Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

East Valley is sometimes called Elephant Valley.   The reason is because, with just a little imagination, the fractal features there can be seen to resemble elephants.   I have often mentioned elephants in the FOTD discussions, but until now I have only been talking about them, and not actually showing one in its full glory.   Well, in today's image this oversight has been corrected.

As the name "The Elephant" indicates, today's image shows an East Valley elephant standing guard over its bud, as all fractal elephants must do.   This particular elephant is the period-30 one on the southern shore line of East Valley.   The periodicity is determined by the number of filaments leading into the 'star' with the small red ring around it on the elephant's rump at the far end of the filament leading from the bud.

The elephant's trunk is quite obvious, though material elephant trunks do not terminate in an endless spiral.   One of the big floppy ears elephants are famous for is quite obvious also, as is its ponderous rump, which is marked by the 30-pointed star.   Like all fractal elephants, this one has a large minibrot on its shoulder, with lesser minibrots around its mouth and belly.

The poor pachyderm appears to have a problem with its front legs however.   Its front legs, like those of a tyranosaur, are so small as to be virtually useless.   I doubt that those tiny legs could ever reach its mouth to stuff in some tasty vegetation.

Many other elephants are scattered about the scene.   Every smaller bud has an elephant standing guard over it, though the individual elephants become less recognizable as the buds get smaller, until they blend into a general elephant haze over the tiny buds along the main shoreline.

As we go deeper into East Valley, the elephants appear pretty much the same, but they move closer together as the fractal elements get pinched off, until their trunks rather inelegantly touch the rumps of the elephants in front of them.   As we move out of the valley, the elephants' bodies gradually lose solidity and turn into mere fractal filaments.   When we reach the very last elephant, the period-2 one, the only thing left is its trunk, which has become perfectly straight and is now the negative stem.

Elephants are four-dimensional creatures that exist in all six perpendicular planes of the Julibrot, as well as the oblique slices.   But they have subtle differences in each of the planes as well as the in-between slices.   In the next FOTD, I will check the appearance of elephants in the Julia orientation.   After that, who knows.

I could give today's image no rating.   After all, East Valley elephants are things the tyro fractalist finds during his first hour with his first fractal program.   But there is still much to be said about the endangered fractal creatures that are rumored to communicate with subsonic sounds, so stay tuned to this channel for the latest dope.

With a calculation time of a sizzling 3 seconds, today's image is one of the all-time fastest, but it's still more fun to see the finished image on the FOTD web site at:
Friday turned out fair enough here at Fractal Central, the only flaw being a brief shower in the afternoon.   Otherwise it was partly cloudy with a temperature of 79F 26C, all of which was fully appreciated by the fractal cats.

My day was unusually busy, which explains but does not excuse the lateness of this FOTD.   The next FOTD, once again late, will be posted in 24 hours, maybe sooner.   Until then, take care, and if you still think global warming is a threat that calls for prompt and panicky government legislation, notice this summer's weather, something the legislators are apparently not doing.


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

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