kingandy | "I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there."

If you're interested in keeping track of the Lost numbers but can't spare the time, why not subscribe to The Lost Numbers? Here, dedicated fans will filter the minutiae of every episode through the sum total of human experience and draw up any and all connections to those darn numbers. A brief skim of the front page brings up the following gem, which clearly lends a deep and profound meaning to the episode in question:

- In What Kate Did, Kate buys a one way ticket to Tallahassee. In October 1823 John Lee Williams & Dr. William Simmons selected Tallahassee as the most suitable place as a meeting point for the (at that time) territorial government. When Florida became a state Tallahassee officially became the capital.

By far the finest example of intelligent research gone mad, though, is this marvel:

- In Born To Run, after Tom is shot, the camera focuses in on the toy plane, and we see a Minnie Mouse toy on the car seat next to the plane. Minnie Mouse is a fictional character of the Mickey Mouse universe featured in animated cartoons, comic strips and comic book by The Walt Disney Company. The comic strip story The Gleam, was published from January 19 to May 2, 1942 (42), by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson. They first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. Minerva has since been a recurring alias for her. Minerva was a Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom. The Romans celebrated her festival from March 19 to 23 (23). The earlier comic strip story, Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers, published from September 22 (this is the exact day Lost premiered!) to December 26, 1930. Mickey and Minnie debuted together in Plane Crazy, first released on May 15 (15), 1928. Their next appearance in The Karnival Kid, May 23 (23), 1929, casted Mickey as a hot dog vendor and Minnie as a carnival Shimmy Dancer. Her final appearance for the year was in Wild Waves, first released on August 15 (8/15), 1929. She spends a day at the beach with Mickey. Their activities of singing and dancing are soon interrupted when Minnie is swept by a wave into the sea. She panics and seems to start drowning. Mickey uses a row boat to rescue her and return her to the shore but Minnie is still visibly shaken from the experience. Mickey starts singing the tune of Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep, a maritime ballad written in 1832 by Emma Hart Willard, who lived from February 23 (23), 1787 (1 + 7 + 8 + 7 = 23) to April 15 (15), 1870 (1 + 8 + 7 + 0 = 16).

It's possible to overanalyse these things.