Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

Today's image resembles a crown of thorns, which, because of the season, was the first name that came to mind.  Not wanting to risk offending the devoted, I thought another few minutes and named the image "A Thorny Issue."  The name refers to both the appearance of the fractal and my indecision in choosing a name.

The formula that created the image subtracts 2 parts of Z^(-1.8) from 2 parts of Z^(+0.75) then adds (1/C) on each iteration.  This rather strange combination draws a parent fractal that resembles nothing as much as a rubber duck blowing bubbles.  Today's scene lies deep in one of the bubbles.  This rubber-duck parent fractal is unusual enough to hold further interesting images in its depths.  I might again venture into it in the days to come.

I rated the image at an 8, which seems a bit more liberal than it deserves.  The calculation time of a fireball 45 seconds makes up for the minor lack of artistic value however.

Today brought a mix of sun and clouds to Fractal Central, while the temperature rose from a chilly morning low of 19F -7C to an afternoon high of 43F +6C.  The fractal cats decided there was too little sun on their shelf in the southwest window, and spent the afternoon curled on the couch.

The humans spent the day just being human, which is sometimes easier said than done.  The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours.  The odds are in favor of it appearing on time.  Until then, take care, and skeptics are skeptical of non-sensical things they do not wish to be true, while believers believe in things they wish to be true.

Jim Muth
jimmuth@earthlink.net


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

A_Thorny_Issue     { ; time=0:00:45.00 SF5 at 2000MHZ
  reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basicer.frm
  formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=recip float=y
  center-mag=-0.150195366063183/+0.1918500355272384/\
  9e+11/1/55/0 params=2/0.75/-2/-1.8/0/0/0/0 inside=0
  maxiter=1000 outside=imag logmap=54 periodicity=6
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  6zz6zz7zz8zz9zz9zzAzzKzzI }

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=========================================