; Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 09:54:31 -0400 ; From: Jim Muth ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 10-08-03 (A Fractal in Nirvana [7]) ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20030810095447.0d2f79f2@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- August 10, 2003 (Rating 7) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; Years ago there was a small deli restaurant in the Fractal ; Central neighborhood, run by a Korean immigrant. The merchant ; has long since moved away, but I still remember the conversa- ; tions he and I used to have on slow days. ; ; He was a Buddhist who was eager to talk about religion, particu- ; larly his idea of Buddhism. He often told me that the goal of ; Buddhists is to escape the constant reincarnations on earth and ; enter Nirvana. He expressed amusement at the simplicity of our ; two main western beliefs -- that we go to heaven when we die, to ; be perfectly happy for all eternity, or that we simply cease to ; exist, eliminating the need to concern ourselves with the topic. ; ; When I asked him to describe the Nirvana that Buddhists believe ; in, he told me that it is hard to put into words, but that ; Nirvana is like a mixture of heaven and non-existence. We cease ; to exist when we enter Nirvana, which is the ultimate peace, yet ; somehow we can enjoy the ultimate peace of not existing. When I ; asked him what it is that does the enjoying, he simply shrugged ; and said that one must enter Nirvana before they can understand ; it. Nirvana is an oxymoron. ; ; Today's image is also an oxymoron. It consists of as much ; inside material as outside material, yet it is impossible to ; tell one from the other. I named it "A Fractal in Nirvana" when ; the etheric blues reminded me of the conversations about ; transcendental things that I once had at that small restaurant. ; ; The parent fractal is the same as the parent of yesterday's ; 'Wonderland' image, though instead of going to 'East valley' to ; explore, I went to one of the numerous tiny valleys on the west ; shore of the main bay. The 'inside' parts of the image have ; been made visible by the 'bof60' inside fill. This fill ; normally creates mostly bubbles, though the bubbles are not very ; apparent in today's image. ; ; The image is notably better that yesterday's hasty achievement, ; and IMO rates an honest 7. And the 9-minute render time allows ; ample time to ponder the mysteries of the beyond. ; ; Those more concerned with the here and the now may bypass the ; pondering by downloading the completed GIF image from Paul's web ; site at: ; ; ; ; or from Scott's site at: ; ; ; ; The rain on Saturday amounted to only a few sprinkles here at ; Fractal Central, but even that was enough to wet the grass and ; dampen the spirits of the dynamic duo. Due to the high humid- ; ity, the temperature of 80F 27C felt more like 90F 32C. I have ; little hope for improvement, because today promises to be more ; of the same. ; ; For the cats, the day will be questionable. For me it's going ; to be a lazy day -- that is if I can get through it without ; finding any work that needs to be done. Until next FOTD, take ; care, and walk in the peace of eternal fractal oneness. ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE================================ Fractal_In_Nirvana { ; time=0:09:09.69--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=1 center-mag=+1.55913935558906900/+0.103410051541293\ 70/709229.8/1/-170/-1.28612687166906881e-009 params=2/3/-2/0.05/0/0 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=bof60 periodicity=10 colors=000cCA_DAVFAQGBMHBHJBCKB8LBCNFFQIJUMMXPQXST\ _WWaZ_cabfe020ijkMrQOqUPoYRnaSmeUkiWjmXhqZgu_fxXXm\ VObSESQ5IR9KSDMTHNTLPUPRVTSVWUW_WXcXYgZYk`Zoa_sc_v\ dWscSpbPnbLkaHh`Ef`Ac_7a_8Z`8Xa8Ua8Sb8Pc8Nc8Kd8Ie8\ Fe8Df8Ag88gGLZNYRVjIavA621954C76FA8ICALECOHFRJHUMJ\ XOL_QNbTQeVShYUk_WmaYk_WjYUhWSgUQeSOdRMbPKaNJ`LHZJ\ AYIFWGKVEPTCUSAZR9cUFhXKmZPraUwd_wfdwiiwknweoz`jwW\ frQcmL_hG`cJafMchK`iJZjIXkHVlGTmFRmDOnCMoBKpAIq9Gr\ 8ErGLjOSbWZVceNklFzr7wq6tp6po6mn5im5el5bk4_k4Xj4Ti\ 3Oh3Ig3Ff2Ce29e2Dc5Gb8JaBM`EP_HTZKWYNZXQaVTdUWhTZk\ SanRdqQgtPjwOmpJbjESc9HY57Z6AZ7DZ8FZ9IZALZBNZCQZDS\ ZEVZFYZG_ZHbZHdUF`PDXKBUF9QA7M56J49N4CQ4FT4IW4LZ4O\ a4Rd4Tg8UeBVdFVcIWbMWaPX`TY_WYZ_ZYbZXf_Wi`Vm`UpaTs\ aSpYPnUMlRJiNHgKEeGBbC9`96Z53X21P95IF8BMB4SE9QCDPB\ IOAMN9QM8VL7ZK6cJ5gI4kH3pG2tF1xE0vI4tL7sOBqREoVHnY\ Ll`OkcRttimoegja`eZV`VKtM } frm:MandelbrotMix4 {; 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, 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================================== ;