FOTD -- September 01, 2003 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I am sometimes accused of being irrational and against science. Well, some of my world views are irrational, but I am certainly not against science. I am rather disappointed with science, and particularly with technology, however -- not with the scientific way of doing things but with the way science and technology have been applied. Thirty-four years ago, when I was still a young man, we landed the first men on the moon -- probably the greatest human achievement that will happen in my entire lifetime. And we did it with 40-year-old technology. The future looked bright back then. I fully expected to see colonies soon established on the moon, Mars, and perhaps some of the large moons of the outer planets. But something went wrong. Instead of pressing onward, we slipped backward into the space shuttle program. Instead of exploring the solar system, we would continue orbiting earth in circles that go nowhere. When it was proposed, the shuttle program was supposed to bring unlimited benefits to mankind. Other than the Hubble telescope, which has brought some spectacular pictures, but probably could have been equalled by a properly designed ground-based system if the effort had been made, I can see little if any benefit to humanity that has come from over 20 years of circling the earth in these oversized space craft. And I have yet to hear of any real benefits that will come from the over-priced space station the shuttles are building and supplying. When deep space was within our grasp, we turned our backs on it, and turned instead to a glittery vehicle that makes a lot of noise and a lot of news but does nothing of importance that I can see. Most of the useful artificial satellites in orbit were launched by inexpensive expendable rockets, which never make the news unless one happens to fail. The question remains: why did we forget the solar system and devote our energies to orbiting the earth? Are we afraid? Was the reason financial? Did a single person make the decision? Are we being controlled by a vast conspiracy of the huge multi- national corporations? One of the least likely explanations I have seen is that, because we cannot restrain our tendencies to violence, we were ordered to stop venturing beyond the immediate vicinity of earth by the Galactic Federation, an alliance of the various advanced civilizations that inhabit our galaxy. It sounds laughable, but hey, it's as logical as any other reason I have heard. Well, it now looks as though I should think of freezing my body or start hoping for reincarnation if I plan on seeing mankind explore even the solar system, much less the galaxy. Yes, some- times I do get a bit testy with the way we are wasting our resources on this planet. But I can hardly be blamed. Today's fractal, direct from the deepest, most abstract space in existence, vaguely reminds be of a honeycomb. And so I named it "Fractal Honeycomb". It is a scene in the fractal that results when 0.2 parts of Z^3 are added to Z^2. The terraced amber parts of the image are inside stuff rendered by the 'fmod' inside option. The rating of a slightly above average 6 seems appropriate; the render time of 21 minutes seems slow. Relief may be found at the FOTD web sites, where the completed GIF image is posted. Those sites are at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> As I expected, the rain forecasted by the experts failed to appear on Sunday just as it had failed to appear the day before. In the 79F 26C air, the cats had a pleasant day. Rain is forecast again today, and though the sky now appears more threatening, I won't believe it will rain until rain is actually falling. The cats hope the experts are wrong again. It's labor day here in the USA -- the day on which no one does labor. And to celebrate the occasion, I will do absolutely nothing. Fractals are not labor however, and by the time tomorrow arrives, I will have the next fractal ready. Until then, take care, and avoid fractal dead-ends. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Fractal_Honeycomb { ; time=0:21:34.38--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=t center-mag=-2.8414007179238/+0.031120296275605/1.4\ 565e+010 params=1/2/0.2/3/0/0 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=fmod proximity=0.0275 periodicity=10 colors=000OmRMpPLoOLnOLnOKmOKmOKlOJlOJkOJjNIjNIiNI\ iNHhNHhNHgNHgNKfQNfSQfVSfXVcWX`WZYW`WWbTWdQWfNVhLV\ jIVlFVnCVpEVlGWhIWeKWaMWZOXVQXSSXOUXKZXHcYDhYAmY6r\ Y3vYPz`jybksckndkiekdfkZgkUhkPikKjkFkjGljHljIljIli\ JliKmiLmiLmhMmhNmhOnhOngPngQngRngRnkUloXjr_hvbfyde\ nh`dkWVnSKrNAuI0xE2wH4vK6uN8tQAsSCrVDqYFp`HobJneLm\ hNlkOlmLekI_iFUgCNe9Hc6Ba35_49`5Da6Hb7Lb8Pc9Td9XdA\ `eBdfChgDlgEphFtiFwiMthTrh_phfnhllhfme`nbWo_QpXKqU\ FrR9sO4sL6pM8mM9jNBhNCeOEbOF`OHcGJf9Kh2WP4UQ5SQ6QQ\ 6PQ7NQ7LQ8KR8IR9GR9FRADRABRBARBETCHUDLVEOWERXFVYGY\ ZH`_Hd`IgaJjbJfVLbNO_GQEKSGNTHPUJRVKTWMVXNXYfFkhIj\ iKjkMjlOinQioSiqUhrWhtYhu_htXdsVasTZrRWrPSqNPqLMpI\ JoGGoECnC9nA6m83m60i93fB6bE9_GBWJETLHPOKMQMNXHOcCN\ cBNcBNcBNcBNcBNcBKc`HZlG`vGZsGXpFVlFTiFQfEObEM_EKX\ DITDFQDDNCBJC9GC7DC5AE4BG4BJ5CL5CN5DP5DQ5DS5EU5EW7\ FYAF_DGbGGcJGgMFkPFmSFpVE } frm:MandelbrotMix4 {; Jim Muth a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2), g=1/f, h=1/d, j=1/(f-b), z=(-a*b*g*h)^j, k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================