FOTD -- May 07, 2004 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I have a young friend who apparently is convinced that there is an evil plot foisted by aliens from outer space. According to him, these aliens are already in control of many governments and big businesses, and are currently in the process of softening us up, making us into mentally-retarded, helpless, docile sheep, addicted to TV, viagra, computer games, cell phones and brain- dead gadgets in general. He supposes we will soon be burned-out hulks unable to mount any resistance to the coming invasion and ready to be carted off as slaves. I'll not go into the details of how the plot is supposed to work, but I must admit that after listening to him present his case and observing the craziness of the present-day world, I can see why so many are convinced that UFO's are actually alien space ships. But don't worry. I don't believe this alien-invasion nonsense . . . not yet. I named today's image "Rocket" because the dark shape in the center is vaguely shaped like a rocket ship. According to 'Smedley', the aliens are so technologically advanced that they don't need rockets. They move from their departure point to their destination instantly, without needing to occupy the points in between. Their method of travel is even better than teleportation because it is not limited by the velocity of light. Today's image, which is almost as fast as light, is based on a previous FOTD image, one that appeared many years ago. But in today's incarnation, it has been changed enough to make it virtually new. The parent fractal is a distortion of the Z^1.064 Mandeloid, created by the JimsCompMand formula, which is simply a further generalization of the 'cmplxmarksmand' formula of Fractint. In the original image, one of the two orangish streaks was the Hale-Bopp comet. I preserved the color palette of that old image, adjusting only a few registers for special effect. When all was said and done, the result was worth a 6, which is what I rated it. But that routine 6 is raised to a whopping 654 by the render time of under one minute. So forget the aliens and start rendering, or visit the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and download the finished image from there. A pleasant day here at Fractal Central on Thursday, with lots of sun and a temperature of 75F 24C, made for happy cats. After a quiet day in the yard and on the porch, they enjoyed a treat of tuna. It was as close to cat paradise as it is possible to come on the earthly plane. This morning is starting cloudy, and rain is possible this afternoon. But it is still warm. We'll see how it goes. My day will go well when the work is finished and the next fractal found. That fractal will appear as tomorrow's image. Until then, take care, and never abandon the search for the lost fractal. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Rocket { ; time=0:00:55.04--SF5 on a P200 reset=1950 type=formula formulafile=allinone.par formulaname=JimsCompMand center-mag=-1.14178850421\ 374300/0/91.1936/1/-90/-1.23373533611470521e-014 params=1.064/0/1.651/0/0/0 float=y maxiter=860 bailout=100 inside=255 logmap=27 periodicity=10 colors=000EKKDPzBPzAPz9Nw7Ns6Po5Pl4Rk2Rj1Ti0Th1Tf2\ Te3Sc4S_5R`5Q`6P`7O`8N`9M_AK_BK_CKZDKZDKZEKYFKXGKX\ HJWIKVJKVKKVKKULKUMKUNKTOLTPMTPNTQOSSPQUQPWROYSN_T\ LaUKcUJeUIgUGiVFkWEmXDoYBqZBs_Au`9wa7xb6yc8zc9zcBz\ cDzcFzcGycIxcKwcLvcNucPtdRseSrfUqgWphXoiZni`mjblkc\ klejjehieggeefeddfbcfaaf_`fZZfXXfWWfUUfTTfRRgQQgOO\ gNNgLLgLLhMMhMMiMNiMNjNOjNOkNPkNPlOQlOQmORmORnPRnP\ SoPSoPTpQTpQUqQUqQVrRVrRWsRWsYUsdRtjPtqMtpNspOroPq\ nQpnRomSnlTmlTlkUkjVjjWiiXhhYghZfg_fg`efadebcecbdd\ ace`ce_bfZagYahX`iW_jV_kUZlTYiUXgVWdWVaXU_YTXZSU_R\ S`QPaPMbOKcNHdMEeLCfK9gK7hL8iM8iM9iN9iN9iOAiOAiPBj\ PBjQBjQCjRCjRCjSDjSDjSDjQGgPIeNKbMM`KOZJQWHSUGVVGX\ XF_YEbZDd_DgaCjbBlcAodArf9tg8whBueGraIp_LoYNmVPkTS\ jRUhPWfMZeK`cIbbGbdHbeHbfIbgIq8`p9`n9`mA`lA`kB`iB`\ hC`gC`eD`dD`cE``Fa`Fa_GaYGaXHaWHaVIaTIaSJaRKaPKaOL\ aNLaMMaKMaJNbIObGObFPbzzb } frm:JimsCompMand {; Jim Muth z=c=pixel: z=z^p1*(c^(p2-1))+c, |z| <= p3+100 } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================