FOTD -- December 18, 2007 (Rating 6.5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's glorious (IMO) image lies in the decoration surrounding the large northwestern ring of the parent fractal for December. I named it "Squeamish Squirming" because the words sound rather comical when used together, and the image actually is a bit on the comical side. The rating of a 6-1/2 includes the usual half-point reward for my superb (once again IMO) coloring. And why not? After all, it really is difficult to achieve reasonably smooth gradations with only 256 colors to work with. After yesterday's fractal, which calculated about as fast as silly putty flows, today's image, with its FTL calculation time of 46 seconds, will seem like a well-earnrd reward. So why not reward yourself? Save this entire message in your Fractint directory in text format with a .par extension and run it like any other parameter file. Unfortunately, in this advanced computer age, DOS applications and the trimmings that go with them are about as up-to-date as magic lanterns. If your machine is over-qualified for Fractint, leaving you in the dark, the image may be viewed on the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> Cold biting winds, ice-covered pavements, and a temperature just below freezing made Monday a day to be forgotten here at New Fractal Central. The fractal cats forgot the day before it was half finished. They were more interested in keeping as warm as possible and being fed as often as possible. For me the day was uneventful. The necessary work was behind me by lunch time, leaving the afternoon for the un-necessary work of finding fractals. Today's image shows that I was moderately successful. The next in the long series of FOTD images will appear here in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and here on earth the universe is 13,700,000,000 years old. But in a proto- galaxy 12,000,000,000 light-years distant from earth it is only 1,700.000.000 years old. What then is the true universal age of the universe? (I suspect the question is meaningless.) Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= SqueamishSquirming { ; time=0:00:46.48-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=recip center-mag=-162.263/97.246/36.71293/1/-165/0 params=-2.475/-1.05/-0.275/-5.5/0/0/0/0 float=y maxiter=1000 inside=255 logmap=56 periodicity=10 colors=000dVKdVKfWKfXKhYKhZKj_Kj`KlaKlbKncKndKpeKp\ fKrgJrhHtjEskCvmAtn7upQvp3wqXxq7yq_zqBzqYyqEyrRwrI\ urLsrLrrNorPmsRmsTlsUlsWksYks_jtajtbitditfhthhtifq\ heogcmfbjfahe_fdZddXacW_bVYaTVaST`RRZPPZOMXMKVLITK\ FSIDQHBPG9QJ8TL7VN6XR6ZW5aa4bj4ch3dm2fo2go1hm0ii0j\ e3da5ZV7TP9NP9NP9OO9PP9PQ9QR9RR9RS9ST9TU9TU9UV9VW9\ VW9WX9XY9YZ9YZ9Z_8_`8_`8`a8ab8ac8bc8cd8ce8de8ef8fg\ 8fh8gh8hi8hj8ij8jk8jl8km8lm8ln8mo8ns1ur3sq5qp6po8n\ nAmmBklDjkFhjGgjIeiJdhLbgNafO_eQZdSXcTWbVUcbPb_RbY\ SbWTbUUbRVbPWbNYbLZbI_bG`bEafGhdEfcDdbCbaB``CZYDVZ\ EW_FX_GX`HY`IYaJZaKZbL_bM_cN`dOadPaeQbeRbfScfTcgUd\ gVdhWeiXfiYfjZgj_gk`hkahlbilcigcdcc_Zc`WcaVcbVccVc\ cVccVccVccUccUccUccUccUccUccUccTccTccTccTccTccTccS\ ccSccSccSccSccSccSccRccRccRccRccRccRccQccQccQccQcc\ QccQccQccPccPccPccPccPccPccOccOccOccOccOccOccOccNc\ cNccNccNccNccNccMccMcczzz } frm:MandAutoCritInZ {; 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)+(p4)), k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================