Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

To begin today's discussion I must state that I do not have a calendar filled with fractal spirals hanging over the desk here at F.C.   I have a calendar of photographs taken by the space telescope.   This month's photograph shows the star-forming region LH 95 in the Large Magellanic Cloud.   However, the photograph resembles many fractals I have seen during my 20 years in Fractal Land.

The truth is that there has never been a fractal calendar hanging anywhere in F.C.   The calendar themes of F.C. are astronomy, weather, flowers and new-age stuff.   It should be no secret which themes I choose and which FL chooses.   BTW, I find nothing wrong with fractal spirals, there are simply so many of them that they do not strike me as unusual.

I have also often wondered what lies at the point -0.75 of the Mandelbrot set.   What would we find there if we had a computer of infinite speed, which would give infinite magnification?   I suspect that, at the -0.75 point, Seahorse Valley is kind of a singularity with a width of zero, which means that even infinite magnification would leave it with zero width.   But a departure of an infinitesimal value in the imaginary direction would introduce an infinitesimal but real width, which an infinitely fast machine would calculate and magnify to any degree in an instant.   Since infinitely fast machines will always exist only in fantasy land, we will never know what we would find at imag(zero), though I suspect the trip would be like trying to reach the number 2 through the series (1)+(1/2)+(1/4)+(1/8). . .   We would keep getting closer but always slowing down, only to find it was impossible to reach the goal.

Today's image, with its dark background and sparkles of light, somewhat resembles aa astronomical scene.   Actually, it's a scene deep in the Seahorse Valley of the (-Z)^(2.5)+C Mandeloid.

I rated it at a 7 because I kind of like it.   And the calculation time of 5-1/4 minutes is more reasonable than the hours-long time of some recent images, and a few yet to come.

The most efficient way to see the image is to travel electronically to the FOTD web site at:where the already-calculated image is posted for immediate enjoyment.

Heavy low clouds hung tough over Fractal Central on Tuesday, but it stayed dry and the fractal cats enjoyed things well enough.   The temperature of 68F 20C was far below what might be expected in the middle of June.

In my department things went along pretty much as expected.   The next FOTD is likely to be posted in 24 hours as expected.   Until then, take care, and if fractal spirals light your fire, grab a phone and dial 911.


Jim Muth
jamth@mindspring.com
jimmuth@aol.com

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