FOTD -- October 02, 2002 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Most sequels fall short of the standard set by the original. Today's FOTD fractal image is a sequel to yesterday's "Railyard" image. Whether it equals the worth of that image is up to the viewer to decide, but in my opinion, today's image falls a bit short of yesterday's. I therefore rated it a 6 -- still a bit above average, though not exceptional. I could have named today's image "Son of Railyard" or "Return of the Railyard", or perhaps something more sensational such as "Curse of the Railyard" or "The Railyard Rises Again". But I didn't. I finally decided on the simple descriptive title "Railyard-II" In today's image I subtracted 2Z from Z^2.001 instead of adding it. The parent fractal that results from this change is shifted in position, and now has X-axis symmetry, but it is otherwise little different from the parent of yesterday's image. As in yesterday's image, today's scene is located in the negative-stem area of the parent. I have yet to see a four-dimensional train running along the fractal rails, which twist and curve in 4-D space. As a matter of fact, I have yet to visualize 4-D space. Having firmly established a 3-D world image, I appear to be unable to do so, but despite the seeming impossibility, I never stop trying. And now I hear that perhaps 11 or even more dimensions might exist, all rolled up into tiny supersymmetric strings. (I wonder what they're made of.) It's all very interesting, but what chance do I, a mere human being, have of understanding the world that contains me. (Or is it I who contain the world?) Now that the FOTD is once again an every-day thing, I'll have more opportunity to speculate on the philofractal list about the nature of reality, and perhaps invent some fractal formulae which demonstrate that I am on the right track. About that FOTD CD, it's basically finished, but I want to include on it the FOTD's that will appear during the remainder of this year, so that the disk's contents will end at an obvious break point. The CD will be ready for distribution after the first of next year, and after that I will release a new FOTD CD at the start of every new year. I have not even begun to exhaust my enthusiasm for the FOTD. The parameter file runs in 9 minutes; the completed GIF image downloads in less than one minute. Running the parameter file is more fun; downloading from the web is more convenient. The choice is up to the reader. Those who choose to download will find the image soon available on the web at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> The fractal weather Tuesday here at Fractal Central was congruent to Monday's weather, though I doubt that weather can be congruent. One thing certain is that it was similar. The warm sun and temperature of 84F 29C kept the fractal cats outdoors all afternoon, presumably dreaming pleasant dreams. My dreams will be more pleasant when the day's tasks are finished. But achieving that lofty goal will require work, and it's time to get started. So until tomorrow, take care, and have a fractal day. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Railyard-II { ; time=0:09:41.27--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=1 center-mag=+0.2529598053813786/+0.000614846004721/\ 6.525785e+008/1/180 params=1/2.001/-2/1/0/0 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=0 logmap=203 periodicity=10 colors=00000I00H01F02E03C04B05A0680772567B9BGCFLFJ\ RINWLS`OWfR_kUcpXguZes_cr`bpa`ob_mcYldWjeVjfTigSih\ QhiPhjNhkLglKgmIdnHboF_pDYqCVrATs9Qs7Os6Nr8Op9PnAQ\ lBRkDSjESjFTjGUkHVkJWkKXkLXlMYkNZjP_iQ`iRahSagTbfV\ cfWdeXgdYjcZkcXqdWndVpdUqeTseSseRteQtfPufOufNugMtg\ LtgKsgJshIrhHrhGqiFqiEpiDpiEnhFmgFlfGjeHidHhcIfbIe\ aJd`Kb_KaZL`YL_YNZXOXWPWVRUVSTUTSTUQSWPSXNRYMQZLQX\ LPWKPVKPUJPSJORJOQIOPIOOHOMHNLHNKGNJGNIGNPITVKZ`Ld\ fNilOorQuxRzuQysPypOxnNxlMwiLwgKveJvbIu`IuYHtWGtUF\ sREsPDrNCrKBqIAqGAqHCoHEnHGlHHkIJiILhINfIOeJQcJSbJ\ U`JV_KXYKZXK`VKaULcSLeRLgPLhOQfRUeTYdVaaYe__iYaiYa\ jXajXajWajWajV`jV`jV`jW`jW`jW`jW`jU`jV`jV`jV_jW_jW\ _jW_jX_kZ_k__k`_ka_kb_kcZkdZkdZkdZkdZkeZkfZkfZkgZk\ hZkiZkiYkiYkjYkjYljYljYlkYlkYlkYlkYllXllXllXllWlmV\ lnUloUmpUmqUmrUmsUmtUmuUmvUmwUmxUmyUmzUmzUmzUmzUmz\ UmzUmzUmzUmzUmzUmzUmzUmzU } 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==================================