; Date: Wed, 07 May 2008 17:56:17 -0400 ; ; To: fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; cc: philofractal@lists.fractalus.com ; ; From: Jim Muth ; Reply-To: Fractint and General Fractals Discussion ; ; ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 08-05-08 (Tongues of Fire [6.5]) ; ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20080507175910.2b1715e8@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- May 08, 2008 (Rating 6.5) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; I am often puzzled by dimensions. What are they? Are they ; merely the number of mutually perpendicular lines that can be ; erected through a single point in a given space? Or are the ; lines a mere indicator of dimension? Where do dimensions come ; from? Why is our universe limited to three spatial dimensions ; when a higher number would allow for far more varied phenomena? ; ; Since stable planetary orbits are impossible in spaces of ; dimensions greater than three, maybe intelligent life is ; possible only in our familiar 3-D space. But then why is it so ; easy for computers to work with higher dimensions, and so easy ; for humans to write about higher-dimensional phenomena, yet ; impossible for humans to visualize the things they write about? ; ; Before the 20th Century our universe was obviously three- ; dimensional. All we had to do was look at it. Then along came ; relativity, which made the universe four-dimensional. Next up ; was Kaluza Klein theory, which required a five-dimensional ; universe. When string theory burst upon the scene, it needed 26 ; dimensions, which were somehow compressed into ten dimensions, ; with six of them rolled up into infinitesimal hyper-loops. The ; last I heard, M-theory has upped this number to eleven ; dimensions, with seven of them curled-up invisibly, and who ; knows where we will go from here. ; ; It is beginning to appear, at least to me, (not at all the ; rational skeptic,) that the concept of dimensions is a human- ; invented mental construct, and what we know as visualized ; dimensions are actually manifested levels of consciousness. ; Humanity is at the three-dimensional level of consciousness. ; Yes, I know this sounds mystical, but I am no apologist for the ; hopelessly inadequate, common-sense Newtonian view of the ; universe, which I now see as a sub-set of a far broader reality, ; which is probably a sub-set of a still broader reality, and so ; on to infinity. ; ; But why worry about theoretical infinities when we have actual ; infinities in the world of fractals. Today's image came about ; when I subtracted 1/2 part of Z^4 from one part of Z^3 and added ; C to produce a parent fractal that resembles nothing as much as ; an angel lying on its side with its head facing east and a ; tongue of fire over its head. (This Sunday is Pentecost.) ; ; Today's image is located on the southern shore of this tongue of ; fire, and indeed has eight tongues of fire circling the central ; minibrot. I named the finished work "Tongues of Fire" and rated ; it at a 6-1/2. ; ; The calculation time of 3-1/2 minutes is bordering on slowness, ; but still brief enough to make running the included parameter ; file almost a joy. For those with over-qualified computers, the ; finished image is posted for viewing on the FOTD web site at: ; ; ; ; Perfect spring weather prevailed all day Wednesday here at ; Fractal Central. The sky was clear, the wind was light, the ; humidity was low and the temperature reached 81F 27C. The ; fractal cats were more concerned with the pigeons pecking for ; scraps on the sidewalk. ; ; My day was slow enough to leave time for both a fractal and a ; philosophical discussion. And better yet, it looks like ; tomorrow will be the same. Until next time, take care and you ; can't get a universe from absolutely nothing, which means there ; always was something rather than nothing. (Don't ask why that ; something has always been there.) ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Tongues_of_Fire { ; time=0:03:32.62-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=ident passes=1 center-mag=+1.396812017323909/-0.0389524851568373/\ 3.840418e+011/1/-27.5/0 params=1/3/-0.5/4/0/0/0/0 float=y maxiter=3200 inside=0 logmap=400 periodicity=10 mathtolerance=0.05/1 colors=000FARGARHAQIAPJAOKANKAMKALKAKKAKKBKKCKKDLK\ ENKFNKGOKHPKIRKJSMKTOLUQMUSNVUOWWPXYQX_RYaSZbT_bU_\ cV`cTabRbaQbbP_dOXeOUgNRhNOf`BfYAfU9fQ8AA7pS6zm5zd\ 4zY3yS2tL1p66_BBXGFTLKQQONUTKZXGcaDheAmj7qn`qZ_o__\ m`ZlaZjbZhcYgdYeeYcfXbgX`hX_iWWmVTpUQsTNvWQuYSu_Vu\ aXtc_teathcsjfslhsnkrpmrrorqmoqklqijphgpfepdboc_oa\ Yo_VoZTnXRmVQmTOlRNlPLkNKjLJjJHiHGiFEhDDhBCQFW8Io9\ KmALkBMjCNhDOgEPeFQcGRbHS`IT_JUYKVWLWVMXTNYSSWQXTO\ aRMfOKTvTbcNTzlVwhXseZob`l_bhXdbUfXRCRSBVUBYXA`_Ac\ aAfd9jg9mi8pl8so8vqWierYUTNfVMdWMbYM`ZMZ_MYaMWaMUa\ MSaMX`Mc_Mc_Mc`Mc1Wm5Vm8UmBUmETmHSmKSmNRRRQQUQPXPO\ _OMbOLeNKhMJJn8Mk9PhASeBVbCY_D`XEcUFfRGiOHkRskQnkP\ ikPdkO`kNWkNRkMMGchJceMccOcaRd_UeXWfVZgTahRciOfjMi\ kKRlQamM8nvCqrFtoIwkMzhPzdSzazzZzzVzzSzzOzzLzzTzzN\ zz2zz8zzDzzQzzOzzNzzMzzLzzKhzzizzjzzjzzjzzjzzjzzjz\ zjzzkzzkzzkzzUzzSzzQzeLzz } frm:MandAutoCritInZ {; 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)+(p4)), 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========================================= ; ; ; _______________________________________________ ; Fractint mailing list ; Fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint