the time of his personal clock were synchronized before he left the freighter. He sent the payload to himself to see how much time he'd lost (relative to the outside world) since he landed on the island: 03:16:23 - 02:45:03 = 31 minutes. With these numbers, we can easily calculate how fast the island "spaceship" is travelling (the math is simple -- high school level -- so don't freak):

The equation for time dilation due relativistic effects is pretty straightforward:

RTime = STime * SqareRoot(1 - (v**2/c**2))

where RTime is the relativistic observer's time = island time = Faraday clock time = 2:45:03 = 9903 seconds

where STime is the stationary observer's time = outside world time = payload clock time = 3:16:23 = 11783 seconds

where c is the speed of light in a vacuum = 186,000 miles/second

and where v is the speed of the object and what we want to determine

Plugging in the numbers and solving for v:

9903 = 11783 * SqRt(1 -(v**2/186000**2))

v = SqRt((1.0 - 0.70635) / 186000**2) = 100,792 miles/second

So our intrepid island denizens are travelling at a hefty 100,792 miles/second which is approximately 54% of the speed of light.

Am I convincing anybody or am I just getting crickets?

Not possible. If that were true, they wouldn't be on the island, they'd be where ever they were in 1996.

Nor is the reverse possible. A 1996 mind would react just as Desmond did when it found itself on the Island.

This picture? Note they reused the location for the picture, the school, and the church Charlie goes to in season 1.

Desmond goes to School

I'll give you credit for a neat theory, but I really don't buy it. As others have said, it's just too out there.

I would submit (staying along your scientific lines), the following:

Consider the "world" as a body of water. Now let's assume that there is a snow globe inside that body of water. If we accept that the entity (body of water + snow globe) is within our known viewing universe (e.g. bucket) - then they are moving at the same relative speed when that bucket (read: earth) is moving. The time difference - and hence your equations - come into play when an object attempts to penetrate the plastic enclosure of the snow globe (read: EM field).

I really don't think there is anything involving aliens, advanced civilizations, space or floating islands at the other end of a wormhole.

Don't mean to offend, but that really doesn't make any sense (scientific or otherwise).

I don't get the "too out there" comments. I'll be the first to admit that my theories may be wrong. But I can almost 100% guarantee you one thing: No matter what the final explanation will turn out to be, it will definitely be "out there". Trust me. Whatever is going on on this island cannot be explained by any rational ordinary "in here" plot device.

Oh well. Ok, I give up. But if in two years time I'm proven to be right, I've got a lot of "I told you so"s saved up.

Hopefully somebody else will be able to chime in then. All I'm saying is that some funky electromagnetic field is surrounding the island that is the cause of the time difference. The field acts as a medium that has an effect on objects that pass through it. All we know right now, is that the effect in question appears to be time related.

Just wanted to chime in and say that I like your theories a lot and think you might very well be on to something, even if not 100% correct.

Also, aliens or an advanced civilization would be a pretty good explanation for a three-toed statue, no?

Also just wanted to add that I cracked up my friends who were watching this episode with me. When Desmond was calling Penny at the end and the phone kept ringing, I said, "Hello...you've reached Penny. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you. If this is Desmond calling, I went out for pizza."

Terrible way to ruin what was probably the best scene so far in the LOST saga.

I'm probably not going to get this until I watch all episodes in a continuos matter. I have too many gaps to fill.

Desmond is an amazing actor. Has he ever gotten any recognition for this role? Emmy nods?