FOTD -- February 06, 2004 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: For some reason, when I studied today's image in search of a name, I thought of a roulette wheel. Then I noticed the carnival-like colors, and named the image "Roulette Festival". The scene illustrated in the image lies in the fractal that results when ten parts of Z^(-1.3) are combined with one part of Z^(-13) before (1/C) is added, and the whole thing is iterated at a maxiter of 256 with an escape radius of 100. This parent fractal is an oversized thing with many supernume- rary bays and valleys. To find today's image I ignored the many obvious bays and valleys, and checked a small area of chaos on the southwest edge of the part of the fractal that fits on the default screen. When I first saw the inner details of this area, I had little hope of finding a midget there, but, being intrepid, I pushed onward into the wilderness, drawn by an unknown power. The progress was slow at first, with one dead end after another. I went farther -- into a tiny sub-area of chaos. Once again things looked bleak. All around me were the chaotic areas that I knew held no hidden midgets. But one of those chaotic areas was different -- it was doubled in a symmetrical manner. There at last, at the center of symmetry, I found my quarry. The trophy appears as today's FOTD. The image rates a 7. Combined with the render time of just over one minute, its overall value comes in at a whopping 614, which is totally out of proportion. I really must change the way I calculate overall value. As it is now calculated, the render time has far too much importance. Perhaps I should do something like multiply the regular rating by the reciprocal of the square root of the render time. Well, that's a problem for another day. Today's problems are small. The image may be viewed by running the attached para- meter file or by visiting Paul's FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and downloading the finished image from there. Both methods require about the same amount of time. Clouds and freezing temperatures kept the fractal cats confined to the indoors on Thursday. Their moods showed their disappoint- ment, though the evening treat of tuna cheered them somewhat. Today is starting with freezing rain and a coating of ice. I assume the rain is still freezing. The outside sensor of the F.C. thermometer is covered in ice, and reads 32F 0C. This may or may not be accurate, since the reading cannot rise above freezing until the ice melts. With rain and ice prevailing, I expect further deterioration in the cats' moods. It looks like a rather slow day for me. The work is minimal and with the roads slippery no new work is likely to arrive. I'll probably spend a good part of the day in Fractal Land, wherever that is. The best of what I find there will appear as tomor- row's FOTD. When I finish my trip in Fractal Land, I might start thinking about things such as the nature of reality, and we know what happens when I do that. Until the next FOTD, take care, and fractals must prove something about reality, but I'm not sure what. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Roulette_Festival { ; time=0:01:08.54--SF5 on a P200 reset=2003 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=-0.83439334781566500/-1.203480149355678\ 00/2.550009e+008/1/142.5/5.37021542955373743e-005 params=10/-1.3/1/-13/0/0 float=y maxiter=256 inside=0 outside=tdis periodicity=10 colors=000_mza1aa4bb6edAfeBhfDjfGlhImiLojMqjPrlRtm\ SvnVxoWzoZzq_zrbzsdzsezrdxrbnqadq_Vq_LhdO_hRSjTVhR\ YfO_eLbdIdaGf_DiZAlY6mV4oT1rS0tR0vP0qT4mWFiZOeaWad\ dYflMDPPBTSBWVA_Y8dL8TLFSd4nf4qi3tl1xn1zq0zs0zo0zi\ 3tf8kbDbYIWUKRRIOOGLLEKKCNKAPK8RJ9SIA`I8dG6hG4lF3o\ F1sD0xD0zJ6tODoTLlYRfaYafbYjiSvsOqpLlmIgjFbgBYd8Ta\ 4PZ1MW0UT0WQ0cA0m30z00j3AS8L8BVBDYFD_IDaLDdODfRFhT\ FjWFmZFnaFqdGsfGtiGxlGzmGzoJxqLtrMrsOotRmvSjxTfzVd\ zYazZZz_WzaTzeSxiRvmPsoOqsMmxLjzJhzIezGbzGdzDdzBdx\ Adt8dq6dm4dj3df1db0dZ0dV0dR0dO0aT0ZY1Wb4Tf8RjBOoFL\ sIIxLFzOBzRAzT800F34LGBPTIVdPZoVdz_hzelz_nzWqzRtxM\ xtGzrBzo4zm0zj0zhDteTnbhhatedvdevbfxahx_ixYjxWlxVm\ xTnzSozPqzOrzMszLtzJvzIxzGszGozFlzFhzDdzD_zBWzBSzA\ OzAJz8Fz8Az86z4Rz1hz0xzqtxtoxxlvzftzbszYrzTqzPqzVl\ z_fxebrjYmnThsOaxJWzDRz8Pz6Pz4Pz3Oz1Oz0Oz0Rz3Sz6Tz\ AVxFWtIYrLZoO_mSajVY0WZ0Y } 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==================================