FOTD -- May 07, 2008 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today, I'm in more of a philosophical mood than a fractal mood, so pardon me if I make a little diversion before getting to the Fractal of the Day. Those bored with opinionated philosophy may skip to the ninth paragraph. In the distant past, when I was just learning about the world, I read every book of popularized science that I could get my hands on. The books answered most of my childhood questions such as: how far away are the stars?, why does the wind blow?, how old is the earth?, what is the tallest mountain and the tallest water- fall?, (I found it was not Yosemite), where does lava come from?, where do meteors come from? My list of questions was nearly endless, and I found the answers to most of them in the 'science' books I read. But now that I am closer to the other end of life, my list of questions has changed, and I feel that the science I once almost worshipped has let me down. True, my questions are now more difficult. My head is filled by unanswered and perhaps unans- werable questions, such as: what is the meaning of life?, where did our unique individualities come from and where will we go from here? Answers such as: the meaning of life is 42, (ask a deaf person what 42 means), we came from oblivion and we will return to oblivion, are merely silly. Equally silly are attempts to avoid answering the questions by blaming our genes for programming us to invent such ultimately meaningless questions. But perhaps the most evasive and offensive thing I have heard is the standard Atheistic reply that men lack the courage to accept the harsh reality that deep inside they fear is actually true. This is perhaps the most destructive philosophy ever embraced by a thankfully small segment of humanity. Many years ago I tried and discarded such nihilistic Atheism, which like conventional dogmatic religion, raises more questions than it answers. (An Atheist once actually said to me that the physical universe is his god and science is his religion.) Perhaps it would be better for those running the oversized scien- tific corporation to stop wasting such immense sums of money in search of useless dream things such as 'higgs particles' and a 'theory of everything', and pause to find the courage to address the questions that people are really concerned about. Does all this mean that I believe in the supernatural? Maybe it does, or maybe not. But if things seem to be pointing in that direction, I will not curl into a ball and hide in the corner in fear of the unknown. I make no claims of having any answers, but of one thing I am certain. I have so far found even more unanswered questions in fractals than in the so-called 'real' world. Today's fractal image, by the way, lies in the parent that results when the formula Z^(2.01+0.03i)+C is iterated six levels up the complex logarithmic ladder. This parent fractal is basically a distorted Mandelbrot set rotated so that its main spike faces southwest. Today's scene showing an equally distorted minibrot is located in the much- broadened east branch of the valley setting off the large period-3 north bud. Since the image shows a minibrot surrounded by nothing much of interest, I could rate it at only a 5. The name "Something Imaginary" refers to the imaginary part of the exponent of Z. The calculation time of 4 minutes is a bit longer than I would have preferred, but still well within reason. The most reason- able way of all to view the image however is to visit the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and enjoy it as much as possible there. A day that could have been perfect was spoiled by a series of light showers in the early afternoon here at Fractal Central on Tuesday. But despite the rain, the temperature reached 72F 22C, earning the approval of the fractal cats. My day was slow enough to be satisfactory, but not good enough to be exceptional. The next FOTD will appear in 24 hours, when perhaps I can get out of this fractal rut. Until then, take care, and I once was sure, but now I'm puzzled. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= SomethingImaginary { ; time=0:04:04.96-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotBC3 function=ident passes=1 center-mag=-0.54660864024034790/+0.989879191269876\ 70/126719.3/1/-117.5/0 params=2.01/0.03/6/0 float=y maxiter=2500 inside=0 logmap=200 periodicity=10 colors=000c3_d3Ze3Yf3Xg3Wg3Uh3Ti3Ri3Qk3Vl3_m3cn3ho\ 3mp3qn3ol3mj3kh4if6ge8ecAcaBb_D`YFZXHXVIVTKTRMRPOP\ OPOHWXAae4gm7fhAedEd`HcXLbTOaPR`KV_GYZCaY8dX4gW2m`\ DrdQwhbkbZ_YWOTTDOQ4NK4LL4JM4IN4GO4EP4DQ4BR49R48S4\ 6T44U43V43W43X43X43Y63Z94ZC6_E8_HA`KC`NEaQGaSIbVKb\ YMc`OccQdeSdgUchVcjWckXcmYcnZco_cq`cractbcuccwdcxe\ cyfcucdq`dnYejVegSecPf`MfXKgUHgQEgNBhJ8hG5iC3i93iC\ 5`E9SHEKJIBLM3JL5IL6HK7GK8FJ9Ge2Db2B_28X26U24R2BU2\ HW8OZFU`L_bSfeZlgeriknm2mi2lf2lb5k_8jWBjTEiPHhMKhI\ NgFQfBTf8Wg7Xg7Xg7Xg6Xg6Xg6Yg5Yg5Yh5Yh4Yh4Zh4Zh3Zh\ 3Zh3Zh3Ze8abCd_HgXLjUQmRUpOYsSXrVXrYXq`WqcWpfWpiVo\ lVooVoNW6OU6OT6OS6PR6PQ6PP6QO6QN6QM6RL6RK6RJ6TM9VP\ CWSFYVI_YL``ObbRceUehXgk_hnbjqekchkZMkZ2eZ2`Z2WZ2R\ Z2LZ2GZ2BZ26Z2BZ2GZ2LZ2Qh4Vs6Wu8`z9`zB`zC`zEgzFgzH\ lzIqzKvzLzzNzzOzzQzzRzzSzzJzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz\ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz } frm:MandelbrotBC3 { ; by several Fractint users e=p1, a=imag(p2)+100 p=real(p2)+PI q=2*PI*fn1(p/(2*PI)) r=real(p2)+PI-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 PARAMETER FILE=========================================