; Date: Tue, 06 May 2008 22:14:13 -0400 ; ; To: fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; cc: philofractal@lists.fractalus.com ; ; From: Jim Muth ; Reply-To: Fractint and General Fractals Discussion ; ; ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 07-05-08 (Something Imaginary [5]) ; ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20080506221706.2bef6d14@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- May 07, 2008 (Rating 5) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; Today, I'm in more of a philosophical mood than a fractal mood, ; so pardon me if I make a little diversion before getting to the ; Fractal of the Day. Those bored with opinionated philosophy may ; skip to the ninth paragraph. ; ; In the distant past, when I was just learning about the world, I ; read every book of popularized science that I could get my hands ; on. The books answered most of my childhood questions such as: ; how far away are the stars?, why does the wind blow?, how old is ; the earth?, what is the tallest mountain and the tallest water- ; fall?, (I found it was not Yosemite), where does lava come ; from?, where do meteors come from? My list of questions was ; nearly endless, and I found the answers to most of them in the ; 'science' books I read. ; ; But now that I am closer to the other end of life, my list of ; questions has changed, and I feel that the science I once almost ; worshipped has let me down. True, my questions are now more ; difficult. My head is filled by unanswered and perhaps unans- ; werable questions, such as: what is the meaning of life?, where ; did our unique individualities come from and where will we go ; from here? ; ; Answers such as: the meaning of life is 42, (ask a deaf person ; what 42 means), we came from oblivion and we will return to ; oblivion, are merely silly. Equally silly are attempts to avoid ; answering the questions by blaming our genes for programming us ; to invent such ultimately meaningless questions. ; ; But perhaps the most evasive and offensive thing I have heard is ; the standard Atheistic reply that men lack the courage to accept ; the harsh reality that deep inside they fear is actually true. ; This is perhaps the most destructive philosophy ever embraced by ; a thankfully small segment of humanity. Many years ago I tried ; and discarded such nihilistic Atheism, which like conventional ; dogmatic religion, raises more questions than it answers. (An ; Atheist once actually said to me that the physical universe is ; his god and science is his religion.) ; ; Perhaps it would be better for those running the oversized scien- ; tific corporation to stop wasting such immense sums of money in ; search of useless dream things such as 'higgs particles' and a ; 'theory of everything', and pause to find the courage to address ; the questions that people are really concerned about. ; ; Does all this mean that I believe in the supernatural? Maybe it ; does, or maybe not. But if things seem to be pointing in that ; direction, I will not curl into a ball and hide in the corner in ; fear of the unknown. ; ; I make no claims of having any answers, but of one thing I am ; certain. I have so far found even more unanswered questions in ; fractals than in the so-called 'real' world. ; ; Today's fractal image, by the way, lies in the parent that ; results when the formula Z^(2.01+0.03i)+C is iterated six levels ; up the complex logarithmic ladder. ; ; This parent fractal is basically a distorted Mandelbrot set ; rotated so that its main spike faces southwest. Today's scene ; showing an equally distorted minibrot is located in the much- ; broadened east branch of the valley setting off the large ; period-3 north bud. ; ; Since the image shows a minibrot surrounded by nothing much of ; interest, I could rate it at only a 5. The name "Something ; Imaginary" refers to the imaginary part of the exponent of Z. ; ; The calculation time of 4 minutes is a bit longer than I would ; have preferred, but still well within reason. The most reason- ; able way of all to view the image however is to visit the FOTD ; web site at: ; ; ; ; and enjoy it as much as possible there. ; ; A day that could have been perfect was spoiled by a series of ; light showers in the early afternoon here at Fractal Central on ; Tuesday. But despite the rain, the temperature reached 72F 22C, ; earning the approval of the fractal cats. ; ; My day was slow enough to be satisfactory, but not good enough ; to be exceptional. The next FOTD will appear in 24 hours, when ; perhaps I can get out of this fractal rut. Until then, take ; care, and I once was sure, but now I'm puzzled. ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE======================================= SomethingImaginary { ; time=0:04:04.96-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotBC3 function=ident passes=1 center-mag=-0.54660864024034790/+0.989879191269876\ 70/126719.3/1/-117.5/0 params=2.01/0.03/6/0 float=y maxiter=2500 inside=0 logmap=200 periodicity=10 colors=000c3_d3Ze3Yf3Xg3Wg3Uh3Ti3Ri3Qk3Vl3_m3cn3ho\ 3mp3qn3ol3mj3kh4if6ge8ecAcaBb_D`YFZXHXVIVTKTRMRPOP\ OPOHWXAae4gm7fhAedEd`HcXLbTOaPR`KV_GYZCaY8dX4gW2m`\ DrdQwhbkbZ_YWOTTDOQ4NK4LL4JM4IN4GO4EP4DQ4BR49R48S4\ 6T44U43V43W43X43X43Y63Z94ZC6_E8_HA`KC`NEaQGaSIbVKb\ YMc`OccQdeSdgUchVcjWckXcmYcnZco_cq`cractbcuccwdcxe\ cyfcucdq`dnYejVegSecPf`MfXKgUHgQEgNBhJ8hG5iC3i93iC\ 5`E9SHEKJIBLM3JL5IL6HK7GK8FJ9Ge2Db2B_28X26U24R2BU2\ HW8OZFU`L_bSfeZlgeriknm2mi2lf2lb5k_8jWBjTEiPHhMKhI\ NgFQfBTf8Wg7Xg7Xg7Xg6Xg6Xg6Yg5Yg5Yh5Yh4Yh4Zh4Zh3Zh\ 3Zh3Zh3Ze8abCd_HgXLjUQmRUpOYsSXrVXrYXq`WqcWpfWpiVo\ lVooVoNW6OU6OT6OS6PR6PQ6PP6QO6QN6QM6RL6RK6RJ6TM9VP\ CWSFYVI_YL``ObbRceUehXgk_hnbjqekchkZMkZ2eZ2`Z2WZ2R\ Z2LZ2GZ2BZ26Z2BZ2GZ2LZ2Qh4Vs6Wu8`z9`zB`zC`zEgzFgzH\ lzIqzKvzLzzNzzOzzQzzRzzSzzJzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz\ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz } frm:MandelbrotBC3 { ; by several Fractint users e=p1, a=imag(p2)+100 p=real(p2)+PI q=2*PI*fn1(p/(2*PI)) r=real(p2)+PI-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|