FOTD -- May 11, 2003 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's fractal appears undecided. It cannot make up its mind which way it wants to go, and as a result, its rating suffers. The scene is filled with fragments of themes, any one of which could be developed into a satisfying overall theme, but none of which actually are. It's no wonder that I named the image "An Undecided Fractal". This indecision is caused by the location of the scene in its parent -- exactly on the left edge of the 'fan', where it merges into the chaos surrounding a small irregular hole. At this particular point, all the forces are balanced. The situation is unstable, poised at the brink, but there is no trigger to flip the scene into a definite theme. As a result of all this indecision, I could rate the overall result no higher than a 5. The render time of 14 minutes is a bit slow for an image that tries hard but doesn't seem to know in which direction to go. And that 14-minute wait can be cut drastically by downloading the completed GIF image from either of the two FOTD web sites at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> It rained and thundered in the morning of Saturday here at F.C. The rain was not too heavy, but the high humidity and light winds that followed left the grass soaked for the rest of the day, a situation that always keeps the cats' moods less than optimum. The temperature reached 72F 22C -- comfortable enough -- were it not for the wet grass. How long it seems since the dynamic duo were actually doing things other than being in moods -- such as climbing trees and catching birds. But this is what happens to cats when they reach the age of 12 years. Well, today is starting with more wet grass, and possible tornadoes are forecast for this afternoon. So it's time to say 'see you next time', and batten down the fractal hatches. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ AnUndecidedFractal { ; time=0:14:53.64--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix2 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+3.68764793983902500/+2.385906045025763\ 00/520464.8/1/-147.5/1.08806127205318681e-007 params=-10/-1.1/-1/-11/0/525/0/0 float=y maxiter=1600 inside=0 logmap=235 periodicity=10 colors=0007cF6dD6dC5dA5d94d74d66c87cA8cBAcDBbFCbGD\ bIFbKGaLHaNIaPKaQLaSM`UO`VP`XQ`ZR__T_aU_cV_dWZfYZh\ ZZi_Zk`Zl__jZ`iZahYbgXbeXcdWdcWebVfaUf_UgZThYTiXSi\ VRjURkTQlSQlRPlPOmOOnNNoMLpJNqLOrNPqPRpRUnTZlYcjYb\ hYahY`gY_fY_eYZdYYcYXcYWbYVaYU`YT_YSZYTYZSZYRZXQZW\ PZVO_UN_TM_SL_RK`QJ`PI`OH`NGaMFaMEaLDaKCbJBbIAbH9b\ G8cF7cE6cD5cC4dB3dA2d90f82d94b95`AZZA8YAcZBBUBWVBE\ QCGPCINCJLDLJDMHDOGEPEERCESAFU8FU5CV7FW9HXAJYCLZDN\ _FP`GRaITbJVcLXdMZeO`fQbgRdhTfiUhjWjkXllZom_rnauob\ zobxnYslTokOjjJfhEag9Ye2Vf5Ug7Th9ThCSiESjGRjIRkLQl\ NQlPPmRPnUOnWNoYNp`MpbMqdLrfLriKskKtmJsnHtoJviLwcM\ yYOzSPyTRyUTyVUxWWxXXxYZxZ_w_aw_bw`dvafvcgvfivijul\ luomuqouopsmlqkipifngblf_kfXifUgfQffNdfKbfMafO_fQY\ fSYgUXfWWfYVe_UeaTecTdeSdgRciQczPczPbzObzNbzMazLaz\ L`zK`yJ`wI_uH_sH_qG`oG`mF`kF`zE`zEazDazDazCazCazBb\ zBbzAbzAbz9bz9cz8cz8cz7cz } frm:MandelbrotMix2 {; 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 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================