The Soviet auto podcaster did a noble tribute to the Renault taxis that helped to win a crucial battle in WW1. These Renaults were the standard Paris taxi at that time. From airplane surveillance, army commanders realized they had an opportunity to defeat a Kraut attack on Paris if they could move troops fast enough to the right spot. Trains were blocked by battles everywhere, so the army mobilized the taxis. The taxi drivers responded, and the Renaults were running day and night for several days. The Kraut attack was halted by a true volunteer force.
In 2020 I made one picture using this 1906 taxi, amid the Bush-Trump torture blitzkrieg that did more damage to the world than the Krauts could ever imagine. I was trying to maintain a steady purpose, pumping out courseware for work and graphics for hopefully meaningful fun.
The Renault model wasn’t mine; it was made by Lucien Lilippe and found at ShareCG. Later I lost the model when my computer failed. ShareCG disappeared in April of this year without notifying anyone. I can’t pick up the Lilippe model again, and I also lost my own models stored there. Fortunately I had CD backups of my own things but not the Renault. So I’ll just have to repeat the picture in the old blogpost.
The 2020 piece fits several current themes. I’m also finishing off courseware debugging today and waiting for approval, and also trying to maintain a steady purpose in the midst of a different (and far less deadly) worldwide lunacy.
Carver, also around 1906:
Start where you are.
Work with what you have.
Make something of it.
Never give up.
= = = = = START 2020 REPRINT:
Courseware debugging is hung up this weekend by another of those yak-shaving waits for permission, so I got bored.
Reading splendid old French tech magazines reminded me that 1906 is a pivot point in tech history, for reasons that still aren’t clear. Every real invention was done by 1906, at least in conceptual form. Some of the concepts had to wait for refinements in materials and manufacturing. All “new” inventions since then are reinventing a pre-1906 invention and falsely calling it new. Why 1906? It wasn’t the start of a war or a major revolution, it wasn’t a plague or religious frenzy. No obvious stopping points or inflection points outside the tech world.
Those old French books had wonderful illustrations. This one caught my attention because the car is obviously a Renault. Can I reproduce this with available materials?
Yes. Fortunately I didn’t have to make the Renault, or substitute my 1906 Great Smith car. Amazingly, Lucien Lilippe already made one. I already had the telescope and the terrain, and I’d just used the terrain in the hail cannon animation.
= = = = = END 2020 REPRINT.
Polistra's Mill 