I rescind my side theory. I rewatched the episode and now know that Goodwin stole the wine from the sub, indicating that the wine was not from the island. I also realize that the Tempest houses toxic chemicals, which would make it a poor location for wine-making. I still think, however, that fermentation plays a role in generating the island's electrical power.

I know this is a week behind but I can't seem to get anyone's help on this; I am too much of a technological dinosaur to do it myself and with Lost ending in 2010, I am concerned that it will take too long for me to learn. In "The Constant," at the Black Rock auction, bidder #887 looks a lot like Mr. Avellino (the guy Sayid shot on the golf course in his flashforward) to me. Can anyone get a screencap of this?

Judging from the numerous tanks seen inside the Tempest station, I think the letters "FMNT" stand for FerMeNTation. I believe we were told in the episode that the Tempest supplies electrical power to the island. Well, fermentation produces biogas, which can be used to fuel generators. It also produces ethanol, which can be used to fuel combustion engines, including vehicles or even more generators. This might also explain why there is a large quantity of lethal gas stored at the Tempest. Amonia, for example, might be one of the fermentation byproducts. Also noteworthy is the fact that the "FMNT TANK" can also apparently be referenced as the "n-p/hgd tank." I don't know what "hgd" might stand for but "n" and "p" are the periodic symbols for nitrogen and phosphorus respectively--both essential gases in the fermentation process. Lastly, the fact that the "FMNT TANK" has a cooling system fits into this theory since the fermentation process must be regulated within a narrow temperature range. As a side theory, I wonder if the wine that Goodwin brought to the beach was a hint. The Tempest could double as a winery. (I got a lot of this information from wikipedia.org, "Fermentation (wine)", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_%28wine%29.)

I was just thinking that Aleph, even at that time there would be far more efficient systems than telnet to communicate between computers so close to eachother... especially when you have refused connections.

Anyone else think its weird Dan had to telnet the tempest station server? Seems like an odd command for a terminal inside the tempest station. Or maybe tempest has an outside connection to another server that grants access?

Yeah, I re-read the feed ass part about 5 times to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong. lol.

it translates into - too.....much.....time....on....your....hands......

The other day I had a cross feed ass overpressure alert.

haha, feed ass

Sure are a lot of buttons to be pushed on this island.