Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts:

The 2-second calculation time of today's image is no mistake.  The image is a scene in the best-known fractal of all -- the Mandelbrot set.  And on my particular fractal dedicated machine, the Mandelbrot set runs at faster-than-light speed.

I originally planned on naming the image "Not Quite Dead Yet" to indicate that the M-set is no tired warhorse on its last lap around the track.  It is chock full of interesting and lively scenes, not only of minibrots, but of countless other undiscovered wonders.  But then I decided that such a name was much too downbeat for such an upbeat image.  I finally decided on the name "Star of the Spike", which has a far more positive sound and also indicates the location in the M-set.

The image rates an 8.  I'm not sure how much of that rating is due to my coloring, but I did work on the colors for well over an hour.

The scene lies on a filament extending from the Seahorse Valley of a minibrot located on the main spike of the M-set, not far west of the main body of the set.

As I said earlier, the calculation time is an incredibly brief 2 seconds.  But there is still the hassle of copying this letter into your parameter file in text mode with a .par extension, hoping that no spurious characters get inserted, then running it as you would any other parameter file.

A mixture of clouds and sun, a brisk wind from the northwest and a temperature around 52F 12C gave Friday a very autumnal feeling here at Fractal Central.  The fractal cats enjoyed the sun when it was shining and the house heat when the clouds prevailed.

My day was slow enough to put the extra coloring work on the FOTD.  FL had a slightly more active day.  I think a trip back to Old Fractal Central, 130 miles (200km) south of here, is coming up on Saturday, so do not be surprised if the FOTD for October 24 is late.  Until whenever, take care, and wouldn't it be great if humans had designed the laws of the natural world instead of the great unknown?  (But could we have done it without fighting?)

Jim Muth
jamth@mindspring.com


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

Star_of_the_Spike  { ; time=0:00:02.11-SF5 on P4-2000
  reset=2004 type=mandel center-mag=-1.40473711526\
  07/+0.0001010790714/8e+008/1/180 params=0/0 float=y
  maxiter=5200 inside=0 logmap=538 periodicity=6
  colors=0000AL0AM0AN0AO0AP0AQ0AR0AS0AT0AU0AV0AW0AX0\
  AY0AZ0A_0A`0Aa0Ab09c08d07e06f07g08h09i0Aj0Bk0Bl0Cm\
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  g8Vd9Wb9Y_AZYA`VBaTBcQBdOEcQHcSJbUMbVPbXRaZUa`WaaX\
  bbXbcXbcXbdXbdYbeYbeYbfYbfYcgZcgZchZchZciZcgZcd_ca\
  ZdZYeWXfTWgQVhNUiKUjHUkEUlCUm9Uo6Uq3Us1Ut2Ut3Yt4bu\
  5fu6ju7ov8tv9zz8zvAztBwrCwpDwnEvlGvjHvgIveJvcKvaLu\
  _NuYOuWPuTQuRRtPTtNUtLVtJWtHXyA`tFYoJWkOUfSSaXQY`O\
  TeMOiKKmILlKLlMMkOMkPYkA_hB`eBbbBc_CeXCfUEgPIhKMiF\
  QjAUk6Yk1an9epHhsOluWoxcszevzUWm85cKX1Vx4_t7dq9grC\
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  XgDVfCUeCVaAWY9XV7YR6ZN4ZK3T_COoLRkITgGVcEX`C_X9aT\
  7cP5eM3cOCaQK_SSZU_XWgVYoU_wbbskdotfkqkXnpIku4ovOR\
  wP2xQ5tI8qAAn3CoBEpIGpPIqXPmTSlNVkGfzzczzazzZzzXzz\
  UzzSzzPzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz\
  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz }

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