FOTD -- January 19, 2002 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I'll start today with a bit of almost-fractal speculation. While watching one of the 'Star Trek' spin-offs recently, I was struck by the fact that the two battling star ships were using weapons of basically the same degree of technological achievement. What are the chances, I wondered, that two totally alien species which happened to meet and start battling in interstellar space would be traveling in virtually identical ships with virtually identical armament? It seems more likely to me that if two enemy alien forces met in interstellar space, there would be no battle. The difference between their destructive capabilities would be so great that one of them would proceed to annihilate the other at will. It would be like a modern earth army fighting a stone-age tribe. One of the reasons I enjoy the star-trek-clone series is because it gives me a chance to speculate on the actual possibility of the science and technology that appears in the shows. The greatest impossibility of all remains the exploration of the galaxy. Unless a way is found to travel and send messages faster than light without traveling backward in time, and unless we solve the earth's overpopulation-related problems, humanity will remain bound to the surface of planet Earth. As for the day's fractal, it's a relatively harmless one created with the <fmod> and <tdis> features of Fractint. The image was created by adding 13 parts of Z^(-0.99) to 2 parts of Z^(-9.9), and calculating 1/C instead of C. I named the picture "Sprocket Wheels" when the four dark features reminded me of the sprockets of a bicycle. The image rates a perfectly average 5. The render time of 14 minutes can be avoided by downloading the image from Scott's web site at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> As far as I know, Paul's site is still inactive. The weather Friday here at Fractal Central was near perfect for the middle of winter. The only problem was with the temperature. 41F 5C is simply too cold for fractal-oriented cats to lounge outdoors in comfort, especially in the shade of holly trees. Since Thomas and Tippy are fractal cats, they remained indoors, checking the outside conditions every hour or so, hoping for a sudden warm-up. They were ultimately disappointed and resorted to a treat of tuna for their peace of mind. As for myself, I'm waiting for the appearance of the big snow forecast for today. A few flakes are already in the air, and I still have some faith in the local TV weather experts. But when it comes to forecasting snow, they usually forget that they're supposed to be experts, so I won't believe we'll actually receive the 8in 20cm until it's on the ground. Until next FOTD, take care, and I guess I'll be shoveling off. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Sprocket_Wheels { ; time=0:14:00.96--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=-3.63291217628191100/+0.247687182167382\ 00/54195.8/1/-157.5/-1.54603705879163833e-008 params=1/-9.9/12/-0.99/1/525 float=y maxiter=1800 inside=fmod proximity=1 outside=tdis colors=000ARiAPiAOj9Mk9Lk8Jl8Im8Hm7In7Jn6Kn6Ln5Mn5\ Nn5NnFQoOSoYVpfXpp_qyaqw_nuZlsXjqWgoUemTckSajQZhPX\ fNVdMTbLQ`JOZIMYGJWFHUEFSCDQBAO98M86L74KB7JE9IHBHK\ DGNGGQIFUKEXMD_PCbRBeTBhVCfUDdSEcRFaQG_OHYNIXLJVKK\ TILRHMQGNOEOMDPKBQJARH8SF7SE6UF7WG7YH7_I7aI7cJ7000\ 000000jM7lN7nO7pP7rQ7sQ7tR8tR8tR9tR9tR9uSAuSAuSBuS\ BuSBuSCvTCvTDvTDvTDvTEvTEwUFwUFwUFwUGwUGwUGuWJtXLs\ ZNq_Qp`SobUmcXldZkf`igchiegjgekjdmlcnnaoq`qs_ruZsw\ YqwXpwXnwWmwWlwVjwViwUhwTfwVazV`zV_zTZzTYzSXzQWzQV\ yPUyPTxPSxPRwPQwMPwMOtMOrMNpMNnMNlMMjMMhMMfMLcMLaM\ K_MKYMKWMJUMJSMJQPLSSMUVOWYPY`R_cSafUchVdgWcfWbeXa\ dX`cX_bYZaYY`YX_ZWZZVY_UX_TW_SV`RU`QT`PUaQVaRWaSXb\ TYbTZbU_cV`cWacWbdXcdYddZeeZfe_ge`hfaifajfbkgclgdl\ gdkdejafiZghXhgUifRjeOkdMlcJmbGnaDo`Bp_8qZ5rY2sX0t\ Z1q_1o`2ma2jb3hc3fd4ce4af5_g5Xh6Vi6Tj7Qk7Ol8Mm8Jn9\ Ho9FpACqAArA8qCBpEDBUgBSh } 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==================================