FOTD -- April 25, 2005 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Believe it or not, I have just received a telephone call appar- ently from India, informing me that I have been randomly selec- ted to receive a free cell phone. It is a mystery why the phone company had to go so far afield to let me know of my good for- tune. Perhaps they are seeking cheap labor. Or perhaps they are a clandestine alien scout team from another world that has come to irradiate our brains into non-functionality, so that we will be unable to offer effective resistance when the main invasion force arrives to enslave us. ;-) Of course, they could do this just as easily by addicting us to fractals. Today's fractal image shows a Mandelbrot midget that can't get its math right. It is a quadratic midget surrounded by six identical features rather than the expected four. The iterated formula combines portions of Z^(-1.5) and Z^(-4.5) then adds (1/C) to produce another of those sprawling fractal. Today's image was found in a valley of its parent. Judging from the bug-eyed double-spiral features that infest the image, the valley in which it lies must have 'East Valley' char- acteristics. I have no idea why the expected 2,4,8... series of elements has broken down. Maybe the series is still there, but has been disguised by the inconsistent sizes of the features. I named today's image "Miscount" in reference to the wrong number of features around the midget. The image rates a 6, which would appear to be justified. The render time of 5 minutes may be cut drastically by downloading the pre-rendered image from the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> Unfortunately for any philosophy fans who yet have hope, my philosophical views are undergoing a change, which I will need to work out. My mistake was that I promised earth-shattering conclusions at a definite time. The philosophy will eventually appear when I get it right. I have no idea when that will be. At this point, my conclusions are so far out as to appear kooky. I am not particularly offended at being considered a kook, but kooky claims, especially earth-shattering ones, must be at least a little believable. With a high temperature of 48F 9C, heavy clouds, blustery winds and occasional light showers, Sunday was anything but spring- like here at Fractal Central. The cats returned inside after only a few minutes in the yard. I had my nose in my book most of the afternoon. The next FOTD will appear here in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and be alert. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Miscount { ; time=0:04:58.14--SF5 on a P200 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+2.44071194518632700/+0.111691600345395\ 40/693633.5/1/132.5/5.05031376163422863e-008 params=-1/-1.5/-0.25/-4.5/0/0 float=y maxiter=1000 inside=0 logmap=87 periodicity=10 colors=000FRzGTuHQvIMwJJxJGxPMxUSx_Yxdbxjhxonxutxz\ yxrwkkv_cuOXtCQs0Tp1Vm1Xj1Zg1`d1ba1e_2gX2iU2kR2mO2\ oL2qJ2pG6pEAoCEoAIn7MzZQz3UmZrl4Yk6zj9_iB`hDagGbgI\ cfKdeNedPfcRgbUhaWiaYiaWjaUkaTkaRlaPmaOmaMnaKoaJoa\ HpaGp`Ii_KbZMWYOPXQIWSBWT5ZR9`QDcOHeNLgLPjKTlIXoH`\ qFdsEhvClxBpzAtpIjfP`XWRNbHEi8EfBEcDEaFEZHEXJEULER\ OEPQEMSEKUEHWEFYJIZNKZRNZVPZZRZbUZfWZjYZn`ZrbZvdZi\ YZfZYdZXb_W`_WZ`VX`UVaTTaTScRSdPSfNRgLRhJRjHQkFQmD\ QnBQo9SjATfBVaCWYDYTEZPF`KGaGHcBId7Je3K`6LW9LSCMNF\ MJINELNAOO5RO1UOD_ZOehZjrWenT`jQXfarkbsibsgctectcd\ uadu_duZYoUSjPMeKF`F9WA3R5FVBRYGa`LZYQXWVVT_TRdRPh\ dsZfkVhdRjYNlQJnJFpCBkBHfBMaARXAXS9aN9fI9kHGiHMgGS\ eGYcFdaFj_EpYEvW9wO5xHByGHzGMzFSzFYzFbzEhzEmzEnzFo\ zGpzDqzBrz9sz7tz5uz3vz6wz9xzByzEzzHzzJzzMzzOzzRzzU\ zzWzzZzzazzczzfzzhzzfzzdzzezzezzezzfzzfzzfzzfzzgzz\ gzzgzzgzzhzzhzzhzzhzztzzt } 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 PARAMETER FILE=========================================