FOTD -- May 29, 2004 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: It seems as though every time I ponder the question, 'What is the world made of?' the answer is different. In my lifetime I have seen it made of atoms, sub-atomic particles, probability waves, energy, quarks, multi-dimensional strings and membranes, holograms, information, thought, and even nothing. Of course, all of these things are inventions, the result of trying to reduce something beyond our understanding to the level of everyday experience, and they are all a little right but mostly wrong. We could keep inventing the basic stuff of existence for a million years, and we would never find an answer that totally works. The universe is actually a fractal, and fractals are made of numbers. (BTW, I cannot prove this.) The universe is made of numbers. As for the constitution of numbers, well, they are most likely made of God, or whatever non-offensive word Atheists choose to use. And as to the nature of God . . . I refuse to speculate. There are an infinity of numbers however, and this leads to the question of which of the infinity of numbers are the basic building blocks. My guess is that the whole numbers, positive and negative, are the building blocks, with the positive number 'one' being by far the most common. Of course, I could always be wrong. ;-) Today's image pictures a midget in the Z^((sqrt(2))+0.03i)+C Mandeloid. I rarely use complex exponents in my fractal explorations, but decided to try it today anyway. Adding just 0.03 part of 'i' went a long way, totally changing the shape of the parent fractal. I'll have to do this more often. I named the image "Fractal Study-Two", though I could just as easily have named it "Kilroy Was Here". The central midget is shaped suspiciously like that character with the oversized nose who was seen peeping over every fence during the time of the Second World War. Yesterday's image took almost 4 hours to render, and even then rated only a 5. Today's image renders in only 2 minutes, and rates a 7. This gives it an overall value of 326, a vast improvement over yesterday's rating of a miserable 2. Regardless of ratings or render time, the FOTD images are always available for download from the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> A partly cloudy day here at Fractal Central on Friday, with a temperature of 79F 26C, gave the fractal cats several pleasant hours in the yard. When the day ended, they came indoors without complaint. Today is starting sunny and cooler. These are conditions that promise the best for the dynamic duo. I must clear away more of the backed-up work before I start thinking again of fractals, and the time to start is now. Until next time, take care, and fractals are neither real nor unreal. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Fractal_Study-Two { ; time=0:02:09.02--SF5 on a P200 reset=2003 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotBC2 passes=1 center-mag=+0.47098430823224210/+2.838089870359976\ 00/2135.219/1/-65/-3.95622423710051407e-012 params=1.414213562373/0.03/-1/0 float=y maxiter=1800 inside=0 logmap=50 periodicity=10 colors=000B0NB0OB0RB0VB0YB0aB0bB0fB0iB0lB0pA0qE0lI\ 0iM0fQ2bV8_`DXfITlLQrQNyVJzaGzgDzm9zr6zv2zdBzTIzGQ\ x4Xq0dl0kn0lp0lq0ns0nt0pw0px0qz0qz0sz1sz2tz6tz8wz9\ wzDxzExzGzzIzzLzzNzzOzzQzzOzzzpzzztzzwzzwzzwzxwzpw\ zgwzawzTwzLwzEwz6wz0sz0pz0lz0kz0gz0dx0at0_s0Xq0Tn0\ Ql0Ok0Li0Ii0Ei0Di0Gi0Ji0Li6OiDRiJTiRXiY_idaikdiqfi\ xdizdizdizbizbizbizqifziGzi0zi0zi0zi0zi0zi0zi1zi2z\ i4xi6wi8tiBqiDpiEliGkiIgiJfiLbiNaiO_iQYiOXiOViNTiN\ RiNXiIaiDfi8ii2ki6li8li9niBniDpiEqiIqiJsiLsiNtiOti\ QwiTxiVxiXziYzi_ziazibzifxigwiitiltinsipqiqpitpiwn\ ixlizkizkiziizgizfkzflzdnzbpzaqzaszftzgwzixzkzzlzz\ nzwpzsqzpszntzkwzixzgzzdzzbzzazzYzzXzzVzzRzzQzzOzz\ LzzJzzIzzEzzDzzBzz8zz6zz4zzDzzLzzTzzazzizzpzzgzzaz\ zVzzNzzGzz9zz1zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz1zz8zzEzzLzzRzzYzzd\ zzkzzqzzxzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz\ zzzxzzwzztzz8zz9zzDzzGzzJ } frm:MandelbrotBC2 { ; by several Fractint users e=p1, a=imag(p2)+100 p=real(p2)+PI q=2*PI*floor(p/(2*PI)) r=real(p2)-q Z=C=Pixel: Z=log(Z) IF(imag(Z)>r) Z=Z+flip(2*PI) ENDIF Z=exp(e*(Z+flip(q)))+C |Z|<a } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================