FOTD -- February 05, 2011 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's image is a dip into one of the axes of the Mandelbrot set. We've had a lot of these axis-dips lately, but as far as I know, almost all of these dips have been into the X-axis. The reason is that the X-axis is a well-defined line of symmetry, while the Y-axis, the axis of today's dip, is a vague thing, with nothing to point it out amid its chaotic surroundings. The minibrots along the X-axis have an orderly arrangement that makes them quite interesting and artistically rewarding. Mini- brots along the Y-axis do not exist. The Y-axis does pass through some (an infinity) of minibrots, but it does so by acci- dent, and the minibrots can lie in any orientation. Today's minibrot lies not exactly on the Y-axis, merely very close to it, which explains the name "On What Y-Axis?" I could have found a minibrot that is actually intersected by the Y-axis, but I ran out of patience when, what I hope was one final fit of coughing erupted and put me in a cranky mood. If I had found a minibrot that actually intersected the Y-axis however, it would have looked almost like today's. The rating of a 5 is an admission that I could have done better. The calculation time of exactly 6 seconds will pass like an evening in June (in the Northern Hemisphere). The trip to the currently active FOTD web site at: <http://www.emarketingiseasy.com/TESTS/FOTD/jim_muths_fotd.html> will take a somewhat longer time, but it will totally eliminate the small task of running the included parameter file. Meanwhile, keep in mind the original FOTD web site at: <http://www.Nahee.com/FOTD/> I'm not sure what will eventually become of the original site, but it still holds all the images and discussions prior to November 2010. The cloudy sky in the south gave stark contrast to the clear blue sky in the north here at Fractal Central on Friday, with the dividing line directly overhead. The temperature rose from a daybreak low of 9F -13C to an afternoon high of 30F -1C. Un- fortunately, the clouds in the south blocked most of the sun, driving the fractal cats to their shelf by the heat. They leaped down only to help finish the latest bowl of chicken soup. The forecast is for more snow and ice on Saturday. The rest of the day was spent getting the routine work caught up and pondering a philosophical question raised by FL -- what is wrong with people in the world? The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and look alive even if you're not. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= On_What_Y-Axis? { ; time=0:00:06.00-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=mandel center-mag=+0.0000000009492\ 813/+0.6374553763585818/2.9e+010/1/157.5/0 float=y params=0/0 maxiter=32000 inside=0 logmap=-1400 colors=000zzzNNwC4IC6KC9MCBOCDQCGSDIUDLWDNYDPcDScD\ UmDXmEKzEMzEPzERwEUsKWqUUxebsponzrizzfzuezqdzmdzhc\ zdbK`bHWaFS`DO`BJ_9FZ4CW7BZ9B`BAbDAdG9fI9hK9kM8mP8\ oR7qT7sW3xV7uUAsTDqSGoRJmRNkQQiPTgOWeNZcMaaMe_LhYK\ kWJnUIqSItQLqRNnRPkRRiRTfSVcSXaSZZS`WScUTeRTgOTzzT\ zzTzzUzzUzzUzzUzzTzzUzzUzzVzzVzzWzzWzzWzzXzzXzzYzz\ YzzZzzZzzZzz_zz_zz`zz`zz`zz_zz_zz_zzZzzZzzZIzZIzYI\ zYIzYIzXIzXIzXIzXHzXGzXGzXFzXFzXEzXDzXDzXCzXCzXLzS\ TzN`zIhzEazAVz5Oz1Pz3Qz4Qz6Rz7Sz8SzATzBTzDUzEVzFVz\ HWzIWzJ`zOdzThzYmzbqzguzlvzetzWqzMozCmz2gz2bz2Yz2T\ z2Vz5Xz7Zz9`zCbzEdzGfzJhzLjzNlzPjzOhzOfzNdzNbzMazM\ bzQczUdzXez`fzcbze_zfXzgUzhRzjOzkLzlIzmFznCzp9zq6z\ r3zs0zt4zq8znBzlFziJzfMzdJzbHzaFz_CzZAzX8zW6zV7zU8\ zSAzRBzQCzODzNFzMGzKHzJJzIKzGLzFMzELzJKzNJzRJzVIzZ\ HzbHzfJzgLzgNzgOzgQzgSzgUzgVzgXzgZzg`zgazgczgezggz\ ghzgezibzk_zmYzoVzqSzsPzu } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================