One of the things I found most interesting about the choice of Bentham (I almost couldn’t contain myself when I heard of this “new” character) is that I knew that this would reveal the character in the coffin because Bentham’s body is still on display and gets pulled out for all the fun society meetings (one of the most hilarious things I remember learning in history class–thanks Mr. Wright!)
I missed the Edward Said=Sayid Jarrah connection last time around, so that has to be added to the list.

Also in that episode, Sayid kills Ishmael Bakir. Ishmael could be a reference to Islam, but Bakir is likely a reference to the Islamic philosopher, Mir Damad (Baqer).

Any thoughts?

Character………………..Philosopher
Mikhail Bakunin………….Mikhail Bakunin
Edmund Burke…………..Edmund Burke
Boone Carlyle…………..Thomas Carlyle
Anthony Cooper………..Anthony Cooper
Hugo (Hurley)………….Hugo De Groot
Desmond David Hume…………….David Hume
John Locke……………..John Locke
Danielle Rousseau……..Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Now I am sure I’ve missed some, but I’ll list some off the top of my head that they haven’t added yet. Help me fill in the gaps if you know some.

Ms. Hawking, who appears when Desmond slips through time, represents Stephen Hawking, who wrote A Brief History of Time, which discusses wormholes.

Richard Alpert is Dr. Richard Alpert (Baba Ram Dass) This seems clear from the Hindu spirituality and the references to Aldous Huxley’s Island. (side note: Do people age on the island? Walt ages. Ben ages. But they, presumably leave the island [the boat and the submarine].)

BF Skinner is, of course, mentioned, and the Dharma Initiative is an excercise in Skinner’s behavioralism. Okay, back on track.

At least two of the four new characters are definitely named after philosophers.

Daniel Faraday is a physicist named after the physicist Richard Faraday.

The coolest one to date is Charlotte Lewis. Charlotte Staples Lewis=Clive Staples Lewis=CS Lewis. How freaking cool is that? CS Lewis on the island. In Prince Caspian, the first thing the children do in Narnia is play in the water. What is the first thing Charlotte does in the neo-Narnia? Play in the water. The way time works in Narnia would make sense of the Richard, Walt, Ben aging thing above, but that’s off topic again.

Frank Lapidus may be named after the Russian anarchist Vladimir Lapidus, but Lostpedia suggests that he is a reference to the movie Sleeper, where Lapidus is a man struck by lightning. That also makes sense. Could be both.

Miles Straume is obviously maelstrom, which with all the Homer references, probably sets him up as Charybdis, which makes me wonder who will be his Scylla.

Finally, here’s an interesting theory on Benjamin Linus. Of course, Linus is always the one philosophizing in Peanuts, so why not the simple explanation? Even wikipedia calls him a philosopher.

I’m sure there are more, but it’s one in the morning. Help me compile some more philosopher references.

I’ve known about the newsletter comments for many years, and I don’t really care about politics all that much. So how this is so surprising to someone that’s probably had the Internet for a long time is beyond me. Paul repudiated the comments as soon as they were brought to his attention. This has been in the dust for a long time. This story was all over the news ten years ago in Texas. I mean, c’mon. Paul gave a full explanation then. Why should he have to give another explanation? His explanation is already out there. Why give credence to this stuff? Why waste his time talking about this distraction?

He’s not considered a racist in Texas, where people actually know him. Even the NAACP president in Austin, who has known Paul for 20 years, thinks this is a smear campaign. But Michael Spencer, a teacher at a small Christian school nowhere close to Texas, knows more about Ron Paul’s views on race. In the words of Homer Simpson, “TV said that? Then it must be true.”

What makes me so sad about Spencer’s post is that Spencer is making judgments about a man based on what he’s heard in the media from people that don’t really care for Paul. Does Spencer know how much authority Paul had over the newsletter’s publication? Does he know what actions were taken? And why is it not enough that Paul has apologized repeatedly over the years and still taken full moral responsibility for his staffer’s comments? Why are black leaders in Texas, who actually know Ron Paul personally, less authoritative than the liberal white media?

If I was one of these black leaders, I think I would feel like I was a victim of racism (but not by Ron Paul).

Of the staffer, Spencer writes, “To continue to associate with the persons who wrote ANY of the articles- which I suspect may be the case- is simply unacceptable.” Why the assumption? Why is there no charity? Spencer asks for a full explanation. The full explanation has been out there for years. What do you expect Paul to do? Get his story told in the media while they’re roasting him? Hahahahaha. How would that benefit the media?

I’m sad because I expect more from the monk. He’s usually a pretty humble guy. I think he would be willing to say he makes mistakes. I think he made a mistake on this one. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem open to dialogue on this one (he turned off comments and said he wouldn’t respond to emails). I understand that he doesn’t want to deal with Ron Paul fanatics. I get it. But I had to say something. Just calling it like I see it. Am I wrong here?

We have private insurance. We pay a lot for it. Our premium is over $500 a month. I’m thankful for it, even though it’s a lot of money. I had to get a tetanus shot last week, and I watched two very obviously sick people (if I was diagnosing them, I would have said whooping cough and measles…but I’m paranoid) get kicked out of the doctor’s office within a 30 minute time period. A third person was on the phone trying to get a referral. It was pretty sad.

The whole system just makes me a bit sick. In one scene of Sicko, a patient gets meds for 5 cents in Cuba…meds she pays $120 for in the US. This reminded me of Paul Farmer’s work in reducing the cost of tuberculosis meds in Haiti. It’s just sickening how cheaply that stuff is produced and how expensive it is to buy.

In another scene, Cuban doctors take a lady off of five of her nine meds because half of her meds are useless. She’s paying a ridiculous amount of money for meds she doesn’t need. Welcome to America.

I don’t know what the answer to this problem is, but something has to change.

FACT: The Office is great this year. I’m so excited it is a Thursday. My co-worker (who thinks I’m like Stanley) bought me some cheap Dwight sticky-notes. They say “Information is Power” and have a picture of Dwight. They’re awesome.

The Scrubs premiere is tonight. The previews look musical. The musical Scrubs are my favorite. I’m hoping.

I’ve already made too much money this year to get an Earned Income Tax Credit, which means our refund is going to be sad and pathetic. This makes me very sad. I was hoping a second child/new child would give us a big refund.

When I woke up this morning, Kyrie was sleeping with her head and chest on her bed and her feet on the floor. It was hilarious. She ends up in all sorts of weird positions by morning. She’s like her mother.

I’ve read six books this week, graded five sets of essays, and gotten to bed before 1 AM every night. I am hoping to finish one more book tonight, grade a set of essays, and get to sleep before midnight (but let’s face it, Conan runs long on his monologue a lot of times, or the guest is just too good).

One more week of less busyness.

That is all.

Just now, Rachel said, “C’mon, let’s go to bed.” Kyrie, in a whiny voice, said, “No…I wanna watch Conan.” And when the commercial ended, “Conaaaan!!!” She has been watching Conan since before she could walk, so I guess it just makes sense.

Rachel calmed her down, and about five minutes later she started wailing.

Rick: What happened?
Rachel: They showed George in his cage, and he looked sad.

And…there she goes again.

Freaking adorable. She cares for that silly monkey.