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Fractal of the Day
by Jim Muth
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Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: To find today's image I checked the Z^(1.98)+C Mandeloid 3.1 levels up the logarithmic spiral. The parent fractal is a distorted Mandelbrot set with numerous splits along the negative real axis. Today's scene is located in a distorted valley of a large bud on the northwest shoreline of the main bay. For some reason now forgotten, I named the extremely busy image "Verdancy". The name is not really deserved, as the image has little resemblance to a lush forest. In fact, it is such a mish-mash of assorted and not-always-harmonious colors that I could rate it at only a 4. The not-exactly-fast render time of over 17 minutes raises this to a humble 23. But all is not lost, for the image has been pre-rendered and posted on the FOTD web site at: As almost everyone on earth knows, there has been a great disaster in Asia. And as expected, I have heard the question of why God does such evil things being raised. This is what I often wonder. The question cannot be escaped by claiming that God does not actually cause such disasters. This implies that, all-good, all-knowing and all-powerful as He is, God merely sits idly on His golden throne and, without a care in the universe, watches the subjects he created suffer. Such a being is unworthy of being called an animal much less a god. I also wonder why people who have just suffered a great loss so often respond (at least to the media) by thanking God for not making the loss even worse. Does this absurd behavior actually make them feel better? Such behavior appears to me to be more the result of brainwashing than of logical thought. If a human being slaughtered half the children in a school, we would not thank him for sparing the remaining children, we would condemn him and punish him for killing the first half. I would expect that a God who is supposed to be all-good would at least be held to the standards of a lowly and imperfect human being. Perhaps the most pathetic answer of all is that God works in mysterious ways. It is an outright admission that we are ignorant of the most basic things about God, but this is what the nuns told me in Catholic elementary school when I asked questions they could not answer. It left me wondering how then do we know that God even exists. Of course, if I protested the nuns' answers, I was usually told to 'sit down and shut up'. How can so many fail to notice the contradictions, the absurdities of what passes for our religion? With the world being as filled with evil and injustice as it is, God cannot at the same time be all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful. Existence might extend far beyond what we can observe with our senses, but the part that we *can* observe, and pass our lives in, must be consistent with any image we might construct of a God. What is wrong? Evil and injustice do exist in the world. This we cannot doubt. Therefore, the problem must lie with our idea of God. The simplest way out of the dilemma, and the way I first chose, is the philosophy of Atheism. It is easy to claim that God is nothing more than the various mental images created by men in ancient times to give comfort and explain mysterious natural events. It is easy to add that those images have been shown to be no longer necessary by the discoveries of science over the past several centuries. It can also be added that humanity would be far better off if the resources now devoted to the folly of religion were to be applied to more practical things such as health, food, and shelter. So why did I turn from the rational view of Atheism? I shall talk about this in the next few discussions. Tuesday was chilly here at Fractal Central, but not as chilly as Monday had been. The high temperature of 36F 2C was just warm enough for the fractal duo to venture off the porch and spend over an hour checking the holly thicket. When they found nothing out of order, they returned inside to enjoy their treat of tuna. Today is starting notably milder. It should be a fine day for the duo. I continue to be asked if and when pictures of the dynamic duo of fractal cats will be posted. The problem is that my 25-year-old Pentax SLR film camera has stopped working and I have not found an opportunity, nor a good-enough reason, to purchase and learn to operate one of the 'new-fangled' electronic cameras. But one of these days I will do so, and the cats' pictures will be available for all the world to see. For me it looks like work for most of the day, then a trip to the land of fractals, where I will linger awhile to ponder deep philosophical things not necessarily designed to make people feel good. The image I find there will appear as tomorrow's FOTD. The thoughts will appear in the philofractal discussion. Until then, take care, and never stop searching. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com |
START PARAMETER FILE=======================================
Verdancy { ; time=0:17:23.70--SF5 on a P200
reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm
formulaname=MandelbrotBC2 passes=1 periodicity=10
center-mag=-0.49203911917759770/+0.522166115275836\
80/2411091/1/-67.5/-2.1590601288757e-007 logmap=360
params=1.98/0/3.1/0 float=y maxiter=3500 inside=0
colors=000K5BU5AT6AT69T79T79S88T88U98U97UA7VA6WB6X\
B6YC5ZC5_A2ZC5ZD7ZF9ZGCYIEYJGYLJYMLXONXPPXRSXSUWUW\
WVZWX`WYbWZdY_cZ_b``aaaacb`eb_fcZhdYjeXkeWmfWogVph\
UrhTtiSujRwkQxkQvhRteRrcRq`SoYSmWSkTSjQThOTfLTeIUc\
GUaDU_AUZ8VX5VV2VU0V`GNfVGlj8ry1sv3st4sr5sp7tn8tl9\
tjAthCtfDudEubGu`HuZIuXJvULvSMuQNtOPtMQsKRrISqGSpE\
PpCOoAPn8Pm6Ql4Rj5Ti6Uh7Ug8Vg9WhARcAV`BIbC_eD_eE`e\
FajGfeFbaE_YEXVDUSCRPCOMBLJAIHAGF9DD8A771D89G9FKAL\
NARRBXUCbXChYEgYFfZGeZIeZJd_Kc_Mc_Nb`Oa`Qa`R`aS_aU\
_aVZbWYbYYcZXc_WcaWdbVdcUdeUefTegSeiSfjRfkQflQdRFc\
65b76b87b98aA9aBAaBB`CC`DD`ED`FE_GF_GGkHHZIIZJJZKK\
_4LZKKYZJYmIWlKVlLUkMTkNSjORjPQwQPpROhSNhTLhVKgWJg\
XIfYHfZGe_Fe`EdaDdbCdcDbbEabF`aF_aGZ`HY`HX_IW_JVZJ\
UZKTYLSYLRXMQXNPWNOWONVPMVSOUVQUYSU`UUcWUfYUi_UlaU\
ocUreUugUwhUxiUyjUzkUzlUzmUznUzoUzpUzqUzrUzsUztUzu\
UzvUzwUzxUzyUzzUzzUzzUzzU }
frm:MandelbrotBC2 { ; by several Fractint users
e=p1, a=imag(p2)+100
p=real(p2)+PI
q=2*PI*floor(p/(2*PI))
r=real(p2)-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| < a }
END PARAMETER FILE=========================================
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times.
