; Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 11:25:49 -0500 ; From: Jim Muth ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 11-02-03 (The Key [6]) ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20030211112859.0d9f38e0@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; FOTD -- February 11, 2003 (Rating 6) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; The exponent of Z in today's image -- 1.5596104695 -- is a ; slightly more accurate refinement of the exponent that created ; yesterday's lowly image. This number, when raised to the power ; of itself, comes as close to exactly equaling 2 as is possible ; to calculate on my 10-digit pocket calculator. ; ; The difference in the resulting parent fractal is insignificant. ; The improvement in image quality is a result of my better ; fractal luck, plus a bit of skill. Today's scene could just as ; easily have been found in yesterday's parent fractal, if I had ; searched for it in today's area. The numbers create the fractal ; universe; the fractalist must find the goodies in the universe. ; ; I named the image "The Key". I have no idea what the key is ; supposed to unlock. It could be the door to enlightenment, the ; door to wonder, the door to mystery, or my favorite door -- the ; door to reality. Unfortunately, even though I now have the key, ; I have yet to find the door, so the mystery will remain ; unanswered. ; ; The parent of today's image resembles a mis-shapen M-set, with ; its nose pointed southwest. Today's scene is located in the ; 'East Valley' of this M-set, which is located off-center on the ; north-northeast shore of the main bay. The little midget at the ; center, shining golden in its isolation, was discovered entirely ; by luck. I found it by toggling into and out of color-cycling ; mode and searching for points on the screen that blinked. I ; often use this trick when searching for midgets, but in order ; for it to work, the inside must be set to the number zero, which ; in turn must be set to a very dark shade. ; ; In fractals of this exponent range, there are very few clues to ; the location of midgets. Sometimes a convergence of discontinu- ; ities points to the midgets, sometimes not. Sometimes I simply ; get a feeling that a certain feature holds a midget, and some- ; times I am right. ; ; The rating of an above average 6 shows that midgets which exist ; in fractals with exponents of Z in the range between 1 and 2 ; need not be the nearly hopeless jumble of disorganized bits and ; pieces that spoiled yesterday's image. ; ; The render time of 8 minutes is a bit excessive for an image ; which, even though it rates 3 points above the image of the day ; before, is still only slightly above average. The good news is ; that the wait to see the image can be largely eliminated by ; downloading the pre-rendered GIF image from: ; ; ; ; or from: ; ; ; ; As I mentioned in yesterday's discussion, when I became familiar ; with the consequences of relativity, I was forced to give up the ; comfortable and intuitive world image that I, along with most ; everyone else, had developed in the formative years. No longer ; could I consider time and space to be two separate things. I ; now needed to see them as two different ways of seeing the same ; thing -- spacetime. No longer could I assume that the present ; moment of time exists throughout the universe. There could be ; no universal moment of time any more than there could be a uni- ; versal point of space. Distance and time no longer had absolute- ; ly fixed measurements. Mass turned out to be a different form ; of energy, and mass also was no longer fixed. And most impor- ; tantly, at least to me, was the realization that the universe is ; actually four-dimensional. ; ; But when I discovered relativity, the world, as strange and ; counter-intuitive as it had become, was still out there, real ; and almost solid. It seemed counter-intuitive only because in ; our day-to-day lives we experience such an infinitesimally small ; range of its vast extent. ; ; Then I became interested in quantum mechanics, and my philosophi- ; cal problems grew far greater but far more interesting. If all ; goes well, I'll discuss this tomorrow. At this point I will say ; only that anything based on the assumption of the existence of ; an independent, objectively real world is opened to cross-exami- ; nation by the implications of Q.M. ; ; The occasional light snow continued most of the day Monday here ; at F.C. It never amounted to much, but with the temperature at ; freezing, was just enough to keep the dynamic ones confined to ; quarters, wishing for better things. The better things eventual- ; ly appeared in the form of a tuna treat. Today is starting ; sunny but very cold, with deep snow on the ground. It remains ; to be seen how the duo will react. ; ; I see it's past time for me to get busy, so until tomorrow, take ; care, and wonder about what to wonder about. ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE================================ The_Key { ; time=0:08:14.28--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotBC1 function=floor passes=1 center-mag=-0.47182282050367800/+0.633258130587982\ 10/3329459/1/-67.4999999978284535/-7.9310562145495\ 922e-009 params=1.5596104695/0/-80/0 float=y maxiter=3600 inside=0 logmap=197 periodicity=10 colors=000maIkaJhaKfaLcaM`bNYbOWbPTbQQbRNbSKbTBWWD\ QYFK_IEaK8cM2eP5bS7_VAYYCV_FTbHQeKOhMLjPJmRGpUEsWB\ uY9rWAoUBlSCiQDfOEcMF`KGYIHVGISEJPCKMALJ8MG6ND4OA2\ OE1QH1RK1SN1UQ1VT1WW1YZ1Za1_d1ag1bj1ch2af3_d3Yb4X`\ 4VZ5TX5SV6QT6OS7NQ7LO8JM8IK9GI9EGADEABCB9BB8EFCGIF\ JLILOLORPQUSTXVV_YYca_fdbigdljgonirqlutnxwftx_pyTm\ yMizFfzCeqAdh8c_6bR4aI2`A1dN1hZ1lj1pv4ms7kqAioDgmG\ ekIbiL`gOZeRXcUVaWT_VUZUU_TU`SVaRVbQVcPWdOWeNWfNXg\ MWfLVeKWdJVcIVbHVaGV`FV_FVZGWYGWXGWWGWVGWUGVTGUSGU\ RHUQHUPHUOHUNHUMHUMHUMHUMHUMIUOIUPIUQJSRJRSJQTKPVK\ PWKOXLKYLIZLI_MJaMKbMLcNMdNNeNOfLPgKQhIRiHSjFTkEUl\ CVmBWnAXn9Ym9Zl8_l8`k7aj7bj6ci6ei5gh5ig4kg4mf4ofCq\ bJs_RtXYuTevQlwNjxLhyKfzJdzIczGazF_zE_zDbzCezAhz9k\ z8nz7qz6tz4wz3zz2zz1zz0zz1zz1zz2zz2zz3zz3zz4zz4zz4\ zz5zz5zz6zz6zz7zz7zz7zz9zzBzzCzzEzzGzzHzzJzzLzzMzz\ OzzQzzRzzTzzDzzEzzFzzGzzH } frm:MandelbrotBC1 { ; by several Fractint users e=p1, a=imag(p2)+100 p=real(p2)+PI q=2*PI*fn1(p/(2*PI)) r=real(p2)-q Z=C=Pixel: Z=log(Z) IF(imag(Z)>r) Z=Z+flip(2*PI) ENDIF Z=exp(e*(Z+flip(q)))+C |Z|