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Fractal of the Day
by Jim Muth
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Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I've heard it said that midgets draw gnats like garbage draws flies, but I didn't believe it until today, when I stumbled upon this gorgeous little midget, with its spiralling arms and its swirling clouds of gnats. Well, actually, the midget is too small to fully resolve, so you'll have to take my word that it's really down at the center of the image. But the inability to resolve the midget is no loss, because I've been close enough to the midget to realize that its pattern deteriorates beyond the magnitude of today's picture. I named the scene "Gnats Around A Midget", which accurately describes the clouds of gnats I see swirling through the scene. Since I like the image, I rated it an 8. To create today's fractal, I made a slight adjustment to the 'parent' fractal, reducing the absolute value of imag(p2) from -1.1 to -1.08. The effect of the slight change on the overall shape of the parent is pronounced, though the inner details remain pretty much the same. At just under 13 minutes, the parameter file tries one's patience. Relief for the patient and impatient alike may be found on Usenet, in the form of the GIF image file, which has been posted to the binary group: The fractal weather today was near perfect, with bright sun, blue skies, puffy clouds, and a temperature of 85F (29.5C), which lured the fractal cats onto the porch, then down into the yard, where they chased butterflies. While watching the cats, I waxed a bit philosophical, pondering the futility of debates about things such as God. Such debates are absolutely futile, especially between those with opposite world views. In my days as a wannabe Atheist I sometimes debated Christian doctrine with fundamentalists. Sometimes, it seemed we were living in two different worlds. They often used the Bible to make their point. In their world, the bible was the literally true word of God, and could settle almost any religious argument. In my world, it was a book of myths and allegories, never meant to be taken literally, a book which must be carefully interpreted before the meaning of its stories could be determined. As a result, a Bible passage that supplied absolute proof for them, proved nothing to me. "It's in the Bible", they constantly told me. "I don't believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible", I constantly replied. Eventually, I grew bored with such futile debate. Now, having advanced (IMO) beyond Atheism, I occasionally debate things such as God and the paranormal with Atheists and skeptics. I debate less frequently, and with less confidence, since these opponents have stronger arguments, and I am less certain that I am right. But I still sometimes have the impression that we exist in two different worlds. Faith in the literal truth of the Bible has been replaced by faith in the literal reality of the physical world, and I find skeptics citing physical reality as often as the fundies cited biblical truth. The result is the same. Just as I was not convinced that the Bible is literally true, I am not convinced that the physical universe is the ultimate reality. The universe might be really real; it might not. But telling me that something exists 'only in the mind' has no more chance of convincing me that is untrue than telling me that something is 'in the Bible' has of convincing me that it is true. The big debate is still Materialism vs. Idealism. If we could settle this debate, the solution of the other debates would soon follow. Well, the butterflies have now gone, the cats are back indoors, and it's time to call it a fractal night. Until next time, take care, and if it's all in the mind, it doesn't matter. If it's all matter, I don't mind. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com |
START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================
GnatsAroundAMidget { ; time=0:12:48.34 -- SF5 on a P200
; Version 2000 Patchlevel 14
reset=2000 type=formula formulafile=critical.frm
formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1
center-mag=+2.58553061120662/-2.735415106091736/1.64\
3018e+011/1/-7.502/0.002 params=-1/-11/-11/-1.08/0/800
float=y maxiter=800 inside=0 logmap=219 periodicity=10
colors=000az7cz8ez8gwBisEjqF<3>ocOq_RrYSsUVuRYvNZwKa\
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kfzm<3>azu_zvZzmZyeYvYYrQXnHXk8Vg0Ve0bj0jn4rrAzvFzwJ\
zzKzzMzzNzzJwzOrzUmyY<2>XqkRnoMkuHjyFkuEkqDkmBmiBme<\
2>7nU6nQ6nM4oI<2>2o68q4<2>Qq3Xq2aq2is3fq2eo2cn2bk2aj\
2<3>Xc2Vb2Ua2SZ0RY0QX0OU0NS0MR0KQ0JN0IM0HK0DH0FJ0HK3\
IM6JN7KOAMRDNSEOUHQVJRXMSZN<2>XbUYcXZfZ_gaaib<2>emif\
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0aD0_8Ks0Nu0Ou0Rv0Uw2Vw3Yy4_z6
}
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 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================
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