FOTD -- December 27, 2001 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: The first of the two holidays of the season has passed. It was not as bad as feared here at Fractal Central, but neither was it as good as hoped. One of my gifts was an electronic device -- a VHS video recorder. (I would have preferred a 1.5ghz computer for faster if not better fractals, but that's another story.) I assume the VCR device works perfectly. I must assume this only because I have not yet figured how to use most of the features. And the remote, with its 50 mysterious buttons, just makes matters worse. To make things even more confusing, the 64-page instruction manual is no help at all. When I consult it, I am flooded with so much cryptic information that I don't know where to start looking for what I need. To begin, I find that there are at least 7 different ways of connecting the antenna system. And if I hit the wrong button on the remote, sub-titles appear on the screen, which are almost impossible to get rid of. Or even worse, the screen goes totally blue and the machine just sits there defying me. As of yet, I have not discovered how to receive the UHF over-the-air channels. Presumably, the unit is tuning the cable frequencies, but since I have digital satellite rather than cable input, this does me no good at all. Then there are those settings that lock out certain channels, so that the young ones do not see the material that offends their adults. There are also lights that begin flashing for no discernible reason. I think this is connected with automatic tracking correction when a less-than-perfect tape is playing, but I'm not sure. All in all however, the device is a success. It plays tapes exactly the same as my old VCR machine, which is far simpler and has worked perfectly for almost 4 years. (I need tape-playing ability because I would be lost without a junky old sci-fi or horror movie fix a couple times a week. And those junky oldies are all on tape.) But, even while playing with my new toy, I am left wondering what ever happened to the electronic devices of the good old days -- the devices that were connected, plugged in and turned on, and worked perfectly. They came with 4-page instruction manuals which were usually discarded with the packing. After the holiday, which was neither best nor worst, it's back to the FOTD, and a trip to the fourth dimension. In this case, the four-dimensional object is the 4-D Mandelbrot hyperslice of the 8-D Julibrot. I named today's image "Hypercomplex Magic" because the effect of widely separated parts of the Mandelbrot set superimposed in the same scene is almost magical. In the image, we once again have a Mandelbrot midget filled with features from a distant part of the M-set. This image is far better defined that the similar one that appeared on December 20. In fact, today's image is good enough to rate a 7, which is above average. The render time of 7 minutes is acceptable, though the download from: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> or from: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> will be significantly faster. The fractal weather Wednesday was normal winter fare for this part of the world -- some sun, some clouds, chilly winds, and temperatures in the mid 30'sF, which translates to around 2C. And there was no white Christmas the day before. The fractal cats, still recovering from the catnip mice they received for Christmas, were happy to pass the day indoors, stretched by their favorite radiators, complaining only when the heat temporarily cut off. As usually happens at this time of year, I have been thinking very deep philosophical thoughts the past few days. It will take a day or two to get them written down and posted to the philofractal list, but when they do appear, the stagnated list should see a little activity. At the moment, it's late evening of the day after Christmas, and time to shut down the fractal shoppe for another day. But I'll return in the customary 24 hours with more fractal fun. Until then, take care, and if you doubt that fractals can be fun, just try having a conversation with one. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Hypercomplex_Magic { ; time=0:07:05.94--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=hypercomplex function=sqr passes=b center-mag=-0.1726670305042/+0.20143746331292/5321\ 9.92/1/-95/9.16385023419508116e-013 params=0/0/0.2\ 05/0.44 float=y maxiter=12000 inside=255 logmap=98 colors=000KUeLVdMWeNXfOYePZdQ_dRafSegTihTmfSrcRqbQ\ paPmaMjaLhaKeaHbaG_aFYaCVaBSa8Pa7Ma5Ka3Ha2Fa1Ca0Aa\ 07a00_03a05a08a2Ba5Da8GaCIaFLaIOaLQaPUaSWaWZaZaabc\ aefaiiallapoassazwazzbzvapoVfgMYYGOR8FK2740850870A\ 71A82B83BA5BA7CB8CBADCBDCCFDFFDGFFHGFIGGKHGLHHOIHP\ IIQIKSKKUKLWLLYLMZMM_MOaMObOPeOPfPQhPQiQSjQSlQUoSU\ pSVrUVsUWuMUzQVzUWvWWr_YmbZieZeh_alaWoaSrbOvcKycGz\ eCze8zcAzbByaCwaCv_DuZFsYFrYGpWHoVHmUIlUKjSKiQLhPM\ fPMeOObLPaKP_HQZFSYCSWBUV8VU5VS3WQ2YP1YO0ZM0_L0_K0\ aI0eI0iK0mL0rM1vO2zM3zM4zL5zL5zL7zK8zKBzKCzIFzIHyI\ KyHLyHOyHQyGSyGSyGUyFVyFWwFWwDYwDZwD_wCawCbwBcwBew\ BfvAhvAivAiv8jv8lv8mv7mv7ov7pu5ru5ru5su4uu4vu4vu3w\ u3yu3yu7zrAzpCzoFzmIzlLzjOziQzfVzeYzc_zbbzafz_izZl\ zWozVszUvzSyzQzzPzzOzzPzzPzzPzzQzzQzzQzzQzzSzzSyzS\ yzUyzUwzUwzUwzVvzVvzVvzVuzWuzWuzWszYszYszYrzYrzZrz\ ZpzZpzZpz_oz_oz_ozamzamza } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================