FOTD -- January 24, 2002 (Rating 4) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I am usually annoyed by unwanted e-mail, and delete it without reading, but this morning I found a very unusual letter. I only skimmed the letter, but from what I could tell, it purported to be from someone who had made a big mistake in the past and wanted to know whether I knew some method by which they might travel backward in time to correct their mistake. On the surface, the letter appeared like any other letter designed to sell something, but this one included no web address. It had only an e-mail return address, and a line telling me to reply only if I actually know how to travel in time. This line actually had me considering replying for a few minutes. Then I decided that the letter was simply a more clever way than usual to try to sell me something, and sent it to the trash can. I rather liked yesterday's Mandelbrot image. So today I actually did do a bit of time travelling. I went back in time 24 hours to see how yesterday's image would appear when sliced in the Oblate direction, which is defined by real(z),imag(c). I kept the same color palette so that the features would appear in the same colors. Of course, the usual amount of stretching and skewing was needed to properly reveal the scene. And when revealed, the scene proved to be one of gross distortion. The same elements are there, this can be verified by counting. But they are distorted, twisted and torn beyond recognition. Such an image is not the most attractive, which is why I could rate today's effort no higher than a 4. And even the 4 rating is liberal. I named the picture "A New Angle" for obvious reasons. The render time of almost 9 minutes is a bit much for the below-average image. The wise will download the finished GIF image from the internet at the following web address: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> The fractal weather Wednesday featured rain in the morning and clouds in the afternoon. The sun finally appeared shortly before sunset, but by then it was too late -- the fractal cats were unhappy. With no sun and a noticeable breeze, the temperature of 52F 11C had been too cool to give them comfort outdoors. I was once again forced to open the tuna. And speaking of opening things, I'll open the fractal program again before long, and find a new and better image for tomorrow. Until then, take care, and fractals multiply like rabbits. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ A_New_Angle { ; time=0:08:56.74--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=slices.frm formulaname=OblateVE passes=1 center-mag=-0.000000\ 23399262228/+0.00000004341194985/2661102/2.7656/-1\ 0.8536192381310066/-68.8634948510254787 params=-0.\ 745856816757/0.115376422366/-0.745856816757/0.1153\ 76422366/1.0777/0 float=y maxiter=5000 inside=0 outside=fmod colors=000NHlPFnRDpSBpTCqTDqTEqTFqTGq\ UGqUHrUIrUJrUKrVLrVLrVMrVNsVOsWPsWQsWQsWRsWSsXTtXU\ tXVtXVtXWtYXtYYtYZuY_uY_uZ`uZauZbuZcuZdv_dv_ev_fv_\ gv_hv_hvZguYfuXeuWduWcuVbtUatT`tS_tSZtRYsQXsPWsOVs\ OVsNUrMTrLSrKRrKQrJPqIOqHNqGMqGLqFKpEJpDIpCHpCHpDK\ oDNoDQnDTnDWmDZmDalDdlDgkDjkCkjCkjCljCljCljCmjBmjB\ mjBnjBnjBnjBojAojAojAoiAoiAoiAoi9oi9oi9oi9oi9oi9oi\ 9oi8oi8oi8oi8oi8oh8oh7oh7oh7oh7oh7oh7oh6oh6oh6oh6o\ h6oh6oh6oh7og8og8of9lf9ifAfeBbeB_dCXdCTdDQcENcEJbF\ GbGCaFDbFDbFEcFEcFFdFFdFGeFGeFHfEHfEIgEIgEIgEJhEJh\ EKiEKiELjDLjDMkDMkDNlDNlDNlDOmDOmDPnCPnCQoCQoCRpCR\ pCSqCSqCSqCTrBTrBUsBUsBVtBVtBWuBWuBXvBXvCZwBXvAWuA\ Vt9Us9Tr8Sq8Rq7Pp6Oo6Nn5Mm5Ll4Kk3Il4Jk5Kk6Lk6Mj7Nj\ 8Oj9Oj9PiAQiBRiBShCThDThEUhEVgFWgGXgGYfHZfIZfJ_fJ`\ eKaeLbeLcdMcdNddOedOfcPgcQhcQibRibSjbTkbTlaUmaVnaV\ naWn`Xn_YnZciuFTeCTb9T`CRbEPdGNfILhLJj } frm:OblateVE {; Jim Muth real(z),imag(c) z=real(pixel)+p1, c=flip(imag(pixel))+p2, b=sqr(real(p3)): z=sqr(z)+c, |z| <= b } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================