I'm sure someone has already found something akin to this, as you guys have given this 35 more years of thought than I have (and over 40 years more thought than my friend), but I wanted to document this just in case.
So, I just introduced my absentminded friend to Conway's Game Of Life a few hours ago, and he did something very predictable: he scribbled, drawing faces and stuff. Gradually, as I taught him how to make and name different patterns, his scribbles grew more refined. At one point, as I was showing him how to create an interchange, he stuck a prebeehive right between all three blinkers in the top of the interchange, like so:
Code: Select all
#CXRLE Pos=-16,-12
x = 9, y = 16, rule = B3/S23
4bo$4bo$4bo$3b3o$9o7$3o3b3o2$4bo$4bo$4bo!
When he compulsively pressed the "return" button, I was astounded to find him inquiring what the heck that gigantic oscillator in the middle was. I congratulated him on finding (what I hope is) a new pattern. As I deconstructed this, I found out why: in Generation 17 the lower half turns into a prepulsar.
Code: Select all
#CXRLE Pos=-16,-12 Gen=17
x = 9, y = 13, rule = B3/S23
4bo$4bo$4bo8$3o3b3o$obo3bobo$3o3b3o!
The final result also spawns a junk blinker, which I have found no obvious way of eliminating without using some sort of edgerepair spaceship or whatnot that greatly increases the bounding box and population of the initial pattern.
So, let's all give a hand to Costa!
