R ick Spix works at a company that builds ruggedized computers and flat panel display systems for the military. After getting an AS degree in computer electronics technology and some additional work in math and chemistry, he spent many years in the satellite communications and fiber optics industries. He says he first discovered fractals in the late 1980s. "As with most early fractals on monitors, the colors were very bright and psychedelic ...," he explained. Nowadays, with fractal artists

more »

... ing up everywhere on the Internet, Spix still looks back at the first time he discovered fractal software. "I've sometimes thought that maybe a lot of us [fractal artists] are just old hippies who miss their black light posters."