FOTD -- February 25, 2002 (Rating 4) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Progress continues on the upcoming FOTD CD, which will contain fractals and discussions of times past. But even as the disk progresses, the ongoing FOTD continues to languish, now appearing only every third day. As I struggle through the old e-mail files, I wonder how many CD's I will sell. Yes, I will need to sell the disks -- it takes time to copy a disk and blank disks cost money. Having a disk mass-produced is also costly, but I wonder how many I will actually sell. Being an optimist, I expect to sell not hundreds, not thousands, not tens of thousands, but tens -- if I am lucky. The questionable success of the CD project is not the only concern. While filtering through the masses of discarded e-mail, I cannot avoid re-reading the old FOTD discussions. And as I re-read them and compare them with the recent discussions, I notice a fire in the old ones that is missing in the recent discussions. In those old discussions, I often discussed things such as the curiosities of the fourth dimension. I also frequently expressed my metaphysical beliefs, and as expected, I was soundly disagreed with by those who place their full faith in the methods of physical science. The debates often grew quite lively, though never developed into a full-blown flame war. Then, I eventually grew bored with repeating the 4-D curiosities and engaging in debates that have no solution, and the FOTD settled into its current routine. The daily weather and antics of the cats replaced the polytopes and spirit worlds, even as the fractals settled into an endless series of varied but still similar quadratic midgets. And this is where the FOTD currently stands. Perhaps I need to return to the ways of the past. Today's image, another midget, continues the lethargic trend. It is a scene in the fractal created by the formula: -0.25(Z^5)+0.5(Z^4)+(Z^3)-2(Z^2)+C This particular expression has one of its critical points at zero, so no non-zero value needed to be entered as the p5 parameter. I named the image "Four-Part Mandeloid" as a cataloguing description. Consider the name the same as you would a name like "Concerto in b-flat". The image is not quite up to the current average, so I could rate it at only a 4. The render time of almost 40 minutes is a bit much for such a below-average image. I strongly recommend downloading the completed GIF image file from: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> or from: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> With bright sun, light winds, and a temperature of 52F 11C, the fractal weather Sunday was near perfect for the dynamic duo of fractal cats, who spent several hours roaming the yard, watching for intruding cats. Thomas growled from the porch as the shadow of an unwanted tomcat passed through the brush behind the yard. It was near perfect for me also. I spent much of the day working on the CD, which is near 15-percent finished, and if all goes well, (which is unlikely), will be ready by sometime this summer. Until next FOTD, take care, and take a fractal after every meal. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Four-PartMandeloid { ; time=0:39:45.25--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix3 function=ident center-mag=+1.92155723301730700/+0.000150628901799\ 57/5.416256e+011/1/22.4150138724945194/0.196761744\ 5147406 params=-0.25/5/0.5/4/1/3/-2/2/0/0 float=y maxiter=2500 inside=zmag logmap=364 periodicity=0 colors=000l3Kl2Il1Gm5Jm9MmCOnGRnKTnNWnRYoV`oYboaeo\ dglahj_hhYhfWhdUhbSi`QiZOiWMiUKiSIjQGjOEjMCjKAjI8j\ GGfFObDWZCbVH`WLZWPYWTWWYUXaTXeRXiPXnOYrMYvKYzJYxL\ WwNVvPTtQSsSRrUPpWOoXNnZLl`KkbIjcHheGggEfiDejCfhBg\ gBhfBhdAicAjbAj`9k_9lZ9lX8mW8nV8nU8mW7mY7l_6l`6lb5\ kd5ke4kg4ji3jj3il2in2io1hq1hs0ht0fbCeMNd5Yc9ZbD_aH\ _aK``O`_Sa_VaaT_cRYePWgOVgTSgXQg`OgeLgiJgmH`nHVnHP\ oHJoHNlJRiKUgLYdMaaOd_PhXQlURoSTsPUwMVzKWhQMSWCTXD\ UXDVXDVYEWYEXYEXYEYZFZZF_ZF__G`_Ga_Ga_Gsxfnthipjel\ l`hnXdpS`rOXsTZtX`u`buedvifvmhwqjwriurhtrhsrgqrgps\ fosfnselseksdjtditcgtcftbetbdq`bn_`kY_hXYeVWbUV_ST\ XRRVQQRTWOV`KXfHZkD`qAbvL`qV_leZgoYcp_ep`fpahqbiqc\ kqdlremrforgpshrsissjtoksllshlsemsamsZnrVorSorOprL\ prMosNotNotOouPouPovQovRnwRnwSnxToxTpyUqyVrzVszTtu\ SuqRvmPwiOxeNyaMzYKzUJzQIzMKAAJzMLzQMzTOzXQz_RzcTz\ glzZlzXlzUlzSlzQlzOlzM000 } frm:MandelbrotMix3 {; Jim Muth z=real(p5), c=fn1(pixel), a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2), g=real(p3), h=imag(p3), j=real(p4), k=imag(p4), l=imag(p5)+100: z=(a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f))+(g*(z^h))+(j*(z^k))+c, |z| <=l } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================