|
Fractal of the Day
by Jim Muth
|
|
Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: It's a special day as I write this, so forgive a bit of off-topic speculation. I am writing this on the afternoon of 9-11, a day that will forever be remembered. As I write, I wonder how religion, which is supposed to be so spiritual, can cause such hatred, such violence as that which we are today remembering. Violence most certainly is not spiritual. Over the past couple thousand years nothing has caused more suffering than religion. (No wonder there are Atheists in the world.) But why does religion, which espouses God and goodness, produce such hatred, violence and suffering? Why do some grow so concerned that others do not share their religious views? Why do some surrender their lives in an effort to bring others to their religious beliefs? Man surely needs a spiritual element in his life, but why have so many of us been unable to do better than blindly accept and believe the traditional religion handed down from our remote ancestors, which, as far as I can see, does far more harm than good? Perhaps religion itself is at fault. Religion is based on faith. As the good sister told me in the eighth grade, faith means it can't be seen, but it must be believed anyway, because the church says it is true. When I asked her why God hides his glories, she told me that if we could actually see God and heaven, faith would not be necessary. Before I could ask why faith is necessary, she told me to sit down and shut up. Sometimes I wonder about this faith. Perhaps the faith of some people is a bit shaky. After all, they have reason enough to doubt. The science that has explained and then demonstrated so many laws of the world around us, and given us so many technological toys has so far found no trace of anything that resembles an invisible, whimsical, gray-haired old super-man in the sky. Nor has it found any trace of a non-physical soul that might survive death or the golden streets of heaven out there somewhere among the stars, where the soul might spend eternity. Perhaps people whose faith is faltering feel more secure in their beliefs when they find a vast number of others believing the same things. It only makes good sense that the greater the number of people who believe something, the more likely that thing is to be true. Well, I see myself wandering too far from the topic. To get back on track, I draw attention to today's fractal, which returns us to East Valley, where we check a Mandelbrot midget that lies deep in the trunk-spiral of an elephant. This elephant itself lies fairly deep in the valley. To be a little different, I have calculated the Elliptic view of this midget. Since it is not a Mandelbrot view, I have not violated my promise to have no Mandelbrot midgets during the month of September. At this orientation, the midget appears as little more than a shapeless hole. But the pattern around it remains intact, fairly shouting to the world that this is a scene in East Valley. I named the image "Elliptic Elephant", though no elephants are visible in the frame. I rated it at a meager 4. After all, haven't I already done this kind of thing numerous times? The 6-minute calculation time may be avoided by downloading the completed GIF image from the FOTD web site at: Clouds and cool temperatures here at New Fractal Central on Monday bothered the new fractal cats not at all. They spent the day chasing each other up and down the long hallway and occasionally checking the window to see if any squirrels or birds were in sight. By 4pm they were ready for their treats -- tuna for Cassie, cheese for Nico. My day was quite busy, which explains the almost-automatically found fractal. The rush will peak tomorrow, which might or might not produce a FOTD for the 13th. But by Wednesday the job will be delivered and the FOTD for the 14th is almost a sure thing. Until next time, which will be in either 24 or 48 hours, take care, and remain fractally correct. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com |
START PARAMETER FILE=======================================
Elliptic_Elephant { ; time=0:06:15.34--SF5 on a P200
reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm
formulaname=multirot-XY-ZW-new function=ident/flip
center-mag=0/0/8.073738e+009/0.01316/-89.804935684\
2955717/89.7960595356130682 params=90/0/2/0/0.2525\
320556995364/0.0002050585540034/0.2525320556995364\
/0.0002050585540034 float=y maxiter=7500 inside=0
logmap=1032 periodicity=10
colors=000KZEJYFJXFIWGIVGHUHGTIGSIFRJFQJEPKDOLDNLC\
MMCMMELPFLRGKTHKWIKYJJ_KJbLIdMIfNIiOHkPHmQGpRGrSGt\
VIoYKj`MebOaeQXhSSkUNmWJpYEs_9u`5sa8qaAobCmbFkbHic\
JgcLecOcdQadS_dVYeXWeZUe`bZQjSFrM4qO8qPBpQEpRHpTLo\
UOoVRoWUnYYnZ`m_cm`fmbjlcmldplesmbtn`toZtpXtqVtrTt\
sQutOuuMuvKuwIuxGuxEup9si5qb1pd2ke3gg3bh4Zj5Uk5Qm6\
Ln7Ho7DfGFYOGQWIHdJ8lL0tM3qN6nN8lNBiNEfNGdNJaOMZOO\
XORUOUROWPOTQQQQRNRSLRTISUFSVCTWATXj2Ah8CgDEeIGdNI\
bSKaXM`aObcRcdTdfVegXgiZhj`ilcjmelogmpinrkosmnrjnq\
gmpdmoamoZlnWlmTklQkkNkkLhhMeeNbbP__QXXRUUTSRUPOVM\
LXJIYGFZDC`A9a86bB7_E7XH7UK7RN7OQ7MT8JW8GZ8Da8Ad87\
g85dC9bGC`KGZNJXRNUVQSYUQaXOe`MhcNedOcdOadPZdQXdQV\
dRSeSQeSOeTLeUJeUHeSGcRGbPG`OG_MFZLFXKFWIFVHFTFESE\
ERCEPBEOAENEqPHoQJmRMlROjSQhSTgTVeTYdU_bUa`Vd_VfYW\
h_WdbZaeaZgdVjgSnjPqmLtpIwsFzvCzxEztGzpIzmKziMzeOz\
bQzZSzWUzSWzOYzL_zH`zE_zV }
frm:multirot-XY-ZW-new {; draws 6 planes and rotations
;when fn1-2=i,f, then p1 0,0=M, 0,90=O, 90,0=E, 90,90=J
;when fn1-2=f,i, then p1 0,0=M, 0,90=R, 90,0=P, 90,90=J
a=real(p1)*.01745329251994, b=imag(p1)*.01745329251994,
z=sin(b)*fn1(real(pixel))+sin(a)*fn2(imag(pixel))+p3,
c=cos(b)*real(pixel)+cos(a)*flip(imag(pixel))+p4:
z=z^(p2)+c,
|z| <= 36 }
END PARAMETER FILE=========================================
|
times.
