Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: 

Some fractalists might be curious about the new rating system.  In the new system 'A' refers to the image's artistic worth and 'M' refers to its mathematical interest.  In today's ratings, I show that I consider the artistic worth of the image to be worth an 8, and somewhat better than the mathematical interest, which rates a 7.

The image was created when I combined 1.3 parts of Z^2 with 10 parts of an unlikely Z^(-0.01) before adding straight (C) on each iteration.  The parent fractal is most curious.  It does not appear on the default screen, which is a total blank, but lies instead in the area around negative 10 on the X-axis.  This parent resembles a Mandelbrot set being moth-eaten from the west.  Today's scene is located in the East Valley area of a kind of jagged minibrot on the north edge of the moth-eaten area.

Much of the image's effect is due to its rendering.  To add some extra impact, I rendered it with the outside set to 'tdis' and the inside set to 'fmod'.  The normal rendering, with the inside a flat black and the outside set to the iteration count, is rather boring.

The name "Forbidden Universe" could be the name of a sci-fi adventure movie, but it is actually a reference to the infinity of equally real alternate universes that the erudite physicists are telling us most likely exist.  (Of course, the physicists might be nuts!  Some very rational skeptics already think so!)

The calculation time of 2-3/4 minutes borders on slowness and might possibly turn away some potential new fractal fans.  This is where the web sites do their time-saving work.

Uneventful weather prevailed here at Fractal Central today, with mostly sunny skies and a temperature of 79F 26C.  The fractal cat, who is getting up in years and does not get to go outside like the past fractal cats Thomas and Tippy did, slept through the afternoon.  The humans spent the day relaxing, which is getting ever more difficult to do in this ever-more-addictive culture we live in.

The next FOTD fractal will be posted in the not-too-distant future.  Until that ambiguous time arrives, take care, and we hear lots of talk about social 'change' and a fairer, more even distribution of wealth, but nothing ever changes.

Poverty should be easy to eliminate.  Since poverty is defined as a lack of the money needed to live a comfortable life, it could be eliminated by giving the underprivileged enough money to enable them to live comfortably.  Why then do the world's governments refuse to distribute money to the underprivileged and end the unrest caused by the prevailing social injustice?

Maybe the well-to-do need disposable scapegoats to blame for the problems brought about by their own misdeeds.  Then again, maybe living an impoverished life is simply a part of the nature of some people, and poverty can never be permanently eliminated by giving money, which will soon be squandered.

Jim Muth
jimmuth@earthlink.net


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

Forbidden_Universe { ; time=0:02:45.00 SF5 at 2000MHZ
  reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm
  formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=ident passes=1
  center-mag=-10.38329737855416/+0.5276798594052841/\
  1892462/1/180 params=1.3/2/10/-0.01/0/0/0/0
  float=y maxiter=1200 inside=fmod outside=tdis
  colors=000KIzIIzGIz9EzEIzJLzOPzTSzYVzbZzgazlezqhzy\
  lzukzqjzmizihzegzafzYezUdzQczMbzIazE`zA_z6Zz2Zz3`z\
  4az5cz5dz6ez7gz8hz8jz9kzAlzBnzBozCqzDrzFtzDszCszAr\
  z9rz7qz6qz4oz3pz2pzErzPsz`tzkuzlszlqzlozmmzmkzmizn\
  gzneznczoazo_zoZzj`zfazbbzYczUdzQezMfzHgzDhz9iz4mP\
  5jN5gM6eL6bJ7`I7YH7WG8TE8RD9OC9MBAJ9AH8AE7BC6B90C7\
  3C42A20800600500300O0VQ5`SAfUFkWHlYLl_MmaJmjHnkFol\
  DpmErkEngBnc5mW1eS3ZO4US6ZW7a_8daAfcBfeCeeEdcFcbGb\
  aI`_J_ZLZYMXWNWVPVUQUSRSRTRQUQPVPQWNQXMQXLQYKQYJQZ\
  IQZGQ_FQ_EQ`DQ`CQaBP`9QaARaBSaBTbCUbCVbDWcDXcEYcEZ\
  dF_dF`dGaeHbeHceIdfIefJffJggKhgKigLjgLghJejIclHanG\
  _pFYrEWtDUuCWnGYgJ_aNaVQcOTeIXgB_h5bmDcqLduTey_fb_\
  RG_CHZJIYPJXVKW`LVfMUlNTrNTxMPrMMmMJhLGbLDYLATKCSJ\
  DRIEQHFQGGPFIOEJODKNCLMCMMMUGW`Beg5on0ni4md8l_ClWG\
  kRKjMOjISiDWh8_h4blQPpjCleHi`LeWQbRU_MYUPbPRfKTjFV\
  nAXr5Zv8XtBVrSJMQIMOIMMIM }

frm:MandAutoCritInZ {; 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)+(p4)),
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=========================================