; Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:46:24 -0400 ; From: Jim Muth ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 09-04-10 (Common-Sense Cubic [7]) ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20100408234812.2a8f43ea@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- April 09, 2010 (Rating 7) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; With or without humans in the universe, there would probably ; still be fractals. Or maybe we invented fractals, and if we ; were to vanish, the fractals would vanish with us. And speaking ; of fractals, we have a semi-outstanding one for today. ; ; At first glance, the parent fractal of today's cubic image looks ; like a Mandelbrot set. Closer examination however reveals cubic ; tendencies just beneath the surface. ; ; The scene is located on the X-axis just beyond the large mini- ; brot on the main stem of the parent. This large minibrot is ; shaped much like the Zexpe fractal, with today's image lying in ; its west valley. ; ; I named the image "Common-Sense Cubic". The name could mean ; anything one wishes. The rating of a 7 means the image is a ; little better than average. The calculation time of 13 seconds ; is no mistake. Even an image with a rating of 1 would be worth ; this brief wait. And as always, the image may also be seen by ; visiting the FOTD web site at: ; ; ; ; where the finished image is posted for instant bliss. ; ; My philosophical energies were once again aroused on Thursday, ; and this time I did not let the opportunity to have a philosoph- ; ical conversation pass. To avoid non-fractal philosophizing, ; skip to the last paragraph. ; ; FL sometimes accuses me of being insensitive to the problems ; of the environment, when in fact I am all too aware of the true ; situation. As we ate lunch on Thursday, we watched one of those ; doomsday climate-change programs, this one about the melting of ; the glaciers in the Himalayas. The glaciers are definitely melt- ; ing because of the warming climate, and if the melting is not ; stopped, over one billion people in India and other countries, ; who depend on the glaciers for their water, will be left without ; water. The program claimed that if this happens, the death toll ; could run into tens of millions. ; ; I told FL that the earth is definitely warming. Only the amount ; of warming that is caused by man's activity is in question. But ; the real environmental problem is the number of people that the ; earth with its limited resources is being asked to support. The ; planet already holds several times the population it can support ; in a comfortable (think American style) manner. ; ; The obvious but unworkable solution is to rid the planet of its ; excess population, either by euthanasia or mass sterilization. ; If we fail to drastically cut our own numbers very soon, and ; indeed, because of the moral issues, we will surely not do this, ; the planet will cut our numbers for us by making the quality of ; life unbearable for humanity. And no amount of liberal green- ; energy dreams or conservative no-problem, business-as-usual ; bellowing can change this. As history shows, when life becomes ; unbearable, people react in ways that are irrational and self- ; destructive. ; ; Is this kind of thinking callous and insensitive? FL says we ; must not think such thoughts about death and sterilization, we ; must go 'totally green', whatever that means. I am certainly ; not suggesting we start killing people, but as I see it, as long ; as our numbers continue to grow, any 'green' solution will be ; futile. The over-population is the cause of our environmental ; problems, and the situation is already hopeless. Most likely, ; we will simply lie back blaming others, passing silly, useles ; laws, and dreaming feel-good dreams about fantastic solutions ; that would inconvenience no one, until the last human being is ; gone and the insects take over. ; ; It's kind of a depressing scenario, but I am always open to a ; reasonable and workable way out of the situation, which would ; be far more encouraging than the 'stop crying and enjoy the end' ; stuff I hear now. ; ; The midsummer weather continued during the day Thursday here at ; Fractal Central, with sunny skies and a temperature of 88F 31C. ; But the summer-like conditions came to an abrupt end around 6pm, ; when a lively thunder-storm moved in, dropping the temperature ; to 61F 16C. The fractal cats continued in their summer modes ; during the day, and asked for reassurance when the thunder began ; rumbling. My day was average. The next FOTD will be posted the ; day after NASA lands the next man on the moon. (Just kidding!) ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Common-Sense_Cubic { ; time=0:00:13.76-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basicer.frm formulaname=FinalDivideBrot function=recip float=y center-mag=-1.814854179191/0/5e+007 params=3/10/0/0 maxiter=900 inside=0 logmap=55 symmetry=xaxis colors=000F3EIGHLKJOOKRSLVWMY_N`eOckPfpQhuRjvTlvVn\ wYpwasxevyjyzpzzuzzzzypzthyocxlVwhYudasadqYhoUkmRn\ kLlkGjkBiNczPgzRkzSozUszVQVXNSYJO_FK`CHVIFPOEJTCDZ\ B8cA6R74E4OUzJUzFKzAKz63mJ1cF1PC1N814512cqt4Hp3Dc3\ 9R25EKdnERY8EHw`foW`hSWaNRVJMNEGGAB956`1`V1VP1PRQT\ NUNJYHH`FFbDDzCBzA9h97j75l69243P3cQhXL`RHULDNE9F85\ 8ZLuUIlPFdKCXG9PB6H639uCeb8SK4Ew5oc3ZL2IuQGUT89yM7\ iG5VB3G69nA7e86Y75Q54H4392p8Ze6SW5LM3EC27dNQxVApR8\ iN7aJ6VG5OC4G839428Wx6Oi5GV38GpZScQLRIEE97znkoeceY\ WWQOMHGC98rBY`7NJ4ClzXbmQUaKKPDBD7qdciZYbTSVNNOIHG\ CC966MT6FJ48A2yhYo`SeUNWNHMFCC86gwTaoPXhMS`INUFHNB\ CF8784Qn6EQ3FGJABD667UU3PP2KK2GF2zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzn\ zGfzJizzzCPmzSozzrIYtz`vMzxNztPzqRhszivVzzXlzzmz`z\ zbpzzqzezz`hzzdzRzzMXzz_zFzzEczCezBgz9iz8kz6mz5oz3\ qz2sz1tz2tz3tz3tz4tz5uz5uz6uz7uz7uz8uz8Qz9OzBMzCLz\ EJzFHzHGzI1z6AzDIzKQzQzzz } frm:FinalDivideBrot { ; Jim Muth z=(0,0), c=pixel, a=-(real(p1)-2), esc=(real(p2)+16), b=imag(p1)+0.00000000000000000001: z=(-b)*(z*z*fn1(z^(a)+b))-c |z| < esc } ; END PARAMETER FILE========================================= ; ; ; ; _______________________________________________ ; Fractint mailing list ; Fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint ;