FOTD -- January 13, 2002 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: When I checked my e-mail box a few minutes ago, I found 17 letters, most of them telling me that I could get rich quick or at least make a lot of money at home by doing next to nothing. This is about the average number of unwanted e-mail letters I receive every day. Most of today's letters had a disclaimer attached, telling me that the letters were not spam because I had 'opted in', or done something similar, to receive the mail. It's almost a comedy when such letters arrive. To begin, if the letters are not spam, why must they inform me of the fact and tell me how to be removed from the list? IMO, the only unwanted e-mail advertisement that is not spam is the one that never arrives. Then, there is this 'opting in' thing. First they tell me that I *have* agreed (opted-in) to receive the letter, then they include a line apologizing if I have *not* agreed to receive the letter, and they have made an error. (They must make a lot of errors.) And what do they mean by 'opting in'? I most certainly have never signed up anywhere to receive daily stacks of unwanted e-mail. Finally, we have what I call 'the mysterious opportunity' letter. Why do so many of these junk letters tell of the great opportunity to get rich that the sender is offering me, (if only I send them money first), but then fail to disclose the nature of the once-in-a-lifetime chance for wealth that awaits me? Of course, the answers to these questions are no mystery. When the letters tell me that I have opted in, they mean that the senders have found my e-mail address. The letters must include the removal information by law. And the senders withhold the exact nature of their offer because they want a chance to give me the hard sell, and are also building a list of those who would respond to such offers, which they hope to sell. Well, I'd better get to fractals before I turn today's discussion into a piece of spam itself. The geometric hole in today's image is the same one that we saw in yesterday's "Julibrot Monster" image. The difference is the direction in which the 4-D hole is sliced. Yesterday's image was sliced in the Rectangular direction defined by imag(z)imag(c), while today's image is sliced in the Parabolic direction defined by real(z)real(c). A quick glance at the scene will reveal why I have named this particular orientation 'Parabolic'. I had a bit of trouble finding a name for the image, but finally decided on the not-very-attractive name "Slimed". (Like what happened to the ghost-busters.) The midget does seem to be dragging a mass of slime behind it. The unattractive name and slimy appearance reduces the image's rating from a 6 to a 5. The color palette may appear familiar. It should. It was picked up from yesterday's scene. Like yesterday's image, today's also had to be rotated, stretched and skewed, though not to the same degree. Today's image may be the fastest FOTD image of all time. I have not been keeping render-time records, but I can recall nothing that rendered in less time than today's faster-than-light 18 seconds. But the super-fast render time still requires a minute or two of set-up. Those who wish to avoid the inconvenience of the set-up may download the completed GIF image from one of the following two web sites: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> The fractal weather Saturday here at Fractal Central showed much improvement over the day before. The brilliant sun, gentle winds, and temperature of 55F 13C made the fractal cats happy enough to stay outdoors most of the afternoon, watching me finish some yard work and wishing they could catch a few birds or squirrels. I've still got a bit of yard work to finish, and the best way I know to finish something is to start it. So until next FOTD, take care, and fractals are like eternal songs. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Slimed { ; time=0:00:18.62--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=multirot-XY-ZW-new function=flip/ident passes=b center-mag=-0.00000052521625445/-0.000000\ 00027915521/2207358/0.3575/-18.3972459672/20.02213\ 79791266507 params=90/0.001/2/0/-1.99909595/0/-1.9\ 9909595/0 float=y maxiter=2500 inside=255 logmap=39 colors=000ZToYToXTnWTnVTmUTmTTlSTlRTkQTkPTjOTjNTiM\ SiLRhKQgJPfJOeINdIMcHLbHKaGJ`GI_FHZFGYEFXEEWDEVDCU\ CATF6QFDPAKQ4SP0ZO0dV0l`0rf0sc0s`0uY0uV0vS0vP0xM0x\ J0yG0yD0zA0z70z40z3Cv0Yr0sl0zg0za0zX0zS0zM0zI3zJ4z\ L6zM7zO9zOAzPCzQDzSFyTGxTGsVLoVOjXQfXTaXYYY`TYcPYf\ L_jG_mC`p7`s3`x0az0az0az0Pz0Cz0Az09z07z06z04z13z31\ z41zdCVzL0zJ0yI0rG0jG4cF7XDCPDGICLAAP3AS4IO6OL7VI9\ `DAgACm7Cs4Io7Ol9TiC_fDdcGj`IoYJjVLgSMcPO`MOYJPTGQ\ QDQMASJ7TG4TC1V90X60XJ0OV0GL69Q39X09a090zA6j9IT9VC\ 9z0Or0GzDzzAzz7ux6lu3dp0Xm0Pi0Gu9fr6`o3Vm1Pj0Jg0DJ\ D0P91T43Y16a07aOjcG`d9Sf1IxPmmjLjYIiLFg7CdYJfSIfOG\ fIFfDDf9CGYL0XF7c7Oi0co0su0um0vf0v_3xS7yLDyDIz6Oz0\ SuAVpJXlSYf`_ai`Yradsdlsgssjzvmzzpzzszzouzjjzf`zaQ\ zYGzVPz_Xzcczgjzjdzg_zfTzcOzaIz_CzYJzXPzXVzV`zVgzV\ mzTszTyzTzzYzzazzfzzjzzozzszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzziz\ iIzO0z1czVczMczDzz4zzG000 } frm:multirot-XY-ZW-new {; draws 6 planes and rotations ;when fn1-2=i,f, then p1 0,0=M, 0,90=O, 90,0=E, 90,90=J ;when fn1-2=f,i, then p1 0,0=M, 0,90=R, 90,0=P, 90,90=J a=real(p1)*.01745329251994, b=imag(p1)*.01745329251994, z=sin(b)*fn1(real(pixel))+sin(a)*fn2(imag(pixel))+p3, c=cos(b)*real(pixel)+cos(a)*flip(imag(pixel))+p4: z=z^(p2)+c, |z| <= 36 } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================