; Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:49:17 -0400 ; ; To: fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; cc: philofractal@lists.fractalus.com ; ; From: Jim Muth ; Reply-To: Fractint and General Fractals Discussion ; ; ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 23-07-08 (Theological Puzzle [5]) ; ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20080722214943.2a6f45e8@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- July 23, 2008 (Rating 6) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; For today's image we return to the formula that has supplied ; more FOTD fractals than any other -- the MandAutoCritInZ ; formula. We check the fractal that results when 1.5 negative ; parts of Z^(-5.5) are combined with 1.3 negative parts of ; Z^(-1.3) and (1/C) is added. ; ; The parent fractal reminds me of a large ant complete with head, ; thorax and abdomen, crawling southward across the screen. ; Today's image is located in the east branch of the valley where ; the thorax meets the abdomen. ; ; When I named the image, I was pondering one of the unanswerable ; theological questions that I once pestered my religion teachers ; with -- why does an all-good, all-knowing and all-powerful god ; permit bad things to happen to good people. This explains the ; name I gave the image --"Theological Puzzle". ; ; I really should curb my theological pondering. It constantly ; gets me into trouble. God, whatever truth lies behind that ; idea, must lack at least one, and possibly all of these attri- ; butes. Perhaps God is not all-good. After all, goodness is a ; human concept, and why should God's idea of ultimate good be the ; same as ours? Or perhaps God is not all-knowing. Could even a ; god know absolutely everything, which by definition must include ; what every sub-atomic particle in the universe has ever done, is ; now doing, and ever will do -- things that by their nature are ; unknowable? Or perhaps God is not all-powerful. Could even an ; all-powerful god do something that is impossible, such as making ; 2 plus 2 equal 7? ; ; Of course, theology is not the only discipline with unanswerable ; questions. Check one of the popularized science books about cos- ; mology or quantum theory, or grab one of those currently trendy ; books about new-age mysticism. As I often say, 'we don't know ; what we don't know'. ; ; And to make matters worse, I don't even have the option of avoid- ; ing the theological question by trying to convince myself that ; God does not exist and then claiming to be an Atheist. ; ; Now that I have indulged myself in this theological diversion, ; it's time to get back to the fractal business at hand. I rated ; today's image at a 6, which is all I think it is worth. The cal- ; culation time of under 3 minutes will not be much of a problem. ; The finished image is also posted on the FOTD web site at: ; ; ; ; A light midday shower did not spoil the otherwise near-perfect ; midsummer weather on Tuesday here at Fractal Central. The high ; temperature of 86F 30C and lower humidity were great for ; everything but snowmen. The fractal cats imagined themselves ; tigers as they watched a chipmunk in the back yard grass. ; ; My day was average, which means nothing happened. The next FOTD ; will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and ponder ; the hard questions. ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Theological_Puzzle { ; time=0:02:53.84-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+0.934500853218/+1.854567358803/14309/\ 1/-120/0 params=-1.5/-5.5/-5/-1.3/0/0/0/0 float=y maxiter=1800 inside=0 logmap=120 periodicity=10 colors=000lcmkamj_miYmfWmcUm`SnYOoVKpRGpOCqL7vL8qL\ 8mL8hL9dL9_R1bL9WGGPBNJGQKLTKQVLuYLZ`MzbMheNzgNud2\ vcBwbKwaTx`ax_jwKow4tu9utDurHuqLvoPvnTvr_svhpoinhk\ lanjVphLvkOrfRnaTjXWfSZbN`ZIcVDhS4eR8bRB`RFYRIVRLT\ RPQRSEXWORVXMUmHTwEWzB_m8bi5egFVfOLeXAde0ad8ZdGWcN\ TcVLVkQca_hdVkTQnImq7KmAIiDGeGEbIKWPPPWa5nUJaMWPFh\ DGeCHbCI_CJYCKVBLSBMPBMNBzzAFv9mrFQoLVlR_iWeezjbzo\ _ztXzoJzk6ziFzhOzgRzgTzfVzfXzj_zfZzcYz`XzYXzUWzRVz\ OUzHRzLUzOWzRZzU`zXcY_eTbgPXdORbNUa5M`M5j`FfbPcdZ_\ fiVigXgeYfcZda_c_`aYa`Xb_YaYYaWZ`UZ_S__Q_ZO`YM`YKa\ XIaXHjFubNsVUrOapGho9on7Rh52bBA`HIZNPXTXWZdUdkUjsZ\ pzclwhitmfrrcov`lzYjzVgzSdzPbzM_zJ_yGawDcuAesDgq7i\ o8km8mk8oi8qg8se9uc9wg9xl9yq9zuKzuUzuaztczudzuezvf\ zvgzvhzwjzwkzxlzxmzxnzyozypzypzupzqpznpzjpzgpzcvz`\ rzYozVkzThzQdzNazL`zO`zR_zU_zX`za_z_ZzZZzYYzXXzVXz\ UWzTezEWzSMzdDzqMzmVzjtzh } 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