Finally, I've figured out how to escape! For the last two months I've spent 10 to 12 hours a day in a little cubical testing software for final delivery to the sponsor. Every step of every test case must pass with no errors! If there was an error, it was written up and the test fails. When the software was fixed, a new build was loaded and a retest begins again. Does Dr. J have sympathy? NO! And he claims he doesn't need me. (See the April 1 FotN.) He, claiming to be "The Great Dr. J, the Mad Scientist of Fractal Space", burst upon the Internet scene using my account, no less! Well, you have not heard from him since, have you. Bwwwaaahaahahahaha! yourself, Dr. J!
Anyway, I was trying to tell you how I finally escaped from my cubical. It is so simple, I can't see why it took me so long. Every time I failed - er every time those programmers software failed - the test, I had to take the test over again. The more I think about it, the more I conclude it just was not right. But I finally out-smarted the system! It was so simple, I just PASS the tests! And now, I'm free, and with a day off, even!
Back in the real world, where we explore space with robots, there has arisen a scandal over the Face on Mars. Dr. J has been reading the news feeds and has, between his own explorations of his roots, sent me his answer to the Martian question. First, for perspective, he has supplied one of those NASA style poor resolution images of the Face on Mars as seen from Fractospace. I must say, it is actually slightly better than the NASA release, if I say so myself. (See references.)
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Figure 1. Face on Mars.
Now, we are told that the face is nothing more than a random eroded hill about 2 miles long and 1600 feet high. Well, as we have seen, NASA can take any nearly black image with only 41 gray levels and make it look flat and dull as a desert dry lake or like a bright snow-covered rugged mountain. All it takes is some Digital Tom Foolery(TM). And when it comes to Digital Tom Foolery(TM), no one does it better than Dr. J. All he needs (and so does NASA) are a few more gray scales and a lot more pixels. A little zooming in on that bright spot at the top of the hill and...
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Figure 2. The Martian!
...and we see a Martian, Dr. J himself. That should settle it!
Forget the math, forget the tests, I'm free. Back on the net. Bwwwaaahaahahahaha!
Jay
PS. The software tests passed officially. :-)
References:
Two NASA versions of the face...http://www.enterprisemission.com/images/facecomp.jpg
NASA caught Red handed...http://www.enterprisemission.com/images/finger.jpg
The NASA source material and response...http://www.msss.com/
The parameter and formula files for Fractint are included below. Copy them
into a quickie.par file for quick loading into Fractint. For longer term
use, copy the frm: block into a FotN.frm file. But this time leave off the
'frm:' part. Then copy the rest (the par parts) into your FotN.par
file.
Face_on_Mars { ; (C) Jay Hill, 1998
reset=1960 type=mandel float=y maxiter=2560 inside=0
center-mag=-1.749758842268/+0.0000000824128/3.982784e+8/1/-140
colors=wcKcIB<26>WBBVBBVBBUAAUAA<49>\
cG9dH9dH9eI9eIA<54>zbLzbLzbLzbLzbL<2\
>x`Lx`Lx`Kx`Kw_K<70>cIBcIBcIBcIBcIBc\
IB<26>cIB
savename=FaceMars
}
Martian { ; (C) Jay Hill, 1998
reset=1960 type=mandel
center-mag=-1.74975884239463800/+0.00000008229583891/6.576066e+010/1/-4.\
998/0.001 params=0/0 float=y maxiter=25600 inside=0
colors=wcKcIB<26>WBBVBBVBBUAAUAA<49>\
cG9dH9dH9eI9eIA<54>zbLzbLzbLzbLzbL<2\
>x`Lx`Lx`Kx`Kw_K<70>cIBcIBcIBcIBcIBc\
IB<26>cIB
savename=Martian
}
