Actually, I think it was Kate and Sayeed that met Richard, not Jack.

It was originally presented at the Lost Panel at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con and later on the Region 1 Season 3 DVD release. It was introduced by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse as a teaser for Season 4. [source]


He never calls himself DeGroot.
In the Swan Orientation Film, he introduces himself as Marvin Candle; in the Pearl Orientation Video, as Dr. Mark Wickmund; the Orchid Orientation Film, as Dr. Edgar Halliwax^*; and he was shown in the Flame computer videos but never identified.

_{* Ben can be seen wearing a parka with an Orchid patch and Halliwax stitched on the front when he was in the dessert (possibly the same dessert that the polar bear fossil was found). ("The Shape of Things to Come")}

All four of these men look almost exactly the same, however there's evidence that they may be, in fact, separate individuals. In both the Swan and Flame videos, the scientist appeared to have a prosthetic left arm, while the scientist shown in the Pearl video did not. In the Barracks video, the scientist did not move his left arm, suggesting it too might have been a prosthetic. In the Orchid Orientation Film, the scientist was using both arms and claimed he was not an actor. [source]

Gerald and Karen DeGroot are the founders of The DHARMA Initiative. He mentions them in the Swan and Pearl Orientation films, along with the Danish industrialist and munitions magnate, Alvar Honso, who funds the Initiative though The Hanso Foundation.


We don't know that for a fact if he was ever going to gas the island a second time. Daniel and Charlotte had alleged that he would but, as far as we know, this could've been a fabrication by Widmore.


Already been done.

It's a big island; reaching the Flame required two days walk from the beach camp. The Arrow was a similar distance away. I think the 815ers were more concerned with the supply of food, making sure everyone was alright and, of course, getting off of The Island. And keep in mind that The Barracks were located on a separate island from those of the survivors.


Technically it was "Destiny" that he was referring to. :/


"Australia is the key to the whole game"

ZOMG IT'S NUMBER 15! WHAT THE HELL!!!

I cannot wait for the season finale now! 

I'm just a big nerd/fanboy. That's all.

By the way, I love your new avatar, Chris.

 

The only way that I can imagine that happening is that if it either moves far into the future or that it moves further into the past but to a different location 3-Dimensionally as well as in the Fourth Dimension. "No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time" and all that. If it's the former then all Widmore would have to do is wait; which is still a possibility since we've only seen just almost a year into the characters futures.

But if they appear in the same location, I foresee two possibilities. One, coming face to face with herself 30 years older would put her into shock and she'd simply pass out. Or two, the encounter could create a time paradox, the results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum, and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's a worse case scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy.

Well, think about Desmond going back in time and seeing Farraday? What might have happened if Desmond saw himself in the past instead? He'd have critically altered the course of time, Desmond might not have ended up on the island, which means 815 wouldn't have crashed, and all of the survivors might have ended up needing a more drastic course correction. The whole knot of destiny could have come undone, and who knows? Widespread death? The unraveling of the space-time continuum? People all over the world suddenly suffering from time displacement?

IE the end of the world!