What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

[Egyptoid]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

dancing in the streets of Gaza and Teheran

 

I do not say that "no one would mourn",

I say that "many would cheer dead americans"

 

 

 

and things like this would totally flood the TV stations

frantic TV news reporter: "we have reports that Sondra Bullock is still alive,

as she was visiting her sister in Jersey at the time"

 

George Lucas and Demi Moore would still be alive, etc.

[dustytomes]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Stock market would crash. Mostly from uncertainty and panic. "Is NY next?" The market hates the unknown.

[The Weapon]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Personally I think that New York would become the new centre for movies, television etc. at least for a while.

 

Regarding the Tsunami/earthquake the amount of energy equals 3.206 * 10^11 metric tons dropped from 30.48 metres (30.48m * 9.8 ms^-2 * 3.206 * 10^14 kilograms = about 10^17 joules. This is based on Basil's figures. This is equivelent to [10^17j/(4.6 *10^6 j/kg) = 2.17 * 10^6 tonnes of TNT or 2.17 Megatonnes. This is a lot less energy than I thought somebody check it. It's not that much energy compared to major earthquakes.

[bubba smith]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

WHY WOULD it vanish and HOW COULD it vanish i think are the questions needing to be asked if a natural phenomena a great mystery,if man made it would be the most massive kidnapping in history

[Mark Rand]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

WHY WOULD it vanish and HOW COULD it vanish i think are the questions needing to be asked if a natural phenomena a great mystery' date='if man made it would be the most massive kidnapping in history[/quote']

 

It was mystical, and we can blame it all of Joss Whedon.

 

At the end of season five of Angel: the series, Angel and his crew killed all the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, the earthly instruments for the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart, a cabal of demons that want to bring about the apocalypse on Earth and, possibly, in other dimensions.

 

At the start of what was to be season six, and is now a comic book, they transported Los Angeles to a demon dimension. I though, at first, that it was only the city, but since Angel was able to drive to both Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, I decided that it was the whole county.

 

Of course, it could be the City of Los Angeles and the surrounding communities. This would make the area vanished a lot smaller and reduce the amount of water that moved.

[FenrisUlf]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Reality and game shows might be on the rise. Some could be filmed anywhere. All they need is studio and office space. One of my favorites' date=' the new [i']American Gladiators[/i] could even be taped here in Pittsburgh.

 

Philly and Chester would work better, I think. "Okay, gladiators -- your challenge is to race through downtown Chester at 2:30 AM. Make it from one side of town to the other alive and you win! Bonus points for anyone who dares to wear the KKK RULZ t-shirt."

 

More seriously, I can't help but to see massive panic and a demand to find out WTH happened, both with very good reason. And at least one supervillain/con man will claim credit and try to jack Uncle Sam up for some cash to prevent a re-run.

[Basil]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Personally I think that New York would become the new centre for movies, television etc. at least for a while.

 

Regarding the Tsunami/earthquake the amount of energy equals 3.206 * 10^11 metric tons dropped from 30.48 metres (30.48m * 9.8 ms^-2 * 3.206 * 10^14 kilograms = about 10^17 joules. This is based on Basil's figures. This is equivelent to [10^17j/(4.6 *10^6 j/kg) = 2.17 * 10^6 tonnes of TNT or 2.17 Megatonnes. This is a lot less energy than I thought somebody check it. It's not that much energy compared to major earthquakes.

 

The figure I've seen is 4.15 * 10^9 Joules to one "ton of TNT".

Kinetic energy = 1/2 * mass (in kg, not tons!) * velocity^2

Velocity = sqrt(2 * distance * acceleration) = sqrt(2 * 30.48 * 9.80665)

Energy = 1/2 * 3.206 * 10^14 * (sqrt(2 * 30.48 * 9.80665))^2

= 9.583 * 10^16 Joules

 

Divide by 4.15 * 10^9, and you get 23.1 "Megatons". I think you put the decimal point over by one.

 

 

BTW, that energy is NOT going to hit all at once. The water isn't dropping 100 feet all over the ex-county at the same time; it's flowing into the hole. That will take a while---after all, the far northeast corner of the county is ~120 km from the sea! Takes a while for water to go that far.

 

Seems to me the earth would rumble for a few hours, rather than a 'quake-like shock. But when the backwash hits, you'll get a significant tsunami.

[ghost-angel]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Orange Country would breathe a sigh of relief and become the beach resor it always wanted to be.

 

(or did you mean the entire L.A. basin?)

[Basil]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

At the start of what was to be season six, and is now a comic book, they transported Los Angeles to a demon dimension. I though, at first, that it was only the city, but since Angel was able to drive to both Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, I decided that it was the whole county.

 

Of course, it could be the City of Los Angeles and the surrounding communities. This would make the area vanished a lot smaller and reduce the amount of water that moved.

 

Santa Monica is bordered on three sides by the city of LA and on the fourth by the Pacific. Beverly Hills is surrounded by the city of LA. You can use a larger version of the map I linked to before, which is found HERE, and find the intersection of I-10 and I-405. Santa Monica is west of that, Beverly Hills northeast.

 

You wouldn't even need all of the city of LA to cover the spots you mentioned. Was there any mention of the San Fernando Valley? Burbank? Glendale? Any other communities/areas? Because so far, it sounds to me like only the downtown and immediate surroundings, which is a whole lot less than the county.

[lemming]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Orange Country would breathe a sigh of relief and become the beach resor it always wanted to be.

 

(or did you mean the entire L.A. basin?)

 

Well, they already have beach area, but thinking about it, Disney Land and Knott's Berry Farm wouldn't be part of the missing bits, though they may have to deal with the aftermath portion.

[Mark Rand]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Santa Monica is bordered on three sides by the city of LA and on the fourth by the Pacific. Beverly Hills is surrounded by the city of LA. You can use a larger version of the map I linked to before' date=' which is found HERE, and find the intersection of I-10 and I-405. Santa Monica is west of that, Beverly Hills northeast.

 

You wouldn't even need all of the city of LA to cover the spots you mentioned. Was there any mention of the San Fernando Valley? Burbank? Glendale? Any other communities/areas? Because so far, it sounds to me like only the downtown and immediate surroundings, which is a whole lot less than the county.

 

The Wikipedia article, URH http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel:_After_the_Fall, states the city of Los Angeles. I'm guessing that city of Los Angeles includes the immediate suburbs.

[AThousandYoung]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Who the hell is sending me to an alien dimension?! WTF man! This will not, like, stand!

[AThousandYoung]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

As for Vancouver and Toronto becoming the "New Hollywood." Maybe--but it would take a while. As far as I know' date=' all the Hollywood series and movies filming in those locations are still mostly funded by the studios...back in Hollywood. And the money tap has just been cut off.[/quote']

 

I'm sure plenty of the rich people in Hollywood would be out of the county. They'd simply take over the industry.

[AThousandYoung]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

I do not say that "no one would mourn",

I say that "many would cheer dead americans"

 

Dead LIBERAL Americans. Anti-war Americans.

 

Tehran would be in a lot of trouble.

[Basil]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

The Wikipedia article' date=' URH http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel:_After_the_Fall, states the city of Los Angeles.[/quote']

The area of the city itself is 1206.68 sq km, or 0.114729487 that of the county. So the mass of water is ~3.678 * 10^10 metric tons, and the theoretical energy of the water falling into the whole is ~1.099 * 10^16 Joules (2.65 "megatons)

 

I'm guessing that city of Los Angeles includes the immediate suburbs.

But which ones? I would think the cities completely surrounded by LA would go with it (San Fernando, Beverly Hills+West Hollywood) as well as unincorporated areas that are surrounded by LA city (on the big map they're labeled Universal City, Beverly Crest, Marina del Rey, and Veteran's Administration). Santa Monica has been specifically mentioned, so it must have gone along for the ride. Culver City and the unincorporated area between it and Inglewood are distinct possibilities, as are Burbank and Glendale. I hesitate to guess about other cities & unincorporated areas.

 

One interest possibility: if the parts taken go right up to the city limits and not beyond, in the southern area where LA sticks out a long thin "finger" to reach it's harbor, the effect of turning that into a hole will be interesting: the water rushing up that long "pipe" is going to build up significant pressure. There will be some wild effects when the water rushing up from the south hits the water coming in from the west.

[ShadowWraithe]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

I would expect nation wide martial law to go into effect, and probably a maximized state of military alertness world-wide. As an extreme, some reactionary governments may even take the opportunity of mass confusion to launch a nuclear missile or two at their neighbors while the US and other super-powers are distracted.

 

A massive emergence of UFO groups, conspiracy theorists and psychics claiming they can talk to the lost friends and family members for a small sum.

 

Local militias would find their memberships swelling to unheard of levels and gun sales would go through the roof. Paranoia would reach an all time high and might lead to an initial wave of suicides by people fearing the end of the world, not wanting to be left behind or who just couldn't deal with an unknown power being displayed on such a massive scale.

 

Religions, churches and cults will gain membership from people who've never even set foot into a church before much less recognize a bible. The Apocalypse and The Rapture would be big selling points while glossing over the point that only people in LA were righteous enough to be "saved".

 

Scientists and mystics from all over the world will flock to the site formerly know as LA County to study and reverse the incident. Endless theories will be developed on how and why it happened and endless debate will take place on how to prevent it from happening again.

 

With the right leadership, it would be possible for the country to either regress into a new dark age of superstition, fear, paranoia and brutality. Or it could pull together, sink massive amounts of time and money into research which leads to a new golden age of enlightenment, whether mystical or technological. Or the religious or militia groups might gain enough power to fragment the country into regions run by local warlords and the federal government has no real power.

[McManus]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

It would be interesting to see that buildings or installations in the area have basements or silos extending more than 100 feet below sea level. What sort of weapons, treasures, or mysteries might be left to be covered by the waves. And who might delve deep to find them?

[lemming]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

I would expect nation wide martial law to go into effect, and probably a maximized state of military alertness world-wide. As an extreme, some reactionary governments may even take the opportunity of mass confusion to launch a nuclear missile or two at their neighbors while the US and other super-powers are distracted.

 

A massive emergence of UFO groups, conspiracy theorists and psychics claiming they can talk to the lost friends and family members for a small sum.

 

Local militias would find their memberships swelling to unheard of levels and gun sales would go through the roof. Paranoia would reach an all time high and might lead to an initial wave of suicides by people fearing the end of the world, not wanting to be left behind or who just couldn't deal with an unknown power being displayed on such a massive scale.

 

Religions, churches and cults will gain membership from people who've never even set foot into a church before much less recognize a bible. The Apocalypse and The Rapture would be big selling points while glossing over the point that only people in LA were righteous enough to be "saved".

 

Scientists and mystics from all over the world will flock to the site formerly know as LA County to study and reverse the incident. Endless theories will be developed on how and why it happened and endless debate will take place on how to prevent it from happening again.

 

With the right leadership, it would be possible for the country to either regress into a new dark age of superstition, fear, paranoia and brutality. Or it could pull together, sink massive amounts of time and money into research which leads to a new golden age of enlightenment, whether mystical or technological. Or the religious or militia groups might gain enough power to fragment the country into regions run by local warlords and the federal government has no real power.

Well, they didn't react like that when Sunnydale got swallowed up. The Buffyverse seems a little more calm about such things. A campaign with supers in it, would probably react, but not with so much panic.

[Mark Rand]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Basil, thanks for the map. I owe you rep.

 

Based on what I've read, only the city of Los Angeles, communities completely surrounded by it, and ones surrounded by it and water would vanish.

 

Of course, all of this happened at least 4 years before the game starts.

[Badger]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

On a rainy night in May of 2004, the unthinkable happened. L.A. County vanished. One moment it was there, the next, it wasn't, and the Pacific Ocean was poring in where it had been. Those with magical sensitivity, would've felt something when it vanished.

 

Aside from the panic, and tabloids not having all those celebrity stories to print, what would happen? Principally, I'm asking for physical effects on the planet, but if you have other ideas, post them.

 

Life would be good.

[Mark Rand]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Santa Monica is bordered on three sides by the city of LA and on the fourth by the Pacific. Beverly Hills is surrounded by the city of LA. You can use a larger version of the map I linked to before' date=' which is found HERE, and find the intersection of I-10 and I-405. Santa Monica is west of that, Beverly Hills northeast.

 

You wouldn't even need all of the city of LA to cover the spots you mentioned. Was there any mention of the San Fernando Valley? Burbank? Glendale? Any other communities/areas? Because so far, it sounds to me like only the downtown and immediate surroundings, which is a whole lot less than the county.

 

I've been thinking about this again. Having looked the map Basil showed us again, I've made the boundaries as the following: US 101/State 134, State 27, I 5/I 110, State 42. I know that they're not straight, but that does help define the area.

[Basil]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

I've been thinking about this again. Having looked the map Basil showed us again' date=' I've made the boundaries as the following: US 101/State 134, State 27, I 5/I 110, State 42. I know that they're not straight, but that does help define the area.[/quote']

 

IOW, starting from the Pacific Ocean at Topanga Beach, go north up California State Route (hereafter CSR) 27 (aka Topanga Blvd.) to US 101 (aka Ventura Freeway). Go east, continuing on CSR 134 (also the Ventura Freeway) to I-5 (aka Golden State Freeway). Take that southeasterly to CSR 110 and take that southwesterly (where it is aka Harbor Freeway; northwards it is aka Pasadena Freeway). Continue on CSR 110 to where it becomes I-110 (still aka Harbor Freeway) to CSR 42 (aka Manchester Ave.). Go west on CSR...

 

OK, at this point I can only guess. I guess you mean to head due west from the end of CSR 42.

 

Oh, and don't worry about them not being straight lines. I don't know anything that would require them to be such.

[Badger]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Dont remember if I posted to this one. And I dont care to look. Anyhow.

 

 

 

.........and there was much rejoicing

 

[Whitewings]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

UCLA is gone. This is going to have a very profound effect on scientific and technological research world wide.

[Vulcan]

Re: What would happen if Los Angeles County vanished?

 

Like, totally, man!