FOTD -- December 05, 2007 (Rating 8) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: When I find more spare time than expected, I sometimes write short science-fiction and fantasy stories. One story I wrote a few years ago concerned voice communication with a humanoid alien on a planet in a distant galaxy. (For convenience we forget the cosmic speed limit of light.) The problem was to communicate our earthly directions. Communicating which directions are up and down was easy for our earth man. Up is toward the sky; down is toward the center of the planet. Communicating east and west was almost as easy. East is where the sun rises; west is where it sets. But then the man on earth tried to think of a way to communicate north and south. He told the alien that when he faces east, north is on his left side. But the alien didn't know which hand was his left hand, and to make matters worse, the bodies of his race had perfect left-right symmetry. When the man on earth then said that the north pole is the one around which the sky appears to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction, the distant alien asked which way is counter-clockwise. And so it went until both men gave up in frustration. I have been wondering ever since if a way actually exists to communicate the left and right directions to someone on a distant planet, who has no objects common to both parties to refer to. A non-symmetrical sub-atomic reaction might work, since it would give an objective reality to these directions, but this would raise a whole new series of technical problems. In deep space the situation would be worse, but with no planets in the vicinity, directions such as up-down, east-west and left- right would have little meaning. Well, I seem to have gotten off the fractal track, and we have a fractal to be concerned about. It's another scene in the parent fractal, which I have decided will be parent of the month. Today's scene falls in the 'half-evaporated' category. The bailout radius has been raised just to the point where the 'outside' stuff has been caught halfway through the evaporation process. I have rendered the scene with the 'inside' set to 'atan' and the remaining outside still set to 'iter'. In my opinion, the image is different enough to rate a lofty 8, so that's where I rated it. The name "Bad Day for Fractals" can mean anything the viewer wishes. The calculation time of 1-1/2 minutes may be avoided by visiting the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and viewing the finished GIF image there. Chilly, blustery weather with freezing temperatures and flurries of snow prevailed here at Fractal Central on Tuesday, making the day unpleasant for outside activity. The cats ignored the snow and crowded by the large radiator in the hallway. My day was busy enough to keep boredom at bay. The next FOTD fractal will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and what's left is right. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= BadDayForFractals { ; time=0:01:36.43-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+9.941892031369065/+16.90580804773217/\ 9285827/1/-20/0 params=-2.475/-1.05/-0.275/-5.5/0/\ 12500000000000.0/0/0 float=y maxiter=2000 inside=atan periodicity=10 colors=000KOYIOWIOVHNTGNRENQENQGRTGVWGYZH`aHcdHfhI\ ikInlIqoKtsKxvKzyLzzLzzLzzQzzVvvWqqYlnZhk`cf`ZcaV`\ cQWdLTdHQfDLh9Ii4Gi0Dl0Ko0Qs0Yv0cy0kz0qz0xz2yyBzvK\ zsTzq`znizkszhzzfzzTszGcs2Ok0Ac0Df0Gh6IkALlGOoKRqO\ VsLRqKQzHOqGNqDLqBKq9Iq7Hq4Eo2Do0Bo0Ao09o07o06o04o\ 06h06a06W07Q4Y26Y47Y69Y79Z9AZABZBDZDDZDB`OA``zz07a\ yzx0NnqzsncykkzhszdxzaztZzlYzdVzYTzd0ta0kZ0aW0TT0L\ Q0W0dT0cR0aQ1aO4`L6`K7ZIAYHBYEDWDGWBHVAIV9HY9HZ7H`\ 7Ha7Hc6Hd6Hf6Hh4Hi4Hk4Hl2Hn2Ho2Hq1Iq0Iq0Iq0Iq0Iq0K\ q0Kq0Kq0Kq0Kq0KqBQfRWWhaNaYLWVLQQKKNKEIIAGIDKLGOOI\ TRLWVO`YRd`VicYlf`qicvlfzohzqlqhof`sWTxLLzBEz17o4A\ c6BQ9DtAE1DG0EH0IK0sL0RN4WO7ZQAcRDhTHlWKqYNtZRy`Vz\ aYzc`zddz`hzWlzRozNszIxzEzzAzz7zsAzlBzcDzVEzNGzGHz\ 9IzDQtGWkIcaLi`Oh`Tf`WdZZcZaaZd`Zh``iW`kRalOanKcoH\ cqDdqAds6ft1fv0hx0hy0iz0iz0Z`2QBLRDOTDQTDTVDVVDYWD\ ZWDaYDcYDfZDhZDkflOknOnoO } 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=========================================