FOTD -- August 12, 2003 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I try to convince myself that the public media is a fair and unbiased source of information, but it is becoming very hard to keep up the self-delusion. Every time I turn on the fractal TV, it seems I see dramatic fear-inspiring stories of record- breaking heat, drought, and fires in Europe and the western U.S. The assumption is that global warming has arrived, and we are ready to run out of water and be wiped out by heat exhaustion, wildfires, flooded coastal cities, and mass starvation. But where are the stories about the ongoing record-breaking cool, rainy summer in the Eastern part of the U.S., or the cold wave in Europe this past April, or the current record-cold weather in Australia? And finally, why are most professional meteorologists more concerned about an ice age than global warming? Those living in the Fractal Central area are already more worried about the next ice age than global warming. The local farmers (in addition to the local cats) are actually praying for dry weather. Yesterday was the 22nd consecutive day with at least some rain here at F.C. While I have been searching for an unbiased news source, I have also been searching for fractals. For today's image I returned to my favorite fractal rectangle -- the one in the Z^(2.003)+C Julia set at C=-1.7435,0.0 and Z=0.00019,0.07388. This object is shaped like a rectangle only when sliced in the Julia direction. Any deviation from that direction quickly distorts the rectangle. In today's image, we deviate only one degree toward the Parabolic direction, but even that small deviation turns the rectangle into a kind of table-top sitting on a platform, creating a convenient landing place for a space ship. I have named the image "Space Station". The image needed a little help to reveal its full potential. The surface of the table top, as well as most of the platform consist of inside material made visible by the 'fmod' option. When this was done, the result was an image worthy of a rating of 7. Changing the imag(p1) parameter even slightly totally changes the image. If imag(p1) is reduced to 80, the effect is more of a cut-away view of a volcano. When the parameter is reduced beyond that, the image stretches horizontally until, by the time the Parabolic direction is reached, it becomes little more than a series of horizontal bands. Four minutes is a fast-enough time for the attached parameter file. And as always, the completely finished image is available in good old-fashioned GIF format on the FOTD web sites at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> The weather on Monday here at Fractal Central would have been near perfect if a heavy thunder-shower had not arrived and dropped 0.8 inches or 2cm of rain just as the dynamic duo were finishing their near-perfect day in the yard. Had it not been for the rain, the temperature of 81F 27C would have been ideal. The rain did one good thing however -- it hurried the duo indoors without urging from me. When they were safely inside, I gave them a small treat of tuna to assure their continued good moods. Today is scheduled to be a repeat. Things will be all right if the rain holds off until 5pm. I'll be all right if the work goes smoothly and the next fractal is a good one. Until that next fractal arrives, take care, and where is the heat one expects in this part of the world at this time of year? Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Space_Station { ; time=0:04:10.07--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=multirot-XY-ZW-new function=flip/ident passes=1 center-mag=-0.0058071/1.00614e-016/58.884\ 49/1/90/-1.23373533611470521e-014 params=90/89/2.0\ 03/0/0.00019/0.07388/-1.7435/0 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=fmod proximity=0.0333 periodicity=10 colors=000oT8qS8tQA000wNAyLCzKCzICzGDzFDzDDzCFzAFz\ AGz8Fz8Dz7Cz7Cz5Az58z38z37z25y25w03v02v02t00r00q00\ o00m00l00j00i00g00zwzlazzczjKzzmziazzzziazzqziizii\ zA30C50D70D70F80FA0GC0GC0ID0KF0KG0LG0LI0MJ0NK0OL0Q\ M0QO0SQ0SQ0TS0VT0VV0XV0XX0YY0__0__0aa0ab0bd0bd0de0\ eg0ei0gi0gl0io0jr0qt0yw0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zy0ww0wt0vr\ 2to2rm3rj5rj5ri7ri7rg8tg8teAteCtdCvdDvbDvbFvaFwaGw\ _Gw_IwYKwYKyXLyXLyVNyVNzTOzTQzSQzSSzQSzQTzOTzOVzQT\ zOVzOVwNXvNXrNYqLYmL_lL_iK_gKadKabIb_IbYIdVGdTGeQG\ eOFeLFgKDgGDiFDiCCjACj7Cl5Al2Al0Am08m08o08o07q07q0\ 5o07q08q0Ar0Cr0Dt0Ft0Gt0Iv0Kv3Kw5Lw7Ny8OyAQyDSzFTz\ GVzIXzKXzIVzIVzGTzGTzFSzFSzDQzDQzCOzCOzDNzDLzDLzDK\ zFIzFIzFGzFFzGFzGDyGCwGCvIArI8qI8oI7mK5jK5iK3gK2e0\ QCK2dLDQNODO_0Oi0Oj0Oj0Ol0Ol0Ol3Om7OmAOoDOoGOoKOqN\ OqQOqTOrYOraOtdOtgOtjOvmOvqOwtOwwOwzOyzOyzOyzSwzTv\ zXtzYrydb5ea5i_7jY7lX7mV8 } frm:multirot-XY-ZW-new {; draws 6 planes and rotations ;when fn1-2=i,f, then p1 0,0=M, 0,90=O, 90,0=E, 90,90=J ;when fn1-2=f,i, then p1 0,0=M, 0,90=R, 90,0=P, 90,90=J a=real(p1)*.01745329251994, b=imag(p1)*.01745329251994, z=sin(b)*fn1(real(pixel))+sin(a)*fn2(imag(pixel))+p3, c=cos(b)*real(pixel)+cos(a)*flip(imag(pixel))+p4: z=z^(p2)+c, |z| <= 36 } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================