FOTD -- May 10, 2008 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Once again, the philosophy, or whatever it is, leads off the discussion. To reach the fractal stuff, skip ahead seven para- graphs. I recently watched a 'skeptical' (read Atheist) show supposedly devoted to debunking paranormal claims. Not surprisingly, after demonstrating that Madam Zucchini, the local psychic, could not predict the future, the topic soon wandered to the so-called 'delusion' of spiritual life after death. During the entire show, the announcer repeatedly stated that extraordinary claims, such as the existence of spirits of the dead, demand extraordinary evidence. So far, so good, but the point of the program was to show the viewers that ghosts are nothing more than images created in the brain and mistaken for reality, or else outright fabrications. But with legends of ghosts, etc. existing in every culture on earth, and with many of those who see ghosts aware of the possi- bility of mistaking a hallucination for reality, the claim that absolutely everyone who claims to see a ghost is either mistaken or inventing the story is in itself quite extraordinary. Accor- ding to the 'skeptics' own words, this claim also must demand extraordinary evidence. But such evidence cannot be found. The high (or low) point of the show came at the end, when the announcer said that, since it is impossible to prove a negative, there can be no scientific evidence that ghosts do not exist. And since there is so much admittedly non-scientific and anecdotal evidence that ghosts do exist, this totally negated the entire message of the show. The only thing the show convinced me of is that skeptics and Atheists are out to convert others to their belief system. IMO, this makes Atheism as much a religion as any other religion on earth. And now on to the fractal stuff. In today's image I see a picture of an erupting volcano as viewed from a few thousand feet directly above the crater, complete with billowing clouds of ash, zig-zagging lightning, and oozing lava. The name 'Volcano" is quite appropriate, since a volcano is currently erupting in Chile. The formula behind all the volcanic action adds straight Z to Z^(2.1) to create a parent fractal that is quite hard to describe. Perhaps the best description would be a disembodied Mandelbrot main bay with two lopsided sausages where the single large bud should be. A large field of scattered zig-zagging debris lies off to the west of the two sausages, with today's image located very deep in one of these zig-zags. It lies so deep in fact that the resolution is starting to break down. Luckily, this is hardly noticeable, but I did include the mathtolerance entry to assure that the parameter file calculates at the correct magnitude. The rating of a 7 is arbitrary, but the calculation time of 42 seconds is as fast as a photon. As always, the finished image is posted on the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> An all day rain and temperature of 54F 12C made Friday less than ideal here at Fractal Central. The fractal cats took one look at the water running down the sidewalk and returned to attack their catnip rats. My day was average. With any luck at all tomorrow will be the same. Look for the next FOTD in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and if I had not seen a ghost, I would never believe that they exist. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Volcano { ; time=0:00:42.24-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=ident center-mag=-1.68679550605384600/-0.833917252303289\ 20/2.434378e+013/1 params=1/2.1/1/1/0/0/0/0 float=y maxiter=390 inside=0 logmap=132 periodicity=10 mathtolerance=0.05/1 colors=000670880A90CA0EB1GC2ID3LE3PG3UJ4YL4aO4eR4j\ T5pW5uX5zd5zf6zj6zo6zr6zo5zm5zi5zg5we5tc5ra5p`5nY5\ lX5jU5hT5fR5dQ5cWBbaGagL`mQ_sV_y_YtXXoUVkRUfOSaLRY\ JUzBbmVk`mmaloakqbjrbitcivchwcgydfzdezeezedzfczfbz\ fbqkM`p6LBxPDuTEsXFq`GodHmhIklJipKgtLexMczNazO_zPY\ zNVzLTzJRvHPsFNpDLmBJi9Hf7Fc5D`3Bc8FfCJhHMkLQmQUpU\ XsZ`ubdxggzkkzpoztrzqmzoizlezjazgXzeTzbPz`LzZHzXOz\ VUzT`zRfyPlvNksLjpKimIhjHggFgdDfaCeZAdW9cT7bQ6bSAW\ UEOP`URXRSUPTRNUOLVLJzdgy`ctY_oVWjRSeOO`LKZiFYbGOc\ qM`oKYnIVlGSjEPiQUpaYwlfrvompkckhUfdKaaAaLRa4fc7je\ 9mfBphDsjFvkHyXpoUqpSrpPspNspLtpIupGvpEvpRwgbwZnwR\ trbzmnzhztgtjfn_ehQdbGcYR`R`YKkVEuS7zP1zylzcnzJolN\ mYRl_TdaUXcWPdXHbUH`RHZOHYDJXLH_Y8ZVAYSBYQDXNEWKGI\ 0cK3_M6XO8UQBQSDNUGKOc0Q_3RX5SU8TRAUODVLFz4Ow6Ns8M\ oALkBKgDJcFI_HHuqRh_MZiqXWZL77OAARDCUGFhPMeNLcMKaL\ J_KIYJHOMzPLtQLnRKhNLJMJG } frm:MandAutoCritInZ {; 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 PARAMETER FILE=========================================