Yes, that’s right. It’s apparently open season on custom pancakes in the Ugly Pancake Contest. Folks have been sending in Star Wars pancakes, organ pancakes, math constants and my favorite, fractal pancakes.

Here are said edible fractals:

N. Shields

As evidenced by some posts on this site, I have recently gotten back in to fractal art, and I usually use either a program called Apophysis or Mandelbulb 3D to perform the renderings. Fractal art is basically a way to create digital artwork using mathematical algorithms, while using the power of the computer to actually perform the calculations. I enjoy this particular genre because of the abstractness and because the sheer number of potential designs is pretty much limitless.

I have also begun to appreciate the genre in another regard: its resemblance to the process of evolution. I’m about halfway through Richard Dawkin’s “The Greatest Show On Earth,” and early in the book, he mentioned his little program called, “The Blind Watchmaker.” He has a book by the same name. The idea behind the program is that the user essentially begins with a very simple form (a dot) and by selecting one of many potential “genes” by which to modify the current “biomorph,” the user can synthesize a new “organism” on the screen and see evolution at work by selecting a particular “gene” over another. Obviously, no one is “selecting” which genes will be passed on to subsequent generations in real life. In nature, variation takes place because of the environment, predation and any number of other factors. But the program synthesizes the basic process, similar to some other evolution “games” in which users can manipulate simple “organisms” on the screen, add variation and see them develop into different forms.

Here is a set of biomorphs that I rendered using Dawkin’s programy. These biomorphs are more than 200 “generations” old:

In fractal art, the same concept applies. Once you select the basic shape that you are going to manipulate, you can then “mutate” the shape using one of many “trends,” which are analogous to real life genes. The “trends” apply unique characteristics to the original shape, and the user can manipulate how strong the influence is for each gene. I was creating fractals a couple years ago when I first read “The Blind Watchmaker” and first learned of the biomorph program, but the resemblance to evolution, for whatever reason, did not occur to me at the time. But once this occurred to me, I was quite fascinated to learn that I was, in one sense, creating artwork using a similar process as that of real life evolution on a very small scale.

Here are some screenshots from Apophysis that show the various trends and the program’s “mutation” tool.

"Complicated"

Julian Symmetry 1

Crescent

View more here.

Secret Force

April Showers

Apo3D-120421-112

View more here.

I don’t think I’ve posted about this before on this site, but, I’m into fractal art. I’ll try to post some more in the future as I make them. Enjoy. These were created using Mandelbulb 3D.

Fractal: Baker's Dozen

Fractal: Starfish in Pastel

Fractal: Walk the Plank

View more here.

Illustration for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost“ by Gustave Doré, 1866.

Here is an intriguing look at the Book of Revelation that claims that the writer of the book, emphatically not John the Apostle, wasn’t writing about the end of the world, but rather about the collapse of the Roman empire, with Nero as the one stamped with the numerals 666.

I don’t know what John Milton’s personal interpretation of the Revelation might have been other than what he wrote in Paradise Lost, but it seems at least plausible to me that Milton, as ever, was onto something revolutionary.

In Paradise Lost, Satan, of course, is actually the Satan of religious lore, but Milton also established his character to symbolically represent Charles I, the king of England, and hell as the British monarch and empire at large. Students of British history well know, of course, that Milton was in favor of dethroning Charles I and supported republicanism, free speech and freedom of the press. In other words, he was well ahead of his time.

Again, I don’t know if a study has ever been undertaken, but what are the implications here if Milton, some 360 years ago, interpreted the Book of Revelation in the more modern sense, with the “end” coming not to the world, but to what was perceived as an evil, oppressive empire?

4 big myths of Book of Revelation – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs.

[Image credit: Illustration for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost“ by Gustave Doré, 1866.]

You know it’s been awhile when, just out of curiosity — I did this 30 seconds ago  —  you have to load your own website into the browser just to make sure you’re still up and running.

Looks like we are still live. That said, I will explain briefly the nature of this much too long hiatus. First, I moved to a different state and to a new job. As such, I wasn’t online for a good portion of that hiatus. As it turns out, AT&T’s promised “self-installation” U-verse package doesn’t quite live up to the billing. Second, and this is the real kicker, I write more, much more, at the new job. Thus, my creative energies get utilized more throughout the day rather than just for 30 minutes or an hour late at night and half-medicated on port. Third, I really enjoy Madden 12. Don’t get me wrong. I suck at it, but I have slowly been climbing my way out of the gutter. Thus, instead of being 20 games behind .500, I am now about 10 back. That’s what we call progress. Fourth, I really enjoy reading long and verbose accounts of the Civil War. And it wouldn’t much matter if I liked it or not at this point. I’m now entrenched in the 2012 office read-off, except this time, Blake and I happen to be in different offices. But I’m sure that won’t stop us from slogging our through one obscure book after another.

So, yes. I’ve been slacking off with regard to this site. Fresher posts are forthcoming. I hope. I never have quite been able to reach my goal of one or more post every single day, and I don’t know if I will. We’ll still call it a goal, but I’m afraid if I commit to it for sure, one hobby will just have to go. Did I mention I’ve been studying some calculations in order to improve my skills at Texas Hold’em? Good use of my time, I know.

Since this stunning portrayal of Christopher Hitchens’ final days by friend, Ian McEwan, I have been waiting for the great contrarian’s final published essay to be released.

Here it is: The Reactionary. This will be available in the March 2012 edition of The Atlantic.

Word of warning: unless you are an expert on post-Victorian British literature (I certainly am not), you may want to research a little beforehand. Hitchens, though lucid as ever, even to the last and apparently napping a little in between paragraphs, seems splendidly incomprehensible in his book reviews unless one is generally familiar with the topic at hand.