FOTD -- February 14, 2004 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: After saying that there would be no FOTD for February 13, I went ahead and posted one anyway. If this created a minor bit of confusion, those who were confused have my apologies. This morning I found a note from Paul, suggesting that I post my FOTD's the night before the day on which they are due. This is a good idea. I will resume doing this in the near future. I shifted to morning posting because I am always more alert and energetic in the mornings, and can write better. I will adjust my schedule to write the FOTD's a full day in advance, on the morning of the day before, and post them the evening before. The "Unwatched Watchtower" FOTD of two days ago showed a distorted version of a fine midget in the Mandelbrot set. In a letter with quirky spelling that was posted to the Fractint list on Friday, SherLok Merfy commented that the image was a mixture of Mandelbrot and Julia features. In a way, this is what the image of two days ago is. Today's image consists of the same mixture. It is not a Mandelbrot image; it is not a Julia image. It is not actually a distortion of either of these. It is a legitimate aspect of the Julibrot in its own right. By returning to the default magnitude, keeping the (p1) and (p2) parameters unchanged and changing only the (p3) and (p4) parameters, the entire fractal world glimpsed in today's image can be fixed and thoroughly examined, a world as varied as the Julia and Mandelbrot worlds themselves. But as today's image shows, this new world is not all beauty. Like the 'real' world, it holds scenes that are not pretty. Also like the real world, these not-very-attractive scenes hold a strange fascination, and with a bit of effort can be turned into works of art -- kind of like turning a sow's ear into a silk purse. Today's image demonstrates a bit of this artistic regeneration. The regeneration was not great, but it was enough to raise a total loser to a rating of a 5, which is average. There is actually a fine Mandelbrot midget or Julia set lying at the center of the basin in the image. All that is needed to see one of these aspects is to rotate the point of view to the proper direction. I named today's image "Unwhisked Whiskbroom" because it is a distortion of an area similar to the one that appeared in yesterday's image. The render time of 5-1/4 minutes combined with the rating of 5 produces an overall value of 96. The image can be seen and perhaps enjoyed by running the parameter file or by downloading it from Paul's web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> Friday started very busy here at Fractal Central, but the rush was cleared away far sooner than expected. This made the fractal cats quite happy. (They get jealous when I give the computer more attention than I give them.) The weather was pleasant, with sun and a temperature of 45F 7C. This made them even happier. When they ended the day with their faces in their food dishes, eating a treat of salmon, no less, their happiness was complete. Today is starting cloudy but mild. Anything could happen both in the 'real' world and in the fractal world. Check back in 24 hours to see what the 'anything' turns out to be. Until then, take care, and if you don't find a fractal lying on the side- walk the next time you go out walking, look for a meme. They are almost as rare. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ UnwhiskdWhiskbroom { ; time=0:05:14.61--SF5 on a P200 reset=2003 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=multirot-XZ-YW-new passes=1 center-mag=+0.00000000041173934/-0.000000000085871\ 50/2.510428e+010/0.01217/11.9165416490383649/85.78\ 47425758229463 params=90.663/54.828/2/0/0.35142405\ 17840664/0.06386667204878391/0.3514240517840664/0.\ 06386667204878391 float=y maxiter=5000 inside=0 logmap=641 periodicity=10 colors=000FH0GIKHJQIKTJLWKMZLNaMOcNPeOQgQRiSSkUTmW\ UoXVmZUm`SmbQmdOleMlgKiiIhkGfmEenCdmEalGZkHXjJViLT\ iMRhOPgPNfRLeTJeUHdWFcYDbZBa`9aa8Z`AW_CUZDRYFOXGMW\ IJVJGULEUMF`HFfDFm8Fs4Eo3Ek3Dh3Dd2Ca2CY2CV2BR1BN1A\ K1AG09D0990960C84EA8GCCIEGKFKMHOOJRQLVSMZUObWQfYSj\ _Tm`VkaXibZgb`ecacdcbee`egZfhXgjVglThnSipQjqOjsMku\ KlwIlxHjxGhxGfxFdwEbwD`wDZwCXwBVwATwARw9Pw8Nw7Lw7K\ v8Kv8Ku8Ju9Ju9Jt9ItAItALO3LO3LO3LO4LO4LO4LO4NQ8PRC\ QTGSUKTWOVXSWZVY_Z_ab`bfbdjcenegrfhucisairZjpXjoUk\ mSklPljNliKmgImfFndDncAoa8o`Dl_Hj_Lg_Qe_Ub_Y`_aZ_f\ W_jU_nR_sP_wM_zK_zI_zLayObwRctTdrWeoZfmagjchgfjeik\ bll`nmYqnWtoTwpRyqSvrStrSrrTorTmrTkrUirUfrUdrVbrV`\ rVYrWWrWUrWSrURqTRqSRqQQqPQqOQqNPqLPqKPqJOpIOpGOpF\ NpENpDNpBMpAMp9Mp8Mp9Om9Pk9Qi9Rg9Se9TcAUaAV_AWYAXW\ AZTA_RA`PBaNBbLBcJBdHBeFBfDBgBEhAHiAKjANjAQkASlAVl\ AYmA`n9cn9eo9hp9TF6RD4PA3 } frm:multirot-XZ-YW-new {; Jim Muth ; 0,0=para, 90,0=obl, 0,90=elip, 90,90=rect e=exp(flip(real(p1*.01745329251994))), f=exp(flip(imag(p1*.01745329251994))), z=f*real(pixel)+p3, c=e*imag(pixel)+p4: z=z^(p2)+c, |z| <= 36 } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================