FOTD -- January 16, 2004 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: As I have often stated in the past, I enjoy reading "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine, a publication devoted to debunking claims of the paranormal and promoting the materialistic philosophies. But after reading this magazine for 15 or so years, I still believe that some paranormal things do exist, and I still am not a materialist. This could be because the magazine articles are ineffective or because I am slow to see the truth. This incon- sistency has long been a puzzle to me, but the mystery has now been solved. There is an article in the latest issue, which tackles the question of why skeptics have such a hard time debating with believers. It claims that believers have so many mistaken ideas about using reason that they are nearly impossible for skeptics to argue with. Believers fall into new reasoning fallacies faster than skeptics can set them straight, and as a result, the skeptics soon give up in disgust. In other words, skeptics are right, but believers are too confused to recognize it. Now I know why I am convinced that precognition is a true ability of man. I am too confused to know that it logically cannot exist and I therefore could not possibly have experienced it, which I have a very clear memory of having done. But slow-wittedness has its good features. Fractals do not exist either. But I am unaware of this fact, and I find fractals everywhere. I have been finding them in fact just about as long as I have been reading "Skeptical Inquirer" magazine. Today's fractal is a typical example. There is little of interest in the Z^(1.5)+C Mandeloid, but, being unaware of this, I continue searching. By using the 'tdis' option on the outside parts of the parent fractal, I have now found another midget in Z^(1.5)+C worth a 7, this one with an overall value of 102. I named the image "Into the Fray". The image has a certain feeling of a boisterous melee about it, which inspired the name. And reading that magazine article put me in just the right mood to apply the name. I could just as easily have seen peaceful garden terraces in the image, but we will never know what type of names I might have chosen if I had found today's image on a different day. I guess it is up to the individual viewer to decide whether the image is violent or peaceful. The image may be seen either by running the parameter file and waiting 6 minutes or by download- ing the completed GIF image from: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and seeing it at once. Though it was cold Thursday here at Fractal Central, it was not as cold as forecast. With a high temperature of 27F -3C and occasional sun, it was bearable enough for the dynamic duo to enjoy 15 minutes in the yard. This was time enough for them to do the things that needed to be done. Today is starting the same. My own work is moderate to heavy, so I had best get started, or else be in danger of falling behind and believing aliens from outer space are among us. Until the next FOTD, which will appear in 24 hours, take care, and please direct any non- fractal comments about skepticism to the philofractal list. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Into_the_Fray { ; time=0:06:53.04--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotBC1 function=floor passes=1 center-mag=+0.11122362069284430/+0.715289864598950\ 50/188093.8/1/87.5/8.61523595518942642e-010 params=1.5/0/-2/0 float=y maxiter=32767 inside=0 outside=tdis periodicity=10 colors=000OYSTSOYMJaGFfAAj46iA9hFChKFgQIgVLf_OfdRe\ jUeoXdt_dyb_t_WpYSlWOgTKcRG_PCWNIZUO``TcgZencgtKmm\ 0sf4sc8saCs_GsYKsWOsUSsRWsP_sNcsLgsJksHirKgqNeqPcp\ SaoV_oXYn_XmbVmdTlgRkjPklNjoLirKitPboUXkYQgbKcfD_k\ 7Wo1Sn2Rn3Rm4Rm5Rm6Rl7Rl8Qk9QkAQkBQjCQjDQjDQoRItcA\ yp2if4VX5GN71E85GB8IDCJFFLIJMKMOMQPOTRRXST_UVcVXfX\ _jYam_cp`eqcfqefqhgqjgqlhqohqqiqtiqvjqxjtVRw17u2Ct\ 3Hs4Mr5Rq6Wp7`o8en9jmAnjDmhGmeJmcMlaPlZSlXVkVYkS`k\ QcjNfjLijJliGoiEriCuiDpgDleDhcDdaE`_EXYETWEOUEKSFG\ QFCOF8MF4KF0IG2LH3NI4PJ5SK7UL8WM9ZNA`OCbPDeQEgRFiR\ GkTIgVJdWL`YMYZOU`PRaQOcSKeTHfVDhWAiY6kZ3l_0gW0cS0\ ZO0VL0RH0MD0I90E60E52E44E45E37E39E2AE2CE1EE1FKDJQP\ NW_QakUfvXYhYPVYGHYILWJPVLTUMXTN`SPdRQhQRlPUjRWhSY\ fT_dUbbVd`WfZYhXZkVzmTzoRzqQzpVzoZznczmgillklzlzzz\ zzhonfzzdplbqlark_rkYsjWtiUuiTuhRvgPwgNxfLxfKtl_qq\ nnmmljmifmgcmBmeAoeFi`KcX } frm:MandelbrotBC1 { ; by several Fractint users e=p1, a=imag(p2)+100 p=real(p2)+PI q=2*PI*fn1(p/(2*PI)) r=real(p2)-q Z=C=Pixel: Z=log(Z) IF(imag(Z)>r) Z=Z+flip(2*PI) ENDIF Z=exp(e*(Z+flip(q)))+C |Z|<a } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================