FOTD -- June 13, 2003 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today is Friday the 13th here at Fractal Central as well as nearly everywhere else on earth. Because the number thirteen has always been considered unlucky, and in the middle ages criminals were usually executed on Friday, it is supposed to be an unlucky day. Well, it's not supposed to be unlucky, it's simply that many people consider it to be unlucky. This, of course, is superstition. Rational-thinking people realize that belief in superstitious things is a sign of irrational thinking. (Even though I now know that precognition exists, I am still a rational-thinking person.) Nothing in a calendar day of the week and a date that were determined by men can cause bad luck. Bad luck is nothing more than randomly distributed and often self- produced misfortune. But we now know that the world extends into regions where reason alone can no longer give all the answers. So who can say for sure that irrational thinking is always wrong and today is not somehow jinxed? Today's fractal is named "Mistral". A Mistral is not a mis- spelling of the word 'mis-trial', it is a cold north wind that blows for long periods of time in southern France. After a while, it becomes quite annoying to those not accustomed to it. I chose this name for whimsical reasons. There is nothing windy about today's image, which subtracts Z^(1.1) from Z^(-1.1) before adding (1/C). The parent consists of several scattered and distorted Mandel- oids. Today's scene lies in the East Valley area of the most prominent Mandeloid. It is a rather lively scene, which rates a 7. Its brilliant colors are fairly bubbling with activity. If I had been in a better mood, I might have rated it an 8, but sweeping water into the sump for 45 minutes is an annoying task, so the image rates only a 7. The parameter file renders in 6 minutes; the image file down- loads in less than one minute. Running the parameter file is more fun; downloading the completed image is more convenient. The individual fractalist must make the decision. The image can be found, ready for download at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> A very muggy day Thursday led to torrential and very noisy thunder-storms in the late afternoon and evening, which left an inch of water in the fractal basement. Before the rain arrived, the temperature reached 86F 30C. Luckily, the dynamic fractal cats had already satisfied their wanderlust by the time the rain began, and weathered the noisy storms hiding in the closet. When they finally came out, their fears were eased by a consol- ing treat of tuna. Today promises to be a repeat, so I expect a repeat performance from the duo. (Hopefully, not from the basement.) Until next FOTD, take care, and tomorrow I'll tell of any bad luck that might happen today. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Mistral { ; time=0:06:39.59--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+0.01259329587616971/+0.353654150329713\ 80/2.773255e+012/1/130/-0.000177204568416973463 params=1/-1.1/-1/1.1/0/0 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=0 logmap=130 periodicity=10 colors=000PGHTAGV4EX0CZ0Cb08d26e64g82iC0kG0mJ0oL0s\ P0uT0vX0x_0ze0zh0zm0zo0vj0m`0eV0XP0NJ0GG06A0040000\ 0000000ENGbzLZzPVuTRoXNi`JddGZgEVm6ds0mv0vz0zzczzc\ zzZzu0zk0zd8zVGzNNzEVz6bz0iz0qz0vz0sz0qz0mz0kz0iz0\ ex0du0bs0Zq0Xm0Tk2Ri4Pe6Ld8Jb8H`C2JE0460802A0AC0HG\ 0PH0VJ0VJ0TJ0TJRJLNLNHLPENR8PT4RV0RX4Tb6Tg8TmAVsCV\ xEVzHRvLPqNNkRLgVJbXGX`ETbCNeAHi8Ek48o22s00u00x00z\ 00m40bC0RL0ET02b00i00d00Z00V04P08L0AG6EACH6HJ0NN0R\ R0XT0bX0g`0mb0qZ0qX0qV0qT2qRAqPHqNPqLXqTbm`gkgmims\ guxezzdzzbzz`zzbuzdkvdbseRmgHgg8bi0Zi8NVGCHP04X00V\ 84VPGVgTVxdVzoRzsPzuLzxJzzGxzEvzCsz8oz6mz2iz0ez0dz\ 0`z0Zz0bz4dzAgzGizLkvRoqVqk`ueev`kxVqzPvzkzzusxzkq\ zdiz`bzdXzgPzkHzoAzs2zv0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz\ 0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0z\ z0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0\ zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zzXzzRzzLz } frm:MandelbrotMix4 {; Jim Muth a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2), g=1/f, h=1/d, j=1/(f-b), z=(-a*b*g*h)^j, k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================