LoA, I wouldn't make too much of the overly fast speeds as yet. We know the island messes with instrumentation. Or it could just be the Powers aren't as good at math as you are.
The overly slow speeds can also be explained by faulty instrumentation. Dan's position and the boat may be further away than instruments show. Or maybe the theories about a science fictiony shell of some sort around the island are correct.
I have to disagree. As this is critical to the very nature of what the island is, they wouldn't mess this up with faulty math, especially given that it only requires basic algebra. Nor is this a matter of faulty instrumentation. The phone conversation was in real-time, verifying the time discrepancy. The fairly basic (perhaps shielded?) timers were likely synchronized correctly, and were working properly upon the rocket's arrival. This is a matter of
perception, i.e. we saw Daniel wait, and it was likely for 31 minutes, while from Regina's vantage point it took only 28 seconds. There is something intervening, and it's this still as-yet-to-be-determined 'bubble' laying between the ship & the island.
Interesting discussion, but it is based on something we do not know. How far is the freighter? We do not have that answer
The whole point of this dramatic science experiment was to give us enough data (speed and time) to calculate the distance to the freighter. It is 35 miles from where Daniel is standing... surely a plausible result. But more importantly, the huge discrepancy in the perception of the rocket's travel time offers us a measurable, quantitative effect on an object passing through whatever bubble surrounds the island. All we need is the theory to explain it.
I'll be curious to see next week whether the chopper makes it back through the bubble with no incident. That'd suggest that only objects coming into the bubble (planes, choppers, Black Rock) are affected.
Re: LostAndSeek
waiting 4 missile missile landing
I think this is, in fact, critical. It's a hazy day, but Daniel surely can see the sun's location, and so can triangulate the position of the boat. That the missile does come from the opposite direction is a strong tell that the 'path' wasn't direct as he had expected (and he's a clever boy). Remember, Daniel was there on the chopper flying in, so he should already have some inkling in his head about the shape & nature of 'the bubble' based upon the chopper's flight path, turbulence and flying at night notwithstanding. Otherwise he wouldn't have been so eager to do this experiment.
Why bring these three specialists to the island if not to provide the fans with definitive answers to some of the island's mysteries? Daniel will do the science, Charlotte the history, and Miles the spirit world. I appreciate the Producers' motives in this, and trust that they're merely trying to avoid the critiques laid against X-Files and Star Trek for their unsubstantiated science and tendency to hit the 'reset button' at the end of each episode.
In Einstein's conception of space time, it is like a sanding belt. To go to it's boundary is to go to it's origin. I think what you have shown here a very good insight. The missile didn't go all the way around the earth, but in entering the space time of the island, it chose to cross from back door instead of the front....but the back door is the front....and, from the perspective of Faraday, the trip took thirty one minutes and the vector was inverted.
Now who could dispute Einstein? This theory cleanly fits the evidence. As this is a perception issue vis-a-vis space/time, I will stipulate that this small rocket, with fuel likely sufficient for a 28 second burn, 'flew' the short flight as seen from Regina's perspective. This would obviate the need for the fuel contained in a larger, perhaps cruise-missile sized missile.
The funny thing about science, especially the higher order science that requires incredible amounts of mathematics that is surely beyond me, is that it requires a degree of faith similar to the faith necessary to believe in God, or the faith Locke has in this island as a powerful, sentient agent. We trust that thousands of advanced theoreticians are competing intensely enough amongst each other, and subject to sufficient peer review by journals, grant-issuing institutions, tenure committees, etc., such that the truths they espouse are closer to 'the Truth' than to voodoo.
the engine burn was done. they do that.
Yeah, it was definitely rocket-propelled, as evidenced by the exhaust trail. Also, the rocket banked as it approached the target. A projectile can not change its vector mid-flight like that, even, say, a wickedly thrown knuckleball.
