Tour of the map - part 5 of 6

Greetings, Lostophiles. Before we hit the home stretch in the map tour (and get to some really interesting notes), a couple of asides.

As you may or may not be aware, most episodic TV shows go on "hiatus" during the Christmas/ New Years holidays. While the cast and crew of Lost spend their "work" weeks mired in Oahu, during this recent holiday season, they got out and saw some other hot spots. Matthew "Jack" Fox's film, "We Are Marshall" opened, and Fox was on-hand for the premiere at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in L.A., where he was joined by fellow cast members Harold "Michael" Perrineau and Josh "Sawyer" Holloway. But for a bigger break, Daniel Dae "Jin" Kim took his family skiing in Park City Utah, where my brother, another Lost Loving Lawyer named Carl (who lives and works in D.C.) spent New Years with his wife, Kate, and friends from law school.

In other "Lost" news, Jeff Jensen's column on ew.com returned this week, with some minor new theories (not a fan of the "Dharma films are red herrings planted after the initiative went bad" idea) and a chance to email in the one big question you want him to pose to the Powers that Be. Mine was "who were the 'Others' before Danielle Rousseau started calling them 'the Others'?"

But now, on to this week's somewhat late post, where we look at the Northeastern corner of the Swan hatch map...

"Possible Manufacturing Facility with Light Industrial Equipment"
Decoded: Hey, the Dharma Initiative was meant to last as long as it took to get its job done. We know they had a pretty good infirmary, and food supplies literally fell from the sky from time to time. We know (though presumably the map maker did not) that an entire suburban oasis exists on the far North shore of the main island. It stands to reason some machinery to build and replenish these facilities would be present. Alternatively, maybe the Dharma Initiative went bad before the building phase was completed, with some equipment inadvertently left behind.

Mysteries: What's with the "possible?" And can we be more vague? Professional sewing machines and car-manufacturing robots could both be described by this note. Also, unless I'm mistaken, geographically this note is not far from the thick cable leading to Rousseau's former bunker from the ocean. What was going on there?

Degree of Certainty: When even the mapmaker says "possible," I can't be too sure.

"Or Other Route of Travel"
Decoded: As we know by now, some spots on the island are less accessible than others, and the Others certainly like to corral the stowaways into confined areas. But ideally, the people who designed the island facilities would want multiple ways to get around.

Mysteries: Travel to where?

Degree of Certainty: Folks, something got cut off here. If even the freeze-framed internet geniuses couldn't see the entire map, maybe we're just not meant to know...

"Suspected Shutdown Date 10.28.84"
Decoded: This is a later date for the "incident" than we've seen in other references. And it seems the mapmaker is uncertain. As this note is at the extreme corner of the map, perhaps different parts of the island continued to function for different lengths of time. In any case, these dates are all more than 20 years old (which explains the old-school computers in the hatches).

Mysteries: Why the different date? The mapmaker seemed certain at other points on the map when things were discontinued, so why "suspected?"

Degree of Certainty: Something ended on October 28, 1984. Or it didn't. It's hard to say.

"Mountainous Terrain Most Likely Used by D.I.H.G. for Meterological Research Due to..."
Decoded: From the Swan orientation, recall that "meteorology" was one of the phenomena studied by the Dharma Initiative. We've seen stations clearly devoted to other prongs of the initiative (psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism), and we know there are undiscovered stations out there. Also, odd weather could explain smokey's cloud-like form, a plane that gets seemingly pulled apart in mid-air, and a sudden rising tide that carries away the plane's remains.

Mysteries: So this spot is still "D.I.H.G." and not "D.I." or "H.G." Again, why the split? What weather-related phenomena were being studied? Why is "mountainnous" a sign of weather? And "due to" what? Could this station be the Flame? If so, why so far away from the other supposed location on the map?

Degree of Certainty: We saw the Swan film, and know there are mountains. The rest will have to wait until someone takes a stroll in that direction, which seems out of the way from the current plotlines.

"Geogological Composition Likely to Cause Magnetic Interference with Weather Project."
Decoded: More evidence that the multiple prongs of Dharma may have accidentally collided to form smokey. What happens when you have funky weather mixed with crazy electromagnets? A semi-sentient, telepathic, electric cloud? If the mound that Rose and Bernard visited in Australia was though to have geological properties that heal, and the island clearly does, perhaps its geological makeup explains Locke's walking and Rose's remission.

Mysteries: Well if the geology is bad for the weather project, what mook stuck it in this location?

Degree of Certainty: Things are beginning to take some shape here...but a lot remains to be clarified.

"Interference Might Also Prevent Location from Use as Listening Station Cryptography Research or Analysis."
Decoded: Well, clearly the magnetic issues on the island, and in this corner of the island in particular, caused problems. This notation suggests secret messages or bugs were involved during the Dharma days. This is hardly a surprise, in light of what we've seen in The Pearl. But again, why put so much stuff on a bad island, and in particular, a bad spot on the island?

Mysteries: What cryptography? What has been encrypted? Who is researching and analyzing? Listening to what?

Degree of Certainty: Afraid we're still in in the dark on this one, and not just because of the interference.

"High Potential for R.V.S./ K.V."
Decoded: Well, a part of the problem here is lack of consensus about what this note says. Is it "R.V.S." or "K.V.?" I suspect the former, because the "R" can stand for radio (as in the broadcast tower that sent the numbers and, later, Rousseau's message) and "S" could stand for "station."

Mysteries: In either situation, what is the "V?" Could it be like the Latin version of "U"? Does the island have Rodents of Unusual Size? (bonus points if you get that reference).

Degree of Certainty: Minimal. Don't know what it says, and only know the mapmaker thought there was high potential.

So that's it for this week, folks. Not the busiest section of the map, but perhaps the most telling. The combined magnetic and weather-based smokey theory springs from this corner. Next week, we finish the tour in the Southeast corner.