; Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:52:33 -0500 ; ; To: fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; cc: philofractal@lists.fractalus.com ; ; From: Jim Muth ; Reply-To: Fractint and General Fractals Discussion ; ; ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 15-11-08 (Broken Branches [6]) ; ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20081114175332.2dbfb7ee@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- November 15, 2008 (Rating 6) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; Today's fractal is definitely neither real nor unreal. It is ; something halfway in between -- an image of a minibrot in the ; Z^(2.1)+C Mandeloid. I named it "Broken Branches" when I ; noticed the breaks in the streams of chaos extending out from ; the central midget. The rating of a 6 indicates a repetition. ; I have posted some very similar images in the past. ; ; The calculation time of 20 seconds could exceed the speed of ; light. This would mean that the finished image would appear on ; the screen several seconds before the key is struck. ; I'll not speculate on what would happen if, after the finished ; image had appeared, the fractalist would decide not to strike ; the key that caused the image to appear several seconds ; before. ; ; All this confusion may be avoided by surfing over to the FOTD ; web site at: ; ; ; ; and viewing the finished image there. ; ; Philosophy alert! ; ; On Friday I received an envelope in the mail from a scientific ; book club, offering a selection of three books, this month about ; the nature of physical reality. As is obvious, the offering ; gave my philosophical side a shot of energy. One of the books ; presents a modified theory of gravity (MOG), which, if true, ; might explain the mystery of the missing dark mass and energy. ; If this latest new theory is right, then Einstein's general ; theory of relativity is lacking, and maybe his status as the ; premier brain of the 20th century needs to be re-evaluated. ; ; As for me, I feel we're getting all of nowhere in explaining ; things, in fact we're digging an ever-deeper scientific hole. ; Before we try to explain 'physical reality' we should step back, ; take a break, and try to find a way to prove that physical ; reality is actually as objectively real as is conventionally ; assumed. We can't explain it if we don't know what it is. ; ; I, and everyone else as well, have never observed a 'real' world ; that exists out there independently of the observation. All I ; have ever observed is an ever-changing series of images formed ; in my mind by stimulation of my sense organs. To be considered ; a rational thinker, I know I should believe that these images ; faithfully reflect a universe that actually exists apart from ; myself exactly as I experience it through the images. But for ; some reason, I cannot shake the feeling that this belief is an ; unproved and perhaps unfounded article of faith. ; ; True, if we assume the mental images accurately mirror an outer ; world, then the scientific method works quite well. But we are ; still left with all the unexplained things called paranormal or ; supernatural. These reports keep coming despite the skeptics' ; denial of the paranormal and their attempts to give the reports ; a natural explanation. Does this mean I am a believer? Well, I ; certainly know that there are many reports of strange things, ; and I doubt that all of them can be fully explained by the ; gullibility, credulity ignorance or wishful thinking of those ; who do the reporting. ; ; Finally, I am once again left to wonder why the proposed 'theory ; of everything' totally ignores the conscious intelligences, ; whatever they are, that are searching for a theory of everything. ; ; Low heavy clouds obscured the surrounding hilltops here at ; Fractal Central on Friday. And the humdrum temperature of 54F ; 13C did nothing to improve things. The fractal cats don't care ; about hilltops. Their problem was the lack of afternoon sun in ; their southwest window. ; ; Like the day's fractal, my day was . . . average. The next ; attempt at greatness will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, ; take care, and how will we know what's real if our scientific ; ideas about reality keep changing? ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Broken_Branches { ; time=0:00:20.09-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=slices.frm formulaname=MandelbrotN center-mag=-1.275442910495\ 823/+0.013776353035086/1.01901e+010/1/-105/0 params=2.1/0/0/0/0/0 float=y maxiter=750 inside=0 logmap=55 periodicity=10 mathtolerance=0.05/1 colors=000YGkXEqUJqRMrNRmJVhE`dRf_VkVcoRltWwx_zzWc\ STRKQQHMINJASGEWII_KJbFJfAJi6ClK6qY0xkOToj4rjJtjYv\ jlxjzzizzixzhuzhrzkpzmmzplzrizuhzwfzyezw_ouVesPWqK\ MpFChKNaOYVShOWsQXrRXrVVmZTibReePaiNYmLUpKQiLMbLJW\ MGPMCIN9BN65N3CL6JK8PJBWIDbGGhFIoELuDNnJKgPH`VEU`B\ Nf8Gk5FcAEXEEPIDINCARC3VATc9rlHZhDTbLXXHTXDQXKXV8f\ g9Xaf1Za4YY7YUAYQCYLFXHIXDLXpGHjHJeIL_JNVKPzLRzMTz\ NVgicWa`KUZzCgzGczK_fwGVjMzZSz_TzYUzWUOVVzTVzRWzQW\ zOXz7CzDJzIQtkwjfq`alSXfISaakdNZ`z59LxlzFGzQSh_cad\ aWh_QmYKqWEvU8zT9pUzL`9fVzXWz4Cz9IzENzJSza3zZ9zWFz\ TLzQRzMCzNHzNLzNPzNTzkCz2wz9nzGez1gz7dzCazIZzHqzIm\ zJjzKfzLczM_zv3zp8zjDzdIzZNzTSzm8z_Lzvgzdbz_`zW_zR\ YzrRzzTzzVzzm7zjzzhzzf8zdzzbzz`9zZEzzDztCznBzhAzbp\ zqVzf7zf8zd8zb8za9z_9zYDzxBznAzewzClzHbzLTzPJzTizc\ bzaXz`Rz_LzZFzYbzVYzWUzWQzWLzXHzXDzX8z89zC9zF9zI9z\ L9zO9zR9zUwztnzpfzlYzhZze } frm:MandelbrotN {; Jim Muth b=p1, z=p2, c=p3+pixel: z=z^(b)+c, |z| <= 16 } ; END PARAMETER FILE========================================= ; ; ; ; _______________________________________________ ; Fractint mailing list ; Fractint@mailman.xmission.com ; http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fractint