Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Fractals as patterns in complex systems

The first thing that I thought of was my daughter. From a distance she looks a certain way, but up close she is much different. There are times when she is sleeping that I stare at her. It is incredible the detail that I can find. The curves in her fingers, the length of her eyelashes, the folds of her ears. Her fingerprints.
Then I thought of the water drops from my carport that land on my windshield. They make these incredible patters that remind me of the puffballs on a dandelion. Which brings me to the puffball. Have you ever inspected one of those up close? They are marvelously put together.

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