FOTD -- November 19, 2003 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: (Please direct any non-fractal comments to the philofractal list.) Too many years ago, when I was a curious young boy, (age 13 or so), I found my share of unbelievable claims in columns and books such as Ripley's 'Believe it or Not'. I remember one claim in particular -- that the botfly can fly 808 miles per hour, which is faster than sound. I wondered where the tiny fly found the energy. As it turned out, that particular claim was false, but many of the things that appeared in the column, such as the 'Pyramid of Hanoi', are true. At that time, as today, the newsstand shelves were filled with publications dealing with things such as lucky charms and Astrology. Being a reasonably intelligent young fellow, I felt proud that I was too smart to believe in such nonsense. Of course, when I grew older I found that things such as lucky charms and Astrology are only a mild form of nonsense compared to the super-nonsense (we call it non-intuitive stuff) seriously considered nowadays by physicists and to a lesser degree by cognitive scientists. The acceptance of the nonsensical is where science is inexorably leading us. If it is seen as superstitious to believe in the real but invisible worlds and the invisible spirit beings of occultism, why should it not be seen as even more superstitious to believe in the infinity of real but invisible parallel universes and the infinity of alternate versions of ourselves which are being seriously considered by physicists? And, is it truly so absurd to wonder if the scientific and occult views of other worlds are merely two different aspects of the same thing? The modern-day realization that the world is non-sensical is amazing, but the most amazing thing that has come about in the past quarter century is IMO the development of computers and the means to rapidly calculate fractals, which led to the discovery of their infinite richness. This is something which neither occultist nor scientist could have imagined back at the time I was reading 'Believe it or Not'. The best known and most basic of all fractals is the Mandelbrot set. And the best known area of the Mandelbrot set is perhaps Seahorse Valley. Today's FOTD takes us to the bud side of the north branch of the valley to view a midget that lies there. With its many seahorse-like twists and whorls, the image fairly reeks of 'Seahorse Valley', though it is still a rather pleasant scene to see. Because the area has been explored to the point where it is becoming boring, I could rate the image no higher than a 6, but what could one expect from an image that renders in 35 seconds? The alternate way of seeing the image is to download it from: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> or from: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> A raw, cloudy, damp, chilly day here at Fractal Central on Thursday kept the cats confined to the porch. The temperature of 50F 10C and occasional drizzle made their confinement a short one. After 20 minutes they were back indoors, asking for tuna. Today is starting milder but still cloudy. And rain is due. I expect sulky cats before the day ends. But before the sulking begins, I must finish the work. Until next time, take care, and watch out for that invisible dark matter and energy. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Mandelbrot-07 { ; time=0:00:35.37--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=mandel passes=1 center-mag=-0.7659\ 7715297031940/+0.09328995436879066/2.980249e+011/1\ /-177.5/-0.0303889026000893486 params=0/0 float=y maxiter=6000 inside=0 logmap=808 periodicity=10 colors=0500IAf6_r6Xv6VyE_sKajQddViYalSfoMnsFtv9zy1\ zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz1zz4wz6tz9ozAlzDiyFfyShzcizpkz\ zkzvnzrozlrzgtzawzYxzSzzOzzIzzDzz7zz3zz0zz0zz3zzCz\ zLxvTtrcnlligudcz__zVVzXSzXQvXPrXOmXLgXJcXI_XGTYDP\ YCJYAFY9Al64f40e30b14aJDX`MFpOIoPKmQLlQOjSQiTRgTUf\ VVdXXcX_aYa`_b__d_aicdnggrliwplzuozypzzrzxrrssiosa\ juTfuKavBYv5Tv5Ps5Tp6YmCalIfiOjfUoc_saev`Xx_QyYIzX\ BzV5zT5zX5xY8r_El`KfaO`dUVf_PgeJikDjo7olGriOufVseS\ sdQrbPrbMpaLp_Jp_ImUQjQ_gKfdFoa9x`5zc5vd5of5gi5_j5\ Sl5Lo5Cp54r50v5Ay5Oz5`z5mz5zz5zzBJzCMzEOzFPzFQzHSz\ ITzIVzKXzL_zL`zNazOczOdzQfzRgzRiuX`oaSgfLakCXo4Yr3\ Yt3Yu3Yw3_z3_z3_z3_z3`z3`z3`z3`z3az6cz7dz9fzCgzDiz\ FjzGlzJmzLozMpzOmzLjzJgzGfzFizDlzCmzApz9sz7uz6xz4y\ z3zz1zz0zz0zz0zz0zz4zzCzzIzzPzzVzzazzizzozzvzzzizs\ Qzj6za0zT0za0zi0zp1zy6zz9zzDzzGzpLzdOzTMzQLzPLzMJz\ LJzIIzGczmfzjjzimzfrzcuza } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================