FOTD -- March 29, 2005 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's image is named "Deep Scepter". Since we seem to have developed a fascination with the things deep in Mandelbrot valleys, it appears only proper to investigate the next valley beyond Seahorse Valley -- the one known as Scepter Valley. Today's image takes us to within 0.0004 of the mystic point of this valley, which lies at -1.25 on the X-axis of the M-set. If the answers to the secrets of the universe lie at the mystic point of Seahorse Valley, a further clarification of those answers must lie at the mystic point of Scepter Valley. The answers are still very deeply encoded however, for I see little in today's image other than the expected pinched-off elements, with kingly scepters scattered everywhere. Unfortunately, the routine nature of the image dampened the effort I put into coloring it. I could rate today's image no higher than an average 5. It has some interesting features, though it is up to the individual to decide whether these are interesting enough to justify the nearly half-hour calculation time. Those who decide that the modicum of fractal interest in the image is not worth the rendering effort may still see the image by visiting the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> In yesterday's discussion I mentioned a thumbnail image I had done some time back of a scene extremely deep in Seahorse Valley, where arbitrary precision math is required. I mentioned that the full sized version would require several months to calculate even at SF5 resolution. Last evening, with nothing else to do, I sat down at my fastest machine to see how deep I could go into Seahorse Valley before the program switched to arbitrary precision math and the calculation time became unrea- sonable. I found a midget on the western shoreline of Seahorse Valley with an imaginary part of under 0.000008, which at the thumbnail size appears to have much of the character of the old, impossibly slow thumbnail image, but does not need the slower math routine, and can therefore render in perhaps 12 hours on the fastest machine. Since the fastest machine is usually busy on some more immediate task, and slows to a crawl on fractals if it is left alone and not kicked into high gear every half hour or so, it will take a few days to finish the full-sized image. But I hope that when the image is finished, we will see Seahorse Valley as we have never seen it before. Heavy rain and occasional rumbles of thunder kept the fractal cats safely indoors all day Monday here at Fractal Central. The temperature of 52F 11C was mild enough, but the duo never got outside to check it. Needless to say, an extra treat of tuna was needed in the evening to assure their moods remained bear- able. Today is starting dry and mild, but it is cloudy and the wind is up. It remains to be seen how the duo will handle these conditions. For me, the disposition of the day has yet to be determined, but the disposition of the next fractal is near certain -- it will appear right here in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and be aware of the fractals lurking around you. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Deep_Scepter { ; time=0:28:55.66--SF5 on a P200 reset=2004 type=mandel passes=1 center-mag=-1.24999989217141500/+0.000436845163898\ 46/7.346209e+008/1/-105/0 params=0/0 float=y maxiter=2500000 bailout=9 inside=0 periodicity=10 colors=000qfcreesdgtchu`fvYewVcxTbyQ`wN_wKYwIXwFVw\ CUw9Sz7Rz9SzBTzCUwEVtFVqHWnIXkKYhLZeNZbO__Q`XRaYTb\ YUbMnbPm_SlXUlVXkSZkQajNciLfiIhhGkhDmgBpf8rf6ue3we\ 1tb5q_9oXDlVHiSLgPPdMTaKX_H`XEdUBhS9lQAkPAkNAjMAjK\ AiJAiHAhGAhFBgDBgCBfABf9Be7Be6Bd5Bd8DbBF`EHZHIXKKV\ NMUQOSTPQWROZTMaVLdWJgYHj_FmaDpbCmdGkeJhgMfhPcjTak\ WZmZXnaVodQfcLZcGRbBJb7BbBC_FCYJCWNCURCRVCPZCNbCLf\ CJjCGnCErCCvCAyC8xF7wI7vK6uN6tP6sS5rU5qX5p_4oa4nd3\ mf3li3kk2jn2jp2fo3cn3`m4Yl4Vk4Sj5Pi5Mh6Jg6Gf6De7Ad\ 77c84b81a83W75R67M59H4BC3D72E21I34M46P59T6BX7E_8Gc\ 9JfALhDPjFTkIWmK_oMcpPfrRjsTmpRkmPijOggMfdKdbJb_Ha\ XG_UEYRCXPBVM9TJ7SG6QD4OB3NDCSEKWFT_G`cHhgGihGjhGk\ hFliFmiFmiEnjEojEpjDqkDqkDrkCslCtlCulCulBafAIaKGZU\ EXbDV`GWZIXXKYWMZUO_SQ`RSaPVbNXcLZdK`eIbfGdgFfg3v9\ 8rDDnGIjKNfNSbQXZUaVXfR`kNcpKfnKhlKjjJlhJnfJpgIzeJ\ qdJicK`bKTaLKcHA`LCZOEXRG } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================