FOTD -- November 27, 2003 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's image shows a scene on the shore of the southern lobe of the main bay, rather deep in East Valley, in a chaotic area where the elements become pinched off. The pinched-off elements are obvious, but the area is actually quite a bit more chaotic than the image would suggest. Most of the detail beyond the foreground elements is due to the coloring, and will rapidly disappear if the colors are changed. In the picture, I have departed from my usual inside=solid-black routine, and given the inside of the midget an electric blue coloring, which suggests, at least to me, a window into an alternate reality beyond the one visible to the senses. To increase the impact of the brilliant interior, I have faded the colors to near black as they approach the midget. Despite the rather ordinary effect of the image, I have given it a rating of a 7, which equals above average. I put more effort into the coloring than meets the eye and decided to reward myself with a rating one point higher than what I would ordina- rily give. Due to its high iteration count, the image is a slow one, requiring over 1/2 hour to complete on my machine. But the time can be saved by downloading the completed GIF image from one of the FOTD web sites, which can be found at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> The topic of identical Mandelbrot midgets has been raised on the list recently, and has been pretty well answered. I sometimes wonder about the philosophical aspects of this topic however. Except for their mirror image on the opposite side of the real axis, no two midgets are exactly identical. But with many midgets the difference is infinitesimal, and cannot be discerned by any means available to us. Can such midgets then be consi- dered identical? I guess it all depends on the meaning of the word 'identical'. In the Mandelbrot set, the shape of the midgets remains within the range where they are recognizable. The same is not true in fractals created by more exotic formulae, where midgets can be distorted totally beyond recognition. Finding extremely dis- torted midgets in exotic fractals might make an interesting fractal project for a future series of FOTD's. Now on to more important things. Another average day's weather here at Fractal Central brought the fractal cats an average afternoon in the yard. The partly cloudy skies, temperature of 55F 13C, and light southeast winds were so average that those with no great interest in the weather have little memory of the conditions. Today is supposed to bring rain, but it is starting sunny. We'll see how things go as the day progresses. Things will likely go pretty well for me. The work is caught up and somehow I managed to avoid having to go to any Thanksgiving dinners. If my good luck holds out later today, I'll find one of the infinity of great fractals that still lurk undiscovered in the Mandelbrot set. If not, I'll return in 24 hours with another acceptable scene. Until then, take care, and be aware. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Mandelbrot-15 { ; time=0:31:44.87--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=mandel passes=1 center-mag=+0.25620301284127930/-0.000987866605141\ 90/3.070075e+011/1/-42.4940527126489584/-0.0001586\ 27323509942519 params=0/0 float=y maxiter=320000 bailout=9 inside=255 logmap=16000 periodicity=10 colors=000tbktbksajr`ir_iqZhqZhpYgoXgoWfnWfnVemUel\ TdlSdkSckRcjQbiPbiPahOahN`gM_fL_fLZeKZeJYdIYcIXcHX\ bGWbFWaEV`EV`DU_CU_BTZBTYASY9SX8RX8RW8SV8TU8UT8VS8\ WR8XQ8YP8ZO8_N8_M8`L8aK8bK8cJ8dI8eH8fG8gF8gE8hD8iC\ 8jB8kA8l98m88n78o78o99nBAnCBnECnGDmHEmJFmKGmMHlOIl\ PJlRKlSKlULkWMkXNkZOk`PjaQjcRjdSjfTihUiiVikWilWikV\ gkUejTcjTajS_iRYiRWiQVhPThPRhOPgNNgNLfMJfLIfLGeKEe\ JCeJAdI8dH6dH5eJ5eK5fM5fN5fO5gQ5gR5gS5hU5hV5iX5iY5\ iZ5j`5ja5jb5kd5ke5lg5lh5li5mk5ml5mm5no5np5or5os5ot\ 5pv5pw5px5nw6lv6ku6it6gs6fr7dq7cp7ao7_n7Zm8Xl8Wk8U\ j8Si8Rh9Pg9Nf9Me9Ke9JeFHeKFePEeUCdPBbK9`F7ZB6XB4VB\ 4WA3VB3VB3UB3UC3TC3TC3TD3SD3SD3RE3RE3RE2QF2QF2PF2P\ G2PG2OG2OH2NH2NH2NI2MI2MI1LJ1LJ1KJ1KK1KK1JK1JL1IL1\ IL1IM1HM1HM0GN0GN0GN0FO0FO0EO0EP0EP0DP0DQ0CQ0CQ0CQ\ 8BNFALJ8AKAJKAAKBAKCAKCAKDAKDAKEAKFAKFAKGAKGAKHAKI\ AKJAKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAhzz } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================