FOTD -- January 12, 2010 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: While waiting in line with FL at the local market this morning, a headline on one of the tabloids in a nearby rack caught my eye. It said something about Brad and Angelina. I wondered who the quarreling couple are and why so many otherwise sensible people are so concerned about what other people are doing behind their closed doors. After pondering the situation for a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that all the celebrity pseudo-excitement is nothing more than a way for us to distract ourselves from the scientifi- cally-implied hopelessness and ultimate meaninglessness of our earthly lives. And the ever increasing flood of technological gadgets is also little more than a more costly way we might forget for a brief time the future with its looming darkness. And as for fractals . . . what are they if not just another distraction? In view of this not-so-cheery situation, I decided to name today's image "Brad and Angelina". (Who cares what the quarrel- ing couple do next?) Anyway, ten years from now the name of today's FOTD will be equally meaningless. But a silly name is no reason to skip a rating, so I rated the image at a 6, which is just the slightest above FOTD average. The image lies in the East Valley area of the parent fractal that appears when 0.05*Z^(-2) is mixed with Z^2, and C is added. The pastel colors create a rather feminine effect that reminds me of the dynamic celebrity duo. The calculation time of 12 minutes will give the enthusiastic fractalist ample time to wonder why I have no intention to turn to religious 'faith'. Those who would rather not spend time wondering may take the easy way to fractal satisfaction by viewing the finished image on the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> Monday here at Fractal Central was mostly cloudy and cold, with a high temperature of exactly freezing, which left a chill in the hearts of the fractal cats, who spent most of the day seeking more warmth. Things went downhill after dark when light snow began to fall. Workwise, my day was back to normal, though the day's fractal could have been a bit better. Improvement will hopefully be achieved in the next FOTD, which will appear at this same spot in 24 hours, give or take a few. Until then, take care, and concentrate on the important things, most of which make science look like a helpless retard. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Brad_and_Angelina { ; time=0:12:06.68-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basicer.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=ident passes=1 center-mag=+0.1105807706285532/-0.0000521139337279\ /1.57171e+011/1/-13/0 params=1/2/0.05/-2/0/0/0/0 float=y maxiter=7500 inside=0 mathtolerance=0.05/1 colors=000jJOiNMgRLfUJeYIcaGbeFahEbeGcbId`KdYMeWNf\ TPfRRgOThMUhJWiHYjE_jC`gF_dH_aK__M_XP_UR_RU_PW_MZ_\ J`_Gc_Ee_Bh_Bj_Bl_BgZDcZGZYJVYMRYNSZOS_OT_PT`PT`QU\ aQUaQVbQVbQWcQXcQYcQZbQ_aQ``Qa_QbZQcYWcXacWgcVncUt\ fZzkbui_qgYmfVidTebRaaOX_MTZJPXHLVFHUCDSABR8GP9NOA\ UNA`LBgKBnJCtICsJBsJAsK9rK8rL7rL6qM5qM4qM4oL3mK2kK\ 1iJ1gI0eI0cH0aG0_G0YF0WE0UE0WH0XJ0YL0_O1`Q3aS4bU5d\ X7eZ8f`AhcBieDjgEkiFljFmkGnlGomHpnHqoIqoIpnLpmOplR\ pkTpjWpiZph`pgcoffochmaek_biY`gVYeTWcQT`ORZLOXJMVG\ JTEHRBEP9CQGGRMKSTOTZRVWQXUPZRP`PObMOcKNeHNgFMiCMk\ ALl8LfJNaUOWdQRnRSlPTkNTjLUhKVgIVfGWeEXcDXbBYa9Z`7\ ZZ6_Y4`X2`W1cY2e_3ha4jc5md6of7rh8tj9vkAseEp_ImUMkO\ QhIUeCYb6a`peapccpbepagp_ipZkpYmohonmnmqmlulkukiuj\ huiguhfugdtfbqe`nc_kbZiaXf_VcZUaYSZWQWVOTUNRSLORJL\ QIJSHKTHLUHLYIIaJFdJDhKAlL7oL5lN4jP3gR3eT2bV2`X1YZ\ 0W`0Tb0Rd0Of0Mh0Jj0mCRlFP } frm:MandAutoCritInZ {; 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)+(p4)), k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================