One of the funny things about living in San Pedro is the nuclear attack footprint of the South Bay. Being both one of the world’s largest harbors, being near the core of the American high-tech aerospace industry and much of the West Coast’s refining capacity, I remember once learning that there were 19 different Cold War-era missile targets in the South Bay alone. When people think of nuclear war, they think of the puny explosions from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and imagine seeing them in the distance, obliterating the tall buildings of downtown. As someone who happens to live in one of the cores of the American industrial enterprise, and who has an unhealthy obsession with the apocalypse, I imagine about two dozen explosions, as MIRV warheads split and explode both on the ground and at low altitude. Something less like a mushroom cloud, and more like just overlapping waves of light and heat, a silent (since both the heat and the light move faster than sound) blinding (as in eye melting blinding) moment. That’s all. No drama, nor smoke. Just blast waves and simultaneous burning…
That’s why I got so hot and bothered when BldgBlog’s post, Nuclear Urbanism, introduced me to CarlosLabs’ Google Maps mapplet, Ground Zero, that lets you drop nukes of various vintages on the cities of your choice. A bit abstract, and missing the drama and “relational aesthetics” of the interaction with the target site itself, but awesome, regardless. Above that’s my house as ground zero. Now the only thing we need is a mash-mash-up where you can see the results of overlapping multiple ground and air explosions, just like in the real thing!
Technorati Tags: CarlosLabs, mapplet, Google Maps, Ground Zero, BldgBlog, nuclear explosion, blast radius, Your Moment of Apocalypse
Wow!
Good to see that, while a direct Pedro hit will sadly sully most of your hometown of Rancho PV, it won’t take out Lunada Bay – at least directly. Got a soft spot for LB, I do.
But if the real deal were to occur, I’m sure LB would get caught up in the overlap. Back in the Cold War, the Nike Missile site at RPV City Hall would probably have been lined up for a direct hit, along with the one at White Point and the radar site at the top of the Hill. The overlap from those would cover the rest of the Peninsula along the coast.
Fuck that – we all had bomb shelters up on the hill, stocked to the hilt. I say bring it on, you godless commie fucks!
I remember in high school in the 80′s- we always took cold comfort in the idea that, in the event of a nuclear strike, we’d never know what hit us. It was the perfect compliment to teenage angst.
I followed the link and it explains that the map shows thermal damage, not radiation. Sorry, MRow, LB is toast.