; Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2003 11:06:20 -0400 ; From: Jim Muth ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 01-09-03 (Fractal Honeycomb [6]) ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20030901110646.0cdfa310@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- September 01, 2003 (Rating 6) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; I am sometimes accused of being irrational and against science. ; Well, some of my world views are irrational, but I am certainly ; not against science. I am rather disappointed with science, and ; particularly with technology, however -- not with the scientific ; way of doing things but with the way science and technology have ; been applied. ; ; Thirty-four years ago, when I was still a young man, we landed ; the first men on the moon -- probably the greatest human ; achievement that will happen in my entire lifetime. And we did ; it with 40-year-old technology. The future looked bright back ; then. I fully expected to see colonies soon established on the ; moon, Mars, and perhaps some of the large moons of the outer ; planets. But something went wrong. Instead of pressing onward, ; we slipped backward into the space shuttle program. Instead of ; exploring the solar system, we would continue orbiting earth in ; circles that go nowhere. ; ; When it was proposed, the shuttle program was supposed to bring ; unlimited benefits to mankind. Other than the Hubble telescope, ; which has brought some spectacular pictures, but probably could ; have been equalled by a properly designed ground-based system if ; the effort had been made, I can see little if any benefit to ; humanity that has come from over 20 years of circling the earth ; in these oversized space craft. And I have yet to hear of any ; real benefits that will come from the over-priced space station ; the shuttles are building and supplying. ; ; When deep space was within our grasp, we turned our backs on it, ; and turned instead to a glittery vehicle that makes a lot of ; noise and a lot of news but does nothing of importance that I ; can see. Most of the useful artificial satellites in orbit were ; launched by inexpensive expendable rockets, which never make the ; news unless one happens to fail. ; ; The question remains: why did we forget the solar system and ; devote our energies to orbiting the earth? Are we afraid? Was ; the reason financial? Did a single person make the decision? ; Are we being controlled by a vast conspiracy of the huge multi- ; national corporations? One of the least likely explanations I ; have seen is that, because we cannot restrain our tendencies to ; violence, we were ordered to stop venturing beyond the immediate ; vicinity of earth by the Galactic Federation, an alliance of the ; various advanced civilizations that inhabit our galaxy. It ; sounds laughable, but hey, it's as logical as any other reason I ; have heard. ; ; Well, it now looks as though I should think of freezing my body ; or start hoping for reincarnation if I plan on seeing mankind ; explore even the solar system, much less the galaxy. Yes, some- ; times I do get a bit testy with the way we are wasting our ; resources on this planet. But I can hardly be blamed. ; ; Today's fractal, direct from the deepest, most abstract space in ; existence, vaguely reminds be of a honeycomb. And so I named it ; "Fractal Honeycomb". It is a scene in the fractal that results ; when 0.2 parts of Z^3 are added to Z^2. The terraced amber ; parts of the image are inside stuff rendered by the 'fmod' ; inside option. ; ; The rating of a slightly above average 6 seems appropriate; the ; render time of 21 minutes seems slow. Relief may be found at ; the FOTD web sites, where the completed GIF image is posted. ; Those sites are at: ; ; ; ; and at: ; ; ; ; As I expected, the rain forecasted by the experts failed to ; appear on Sunday just as it had failed to appear the day before. ; In the 79F 26C air, the cats had a pleasant day. Rain is ; forecast again today, and though the sky now appears more ; threatening, I won't believe it will rain until rain is actually ; falling. The cats hope the experts are wrong again. ; ; It's labor day here in the USA -- the day on which no one does ; labor. And to celebrate the occasion, I will do absolutely ; nothing. Fractals are not labor however, and by the time ; tomorrow arrives, I will have the next fractal ready. Until ; then, take care, and avoid fractal dead-ends. ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE================================ Fractal_Honeycomb { ; time=0:21:34.38--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=t center-mag=-2.8414007179238/+0.031120296275605/1.4\ 565e+010 params=1/2/0.2/3/0/0 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=fmod proximity=0.0275 periodicity=10 colors=000OmRMpPLoOLnOLnOKmOKmOKlOJlOJkOJjNIjNIiNI\ iNHhNHhNHgNHgNKfQNfSQfVSfXVcWX`WZYW`WWbTWdQWfNVhLV\ jIVlFVnCVpEVlGWhIWeKWaMWZOXVQXSSXOUXKZXHcYDhYAmY6r\ Y3vYPz`jybksckndkiekdfkZgkUhkPikKjkFkjGljHljIljIli\ JliKmiLmiLmhMmhNmhOnhOngPngQngRngRnkUloXjr_hvbfyde\ nh`dkWVnSKrNAuI0xE2wH4vK6uN8tQAsSCrVDqYFp`HobJneLm\ hNlkOlmLekI_iFUgCNe9Hc6Ba35_49`5Da6Hb7Lb8Pc9Td9XdA\ `eBdfChgDlgEphFtiFwiMthTrh_phfnhllhfme`nbWo_QpXKqU\ FrR9sO4sL6pM8mM9jNBhNCeOEbOF`OHcGJf9Kh2WP4UQ5SQ6QQ\ 6PQ7NQ7LQ8KR8IR9GR9FRADRABRBARBETCHUDLVEOWERXFVYGY\ ZH`_Hd`IgaJjbJfVLbNO_GQEKSGNTHPUJRVKTWMVXNXYfFkhIj\ iKjkMjlOinQioSiqUhrWhtYhu_htXdsVasTZrRWrPSqNPqLMpI\ JoGGoECnC9nA6m83m60i93fB6bE9_GBWJETLHPOKMQMNXHOcCN\ cBNcBNcBNcBNcBNcBKc`HZlG`vGZsGXpFVlFTiFQfEObEM_EKX\ DITDFQDDNCBJC9GC7DC5AE4BG4BJ5CL5CN5DP5DQ5DS5EU5EW7\ FYAF_DGbGGcJGgMFkPFmSFpVE } 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================================== ;