...and today's holiday

[magid]

Is apparently Julia Day, at least according to the Google logo.
Julia Gaston, that is, fractal finder (maker? that old discover/create debate), whose birthday it is.

Comments

[missdimple.livejournal.com]

OK, so what is exactly a fractal other than cool swirly things? I tried using google to figure it out and couldn't.

Re:

[cnoocy]

A fractal is a mathematical figure of fractional dimension. That is, a square is a 2-dimensional figure, a cube is a 3-dimensional figure, and the Sierpinski triangle is a 1.58-dimensional (log 3/log 2) figure. There's more information at this page. The other major property of a fractal is its self-similarity, which means that "if you zoom in on a fractal object it will look similar or exactly like the original shape." This is what gives fractals their complex look.