FOTD -- December 05, 2003 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: To create today's image I added a tiny bit of Z^i to the Mandel- brot set and examined the East Valley area of the resulting fractal, which on the large scale is indistinguishable from the M-set itself. But though that tiny imaginary part makes no difference on the large scale, it does make changes on the smaller scale, especially in the area near the real axis. Today's image is one of a midget in the East Valley area of the M-set. The midget has been shifted and changed somewhat by the addition of the tiny imaginary part to the formula. But by far the greatest part of the effect of the image is a result of rendering the outside with the 'fmod' option. The blue background appears to be blended unusually smoothly for a 256-color GIF image, but a close examination will still reveal traces of color bands. Because of the extra effort I put into smoothing the background, I have decided to again reward myself with a rating of 7. After a few moments study, I named the image "Austral Astrals", which might be roughly translated as 'southern stars'. I had no good reason for choosing such a name. The words simply sounded good to me. Those who plan to run the included parameter file will find them- selves facing an 11-minute wait to see the image. Those who decide to download the completed image will see it faster. The GIF file of the image may be downloaded from Paul's web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> or from Scott's site at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> Thursday was cloudy and chilly here at Fractal Central. The cats managed about 30 minutes in the yard before the temperature of 36F 2C chilled their ears and brought them indoors to their window shelves. The traditional evening treat of tuna eased their chagrin. But this morning we have around 6 inches, 15cm of snow on the ground, and it is still snowing heavily in big fat 'quarter-pounder' flakes. The local weather experts are forecasting up to 16 inches 40cm by the time it ends later Saturday. The cats will not be happy about this. I'll be happy however, for despite my advancing age, I still enjoy watching the snow fall. And for some reason, fractals appear to look better in snowy weather. Until next time, take care, and I guess I'll be shoveling off. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Austral_Astrals { ; time=0:11:41.73--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=manzpower passes=1 center-mag=+0.26761112108950750/-0.003830805561863\ 68/1.094852e+010/1/-5/0.00133 params=0/0/2/4.4e-006 float=y maxiter=2500 bailout=9 inside=0 proximity=0.04 outside=fmod periodicity=10 colors=000AVzAUzAUzAUyAUxAUwATwATuASuASsARrARpAQoA\ QmAPlAPkAOjAOi9Nh9Ng8Mf8Le8Kd7Jc7Ib7Ha6G`6F_5EZ5DY\ 5CX4BW4AV29U4AT5BS6BR7CQ8CP9DOAENBEMCFLDFKEGKFHKGH\ KHILIIMJJNKKOLKPMLQNLQOMQPNQQNQROQSOQTPQUQQVQQWRQW\ SPXRQXRQXRQXQQXQQXQQXPQXPQXPQXOQYOQYOQYNQYNRYNRYMR\ YMRYMRYLRYLRZLRZKRZKRZKRZJRZJRZJSZISZISZIS_HS_HS_H\ S_GS_GS_GS_FS_FS_FS`DT_FS_GS_HR_IR_KQ_LQ_MP_NP_PO_\ QO_RN_SNZUMZVMZWLZXLZZKZ_KZ`JZaJZcIZdIZeH_fH`gHehJ\ khKoiLuiMzkMyiNxhNtgOvfOueOtdPscPrbQqaQp`QpZRoYRoX\ SnWSnVSmUTmTTlSTlRUkQUkOVjNVjMViLWiKWhJXhIXgHXgGYf\ FYfEYbJV_NTWSRTWOQ_MMdKJhHFmFCqD9uBHoHOjNVeTa`ZeZ`\ hWciPbfQadRabSa`TaZU`XU`VV`TW`QX_OY_MY_KZ_I_ZG`ZEa\ ZAdXCaZE__FY`HWaIUcKRdMPeNNfPLhQJiSHjUEkVCmXAnY8o_\ 6p`4qY4nW4lU4iR4gP4dN4bL4_I4YG4VE4TA2RC4RD5RF6RG8R\ H9RJARKCRLDRNEROGRPHRRIRSKRTLRVMRWORXPRZQR_SRaTRbU\ RcWReXRfYRg_REYdEYdEYcFYc } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================