Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

I have seen rumors floating around the area that Fractint is dead.  Well, maybe it's not the program itself that is supposed to be dead, but at least the Fractint list, where the traffic sometimes slows to nearly nothing.  And I also see regrets about the vanished 'good old days', when every new image was an object of wonder and every new scene in the Mandelbrot set, a major discovery.

Myself, I wonder what all the excitement over Fractint's demise is about.  I have never lost the awe and wonder that came and still does come with every new image.  All of my present-day images are not located in the Mandelbrot set, the fractal that brought the first fractal excitement, but most are created by a small group of simple, short formulas.

One thing I have never been tempted to do is write one of those mini-program formulas with hundreds of lines, which in the end draws just another complex fractal image.  I am more concerned with the things complex numbers do on their own, without human intervention.

A number of years back I experimented with the black-square- white-square capability of Fractint, which divides the screen into a checkerboard pattern and draws pseudo-multi-layered images like those created by some of those 'other' Windows-based fractal programs.  But like what happened with the old Fractint 3-D transforms, my interest in the black-white checkerboard soon waned.  All I saw was double exposures.

So how can I regret the passing of the 'good old days' when fractals were new?  Here at Fractal Central, the old days have never departed, and every fractal still is new.  (If this were not true, what has kept the FOTD going for 14 years?)

As for today's image, it is a scene in the Mandelbrot set, at just about the limit of the range of the conventional math routine.  It is located on a filament on the northwest shore line of the main bay, just beyond the tip of the spike of a minibrot.

The rating of a 4 on the new scale is equal to a 6 on the old scale.

The calculation time of one second is insignificant.  The name "Star of Something" refers to the star-like appearance of the pattern surrounding the central minibrot.

The finished image is available on the FOTD web site at:

http://www.emarketingiseasy.com/TESTS/FOTD/jim_muths_fotd.html

The original FOTD web site may be accessed at:

http://www.Nahee.com/FOTD/

The address of my new FOTD web site will be announced April 12.

As suspected, an antiquing trip did erupt on Saturday, which explains the lateness of today's FOTD.  The weather on Saturday was cloudy and chilly, with a temperature of 48F +9C.  With no one around FC to keep the fractal cats occupied, they spent most of the day doing what cats do best.  They slept.

The next FOTD, a much deeper and improved version of today's image, will be posted in about 8 hours.  Until then, take care, and every person's idea of what made the 'good old days' so good is different.

Jim Muth
jimmuth@earthlink.net


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

Star_of_Something  { ; time=0:00:01.43-SF5 on P4-2000
  reset=2004 type=mandel center-mag=-0.6960909132026\
  418/+0.4750231045822381/1.412646e+013/1/-87.3/0
  params=0/0 float=y maxiter=1800 inside=0 logmap=286
  periodicity=6 mathtolerance=0.05/1
  colors=00050I50J50K51L52M53N54O55P56P57P58P6AQ7CR8\
  ES9GVAIYAJ_AKaALcAMeBNgCOiDPkEQmFUoGXqH`sIbtJdwKcz\
  L_zKazIUqFKhDGZCEPBEFAGF9IF8JF7LFANFFPAKR5PS1U_CZg\
  NcoYhvhmrZroQvkHzh8vdCr`GmYJhUNcQRZNUUJYPFaLCdIFZQ\
  IUYLOeOJmRDuU8hNAWHCJBE65GB9HFDHKHHOLHSPHXTH`XHe`H\
  idHmhHrlHvpHzsHvpIsmJpjKlhLieMfbNb_O_YPXVQTSRQPSNN\
  TJKUGHVDFWCN_CUcCagChkConBniAme9ma8lY7lU6kP5kL4jH3\
  jD2i91i53g65f77e89c9BbADaBF`CGZDIYEKXFMWGOUHQTISSJ\
  TRKRLBPF3OK9NOFNSKMWQL`WLd`KhfKlkIecGZXESQCLJAECBH\
  ABK9CN8CP7DS6DV5EX4E_3Fb2Fd1HVTJMtMNpOOlROhTPdWQ`Y\
  QX`RTbSPeSLgTHiTDjZKkcRkhYlmdlrkmninjgogfpcdq_brXa\
  sT_tPYtMXeM`SMdEMh0MlQIknFjpGdrGZsGTuHNvHHxHByH6tG\
  8oGAkGBfFDbFFYFGUEIPEKLELODMQCNTBOVAOX9P_8Qa7Rd6Rf\
  5Sh4Tk3Um2Up1Vr0Wt0Wr8TqGRoOPnWNmcKkkIjsGizEhxGhzI\
  gzJgzLfzMfzOezQezRdzTdzUezTezSezSezRezRezQfzPfzPfz\
  OfzOfzNfzNezUcz`bzgaznUzi }

END PARAMETER FILE=========================================