FOTD -- August 26, 2006 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I see in the news that the planet Pluto has been demoted to the ignominious status of a dwarf. This means that what I learned in school is no longer valid. There are no longer nine planets in the solar system, but only eight. I should not be too upset about learning the wrong thing however. I also recall being taught that Piltdown Man was the missing link, and the solar system is a unique thing which formed when the gravity of a passing star pulled blobs of material from the body of the sun. I'm not sure what the astrologers, who need Pluto to make their charts work, will do now that they have lost one of their planets. Maybe I'll check the internet to see what they make of it. My own view is that we might have lost a planet, but we have gained the world of fractals. Today's image would have remained forever undiscovered if I had not calculated the fractal that results when Z^(1.1) is subtrac- ted from Z^(-1.1) and (C) is added. The odds of this particular scene ever seeing the light of day are infinitesimal, yet here it is -- today's FOTD. How could such an unlikely thing possibly have come to pass? The answer of course is that there are an infinity of almost- impossible things that can happen in the world of fractals. And unless I am mistaken, which I often am, infinity multiplied by an infinitesimal equals unity. Today's image rates a 7, and it is worth it. The scene was rendered in the traditional manner, with outside=iter and inside=0. The unusually decorative effect is a natural part of the scene, not a result of program trickery. I named the image "Total Reality" because it is totally real. The render time of the included parameter file is just over 4 minutes, but the wait may be avoided by going to the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and downloading the completed GIF image from there. The temperature on Friday reached only 82F 28C, but the day was a bit too humid for perfection. The fractal cats didn't mind however. Their big excitement came when Nico leaped onto the table and knocked over a lamp. We forgave him. After all, it's a cat's duty to get into trouble. The day ended peacefully with tuna and cheese in the cats' food dishes. My day was reasonably relaxing. The work was finished before noon, leaving me with nothing to do in the afternoon but search for fractals. With only a few exceptions, nothing in the world is more interesting than searching for fractals. The next FOTD will appear in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and for your answers, look beneath the surface. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Total_Reality { ; time=0:04:11.42--SF5 on a P200 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=1 center-mag=-1.72855285500812400/-1.644842873009020\ 00/1039023/1/152.5/-1.05321999605001437e-006 params=1/-1.1/-1/1.1/0/0 float=y maxiter=750 inside=0 logmap=73 periodicity=10 colors=00058d35R12DM4BA27513lVM_NGOFBC75fa1yA6V53h\ OKMCAOX`GMOe`CAVBmcW29GMmUBMF8w`wQmzjAi0fY0AH05X7f\ O5WG3L81AGrpCdb8RQYTSKe`7riBkkFelJZmMTn_oaRbSIQJ9D\ 9vHgbBTJ5EvGvbAbJ5Jn5VP2FsfS`SIIE9ju0Va0FJ0uIyhJh5\ wR2UDuXopBvsdNeUHSKBEA5DDc0ekq93_62I31qh0cX0RM0DB0\ XNCMF8B74zZXVHGJs7Ee59S34E1YxdHUKQ0FDSf8IS49EaxF81\ cElb9WQ4GDA1_50I0Cm08X04GxAZh7QU5HF28CkuUhEKU9AF4c\ 2GLc3EQ27D1EsFAeB7S73E3d79K34Dw7VzjFVNsEB3PH4kj3_Z\ 2ON1CBPY5IP3CH2681BS`l`n_RaOIPC9Ct2De19S16E03deGKL\ 8U9WP06gWFOE0PF3GA28511eY0LHdO3RG2D816v_4bO2JCcMFU\ GBKB7A532_P1RI1IC096xjEhZAUN7FB3ZiUHUFrUu_UaIUJ3Ui\ 1UNkw_OTIdUXUUOKUGAU8ccbUUTKUJAU9jbFNU7xt2ca1KU0Ia\ ZDUQ9UH4U8DrQ8_H4U8gUBTU7EU38WZ6YQ4_H2a8HcPBeG5h8T\ koOn9Cq4RtwIwc9zK9zh6zX4zM2zBzzdzzUzzKzzAzz4zzjzzr\ zzRzzuzzzzz7zz5zz3zz1zzozzdzzUzzKzzAzz0zz0zz0zzjzz\ VzzFzz0zz0Ez07z0izrNzRnz6 } 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 PARAMETER FILE=========================================