Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

Today's fractal is certainly not the best of all time, but it is not the worst either, and it is here on schedule.  I gave it no name and no rating, since I put little effort into it.  Fractals are like that -- they can be good even without excessive human help, as today's midget with two sattelites shows.

The parent fractal came about when I subtracted 1001 parts of Z^(1.299) from 1001 parts of (Z^1.301) and added C to create a figure resembling a small, slightly distorted Mandelbrot set, which is starting to split apart on its western fringes.  But unlike the Z^(2.02) Mandeloid, where the two main stems spread farther apart as the leave the main body of the M-set, the two tiny main stems in today's parent approach each other and merge together.  Today's image is located near the point where the two stems merge.

The pattern theme in this area resembles a maze of tracks in a railroad switching yard designed by an abstract artist.  This does not mean I am putting down abstract art, even though I prefer realism.  But it does mean I prefer realism in my fractals also, and not the overworked over-layered pseudo-fractals so popular among the trendy set.

With a calculation time of under 6 minutes on my tired machine, today's image should overwork no computer.

BTW, I don't quite see the reason for all the fuss about Fractint being incompatible with the vestigial DOS of Windows XP.  I run Fractint under XP constantly, with all the full-screen super-VGA VESA modes available up to a resolution of 1280x1024x256.  The type=mandel runs 20 times as fast as it does on my old 200mhz unit.

Mostly good weather prevailed here at Old Fractal Central over the past four days, giving the fractal cats no cause for complaint.  But when cats in the age group of the fractal duo are not complaining, they are sleeping.  The duo spent most of the time taking it easy in the holly patch.

In my department, the moving preparations are picking up speed as the time for the big move draws nearer.  Luckily, the non-fractal work is not unusually heavy, but with all that needs to be done, even the normal amount of work becomes a challenge.  If all goes well, and why shouldn't it, the next FOTD will appear in 24 hours.  Until then, take care, and watch the mystery of life grow deeper.

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


START PARAMETER FILE=======================================

FOTD_for_01-05-06  { ; time=0:05:44.76--SF5 on a P200
  reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm
  formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=1
  center-mag=+0.46313594241773200/+0.000004468476974\
  82/6.464602e+009/1/-37.5/5.42260566401692179e-006
  params=1/1.301/-1/1.299/1000/0 float=y maxiter=750
  inside=0 logmap=110 periodicity=10
  colors=0000500810B30E50H60K85N9AQBFTDKWFPZGUaGZdIc\
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  DnzFlzIlzJkzMizOizRhzTfzV }

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 PARAMETER FILE=========================================