FOTD -- August 29, 2003 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I have on my book shelf a 115 year-old text book on the princi- ples of physics, which I found in my father's house a few weeks after he died. I'm not sure how he came upon the book. Most likely, he got it from his father. But it is one of my favorite books to open and browse when I find a few minutes with nothing else to do. The book is fun to read for several reasons. To start, it is interesting to see the accepted beliefs of the 1880's as they were actually taught at the time, and not as they are described by present day writers. Five forms of matter are described -- solid, liquid, gaseous, ultragaseous, (now called plasma), and Etheric. The Luminiferous Ether was still assumed to be the transmission medium of light, but its existence was not naively accepted without question. On almost every page of the chapter on 'Ether waves' a new puzzle is mentioned. Experiments are pointed out that contradict both other experiments and observa- tion. The problem of the nature of the Ether was considered, as the book states, 'the most recondite in physics'. But perhaps what draws me most strongly to the book is the sense of wonder it imparts to simple experiments that today are taken for granted even in high-school physics labs. The 19th century was an age of enthusiasm and discovery. This sense of wonder reminds me of the sense of wonder that surrounded the discovery of fractals, and then all too soon vanished as people grew bored with pretty pictures and turned to more practical things. Today's not-too-practical image is another scene in the Z^3+C Mandeloid. It pictures a cubical midget very close to the north- west shore of the north bay of its parent, in an area where the tendrils have become quite jagged. This is an area where Siegel Disks are found in the corresponding Julia sets, though I doubt that I would know a Siegel Disk if I saw one. After a few minutes thought, I named the image "Mission Cubical". Since there is nothing really out of the ordinary about the image, I could rate it at only a perfectly average 5. The render time of 6 minutes is not too slow, but a more convenient way of viewing the image is to download it from: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> or from: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> Thursday was as pleasant a day as might be expected in this part of the world at this time of year. The mostly sunny skies, temperature of 88F 31C and moderate humidity allowed the cats to have a satisfying romp in the yard. And while they were romping, I finished the graphic work without incident. If only all days could be as uneventful . . . But today is starting cloudy with rain forecast, meaning it is unlikely that the day will be as pleasant as yesterday. We won't know for sure until the day has ended however. To see exactly how things work out, check back here in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and be fractally correct in everything you do. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Mission_Cubical { ; time=0:06:33.31--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=slices.frm formulaname=MandelbrotCube passes=1 center-mag=-0.29534585848656850/+0.690623707339427\ 90/4.225576e+007 params=0/0/0/0 float=y maxiter=5000 inside=0 logmap=400 periodicity=10 colors=0000qw5ow9nwDmwHkwLjwPiwUgwYfwaewecwibwmawk\ `uj`ti_sh_rg_qfZpeZodYncYmbYlaXj`Xi_WhZWgYWfXVeWVd\ VVcUUbTUaST_RTZQTYPSXOSWNRVMRULRTKQSJQRKSRIQQGOQFM\ QDKPBIPAGP8EP6CO5AO38O27O38M39L39J4AI4BG4BF4CD5DC5\ DA5E95F76F66G46H33E16H29J3CM3FO4HQ5KT5NV6QX7T_7Va8\ Yc9`f9chAfjBhmBkoCnqDqtDtvEwxFvxEuxEuxEtxEtxDsxDrx\ DrxDqxDqxCpxCoxCoxCnxBnxBmxBlxBlxBkxAkxAjxAixAix9h\ x9hx9gx9fx9fx8ex8ex8dx8ez5dx8cwAbvCauE`sG`rI_qLZpN\ YnPXmRWlTVmTWkVXiWXgXYfYYdZZb__a`__a`Yb`XcaVdaTebS\ fcQgcOhdMidLjeJkeHlfGmgEngCohBph9qi7rk4ti6sh8sfAre\ BrcDrbFq`Gq_IqYKpXLpWNpUPoTRoRSoQUnOWnNXnLZmK`mI`l\ JamJbmJcmJdmJenJfnJgnJgnJhnJioJjoJkoJloJmoJmpJnpJo\ pJppJqpJrqJsqJsqJtqJuqJvrJwrJxrJyrJyrLxpMxoNxnOxmQ\ xlRxkSxjTxiVxhWxgXxfYxe_xd`xcaxbbxadx`ex_fxZgxYixX\ jxWkxVlxUlzRmxTmwUmvVmuWmtYmsZmr_mq`npbnocnndnmenl\ gnkhnjinijohlogmofnofnofn } frm:MandelbrotCube {; Jim Muth real(c),imag(c) z=p1, c=pixel+p2: z=z*(sqr(z))+c, |z| <= 16 } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================