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Vouch Insurance Chicago Office: Careers, Perks + Culture

Learn if you are required to make estimated tax payments to the Mass. Department of Revenue (DOR). Income, Fiduciary, Corporate Excise, and Financial Institution estimated tax payments can be made online with MassTaxConnect.

DOR Estimated Tax Payments

Edit videos, create playlists, choose from templates and apply company branding straight from your browser - no expensive editing suites, agencies or designers required. From a native video player to website embeds and a host of integrations, Vouch makes it easy to get your content out into ...

Make impactful videos, the easy way | Vouch

Vouch is a new kind of digital insurer that protects startups from mistakes, litigation and attack.

Startup Insurance for Venture Backed Companies | Vouch

Automotive Workflow Provides automotive companies various solutions for the automotive industry from rentals to new car purchases to test drives. ... Vouched’s platform is highly flexible that enables you to customize your own identity verification workflow solution to meet the needs for ...

Vouched | Digital Identity Verification

Vouch Insurance | 11,231 followers on LinkedIn. Vouch is a new kind of insurance platform for startups. | Insurance... sounds slow, old-fashioned, and unexciting. Exactly. Insurance is broken, and it&#x27;s failing fast-moving startups and growing technology companies.

Vouch Insurance | LinkedIn

Vouch, a provider of business insurance to startups and high-growth companies, announced today it has raised $90 million in new funding. The $90 million

Startup insurance provider Vouch raises $90M, now valued at $550M ...

Vouch is business insurance for high-growth companies (from garage to IPO). In under 10 minutes, founders and finance teams can apply for coverage customized for their startup and industry vertical. Vouch offers 10+ lines of proprietary coverage, from General Liability, EPL, D&amp;O, to Cyber policies.

Vouch: Insurance and risk management tools for startups and ...

A top KYC Solution by Banking CIO Outlook, Vouched is an expert on hundreds of government-issued photo identity documents, including driver’s licenses, passports, and permanent resident cards. Vouched helps banks, gig and sharing companies, employment screening and recruiting businesses, ...

Datasoft announces strategic partnership with Vouched ID Verification

Vouched uses artificial intelligence to help companies verify the identity of their customers, clients and contractors. Its software analyzes images of photo identity documents including passports and driver’s licenses. The technology compares a user’s selfie to confirm identity.

Vouched raises $3M as pandemic drives demand for its ID verification ...

Vouched

vouched

Welcome to HackerNoon’s interview series. This section is curated by our Editorial team to spotlight bold and disruptive startups across the globe. If you’ve been nominated, and answer these questions Startups-Of-The-Year create a brand profile here. Hey Hackers, Vouched has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startup of the Year awards in Seattle, WA. Please vote for us here: Seattle Startups Read more about us below to understand why we deserve your vote. Meet Vouched Vouched provides an AI-powered identity verification solution, designed for precision, speed, and scalability. We enable businesses to streamline onboarding, enhance customer experience, unlock growth potential, and cut operational costs, all while adhering to essential know-your-customer/patient (KYC/KYP) requirements. Our proprietary AI technology uniquely combines multiple models and rigorous data checks to identify over 99.58% of known fraud cases - one of the industry's top detection rates. Our end-to-end solution uses distinctive methods for examining ID documents, allowing us to adapt swiftly as new identification forms emerge. We offer same-day implementation, instantly adding value without dependency on third-party technologies. Capable of identifying over 85% of the global population and continually expanding, Vouched is steadfast in its mission to seamlessly verify anyone, anywhere - including hard-to-identify groups like new immigrants - to facilitate access to life's essential services. Vouched is gaining momentum in sectors like financial services and healthcare, where regulatory compliance and security are crucial. Our clients, such as Hims Health and Alloy, benefit from our abilities to expedite decision-making processes. My Role John Baird is the CEO and Co-founder of Vouched, where he directs the development of a revolutionary AI platform that streamlines user identity verification for businesses worldwide. Leveraging cutting-edge computer vision and AI technology, Vouched verifies individual identities, enabling fast and secure customer onboarding. This not only connects businesses to verified users rapidly but also offers a seamless way for businesses to satisfy their identity validation needs. Inspired by his experiences at Blue Nile and a major automotive manufacturer, John now applies his vision and knowledge to enhancing the Vouched platform, continually raising the bar for the identity verification industry. How We're Disrupting/Improving the Identity Verification Industry As fraud schemes increasingly become more sophisticated, so too must the technology requirements to identify, prevent, and stop them. By applying dozens of proprietary AI models and robust data checks simultaneously, Vouched can verify individuals and detect over 99.58% of known fraud cases. This fraud sensitivity detection rate is believed to be one of the highest in the industry. As fraud evolves, the company's AI fraud models learn quickly to combat fraudsters. With its vision to become the single largest identity token provider for any business, Vouched's AI solution enables the company to expand its operations globally with a highly efficient capital model. Standing Out from The Crowd Compared to other IDV vendors, Vouched relies on proprietary AI and consultative expertise to deliver a proven verification solution that helps businesses rapidly grow through customer acquisition while protecting their business and providing long-term cost savings. Vouched is constantly improving its AI that today delivers market-leading results such as a visual identity verification approval accuracy of 99.44%, and when combined with our robust data reviews, an overall approval accuracy of 99.58%. We are helping to build a global trust ecosystem by making it easier for companies and individuals to verify each other's identities. John and his team are also motivated by the potential of Vouched to use AI for the betterment of society, helping people who are underserved by the financial system, such as immigrants and young adults, who have often been labeled as credit invisible. Because the Vouched solution is multidimensional and dynamic, evaluating a person based on criteria unique to their country, language, and use case verifies people worldwide, including hard-to-identify populations. Vouched believes everyone has the right to access banking services, healthcare, and other essential services. Our Predictions/Thoughts on the Identity Verification Industry in 2023 IDV solutions need to continue innovating to meet the current and future requirements of the industry. More than 50% of customers applying for online services such as bank accounts abandon the process due to lengthy wait times, non-intuitive and subpar customer experience, or a high percentage of false negatives that prevent qualified individuals from completing the process. Moreover, the pandemic has driven more than 65% of online banking, resulting in a significant increase in fraud rate attempts in the financial services industry last year. In this context, businesses require a solution that offers proven IDV expertise, flexibility to meet their evolving needs and drive customer growth, and full compliance with their industry's regulations. Vouched is one of the few IDV partners that can fulfill these requirements while also innovating for the future of IDV. What word defines the state of Identity Verification in 2023? Innovation is the single word that best describes the IDV industry for this year. The good news is that the growth of this industry has attracted some of the brightest minds in AI and machine learning, and we are seeing not just iterative improvements, but major leaps forward in terms of product innovation to help businesses build trust with their customers, and confidently transact and engage with them. Why we decided to participate in HackerNoon's Startup of the Year awards For Vouched, the first half of 2023 has been an incredible time of growth and innovation. We’re adding new features to our IDV solution, expanding our team, and growing our customer footprint in key areas such as healthcare. We value the HackerNoon community’s support for cutting-edge products and are excited to share more details about our business milestones. Final Thoughts Vouched has already established itself as a powerful player in the IDV industry, able to identify over 85% of the global population and rapidly expanding. The company is committed to fulfilling its mission of providing expert identification services to anyone, anywhere, in order to facilitate access to life's most essential services, while championing the idea of using AI for the good of humankind. In a world where identity is crucial, AI-powered IDV technology is able to make a significant impact by providing identity to those who were previously “invisible.” Furthermore, the future of IDV solutions must provide persistent and pervasive identity tokens that are unique and readily accessible to individuals engaging with businesses digitally, whether in Web3, the metaverse, or across the web. This will effectively serve as the identity verification layer for the entirety of the internet. However, for any technology to assume this enormous responsibility, it must be proven, scalable, secure, and built on open technology standards - all of which Vouched has developed to realize its market vision. Vote for us today! Seattle Startups

Startups of the Year 2023: Vouched - The AI-Powered Identity Verification Solution

10 Best Communication Tools For Your Remote Teams In 2024 (Tested & Vouched For)

Reputation, in its most traditional definition, is a fragile tapestry of interaction amongst humans: an elaborate interplay between social proof, intuition, and subjectivity. It's an unspoken calculus by which we decide whom to trust, whom to listen to, and whom best to avoid when operating in the physical world. But in the decentralized world, this fluid-and-frail version of reputation must become hardened into something concretely mathematical, something machine-readable, and yet still quintessentially human. Its realization might be the most ambitious challenge for any designer of decentralized infrastructures. It is not only a question of how to make trust secure but also how to render reputation measurable, reliable, useful, and actionable outside the realm of theory. We are standing in front of a new frontier in trust, an age that requires us to make the notion of reputation programmable and enforceable. While blockchain technology promises a "trustless" world in which centralized intermediaries have no relevance, this vision leaves one critical part of human interaction. Guess what? It is how we quantify such subjective factors as trust and reputation without sacrificing the nuances that make it meaningful and untouched. This is where I want to dig deeper. From Abstract to Measurable: How Reputation Evolved Let me map the key paradox before going into the specifics of the solutions: On decentralized systems, reputation can't exist as an abstract conceptual philosophical issue. The trustworthiness of a user can't be left to subjective judgment on a peer-to-peer network. It has to be quantified, audited, and then enforced. And to actually design this effectively, we really have to resort not just to technology automating trust but encoding quite literally what reputation means. Let me outline three pressing challenges that reputation faces in decentralized systems: Reputation portability. While in a centralized system, reputation might be confined to one particular platform or network; in decentralized ecosystems, reputation has to be portable. This portability is necessary because users span multiple dApps, platforms, and ecosystems, from DeFi protocols to social marketplaces. Reputation data should not be left in silos. In itself, however, portability creates risks: reputation needs to be adapted to context. How can one protocol make assessments about an established reputation elsewhere? How does the user guarantee that standing in a decentralized social network applies in, for instance, a decentralized lending platform? Verifiable trust without full disclosure. Decentralized infrastructures prize privacy and anonymity. Still, trust (at least in its traditional sense) demands transparency. A balance needs to be reached whereby one's reputation can be verifiable without sensitive information about one's identity or past interactions. How can you prove you are reputable without giving away private transactions or other private information? Dynamic reputation systems. Trust is never set in concrete. A brilliant reputation today may be blemished tomorrow, but in the decentralized world, reputation cannot afford to remain static. Yet, blockchain's immutable nature creates an issue. How can we ensure that reputation reflects the real-time evolution of a user's trustworthiness? Autonomy Matrix and Aut: A Unified Approach to Trust Āutonomy Matrix and Āut's unified system is active in the space of proposing reputation, not as a concept but rather, as a real and integral part of the solution within a formalized environment. The system is working toward the implementation of a global reputation economy by using reputation scores pegged to DIDs. The gaps remain, though, even with forward momentum in these systems. Of these many intriguing proposals in this matrix, one of the more exciting involves adding zero-knowledge proofs to reputation management. ZKPs allow a person to prove some statement (for instance, that she has behaved in a trustworthy manner) without actually needing to reveal the underlying actions that came to that conclusion. For example, being able to prove that you have a 90% trust score across a DeFi lending platform without revealing just who lent or paid back what. This technique provides an extra layer of privacy, while a person's reputation is portable and provable in this decentralized and trustless environment. Now, a creative question: what if reputation could be tokenized itself? Just picture tokens of reputation flowing in value as any given user behaves well or badly. These would be transferable across platforms and would represent a liquid form of one's digital reputation. This might create "Reputation Markets" - a place where individuals and organizations can trade, lend, or borrow reputation. Undoubtedly, this would embed a layer of gamification, and reputation could be a currency while opening opportunities for abuse and innovation. Nevertheless, the idea that reputation can be digitized into something that one owns and can invest in, trade, or loan stretches the limits of how we think about trust. Filling the Gaps in Decentralized Reputation Making reputation measurable and, above all, safe, transforms it from an abstraction into something tangible, to which several structural elements need to be developed and deployed. Trust Provenance Protocols Just as decentralized systems record the origin of assets, so too does reputation require provenance. Smart contract histories could be attached to profiles, and decentralized systems might then track the origins of trust: who vouched for whom, on what terms, and under what circumstances. This all needs to be a lot more sophisticated than simplistic upvote or downvote mechanisms, as now exist on centralized platforms such as Reddit or Yelp. The origin of trust needs to weigh algorithmically according to context, not just frequency. For instance, the Reciprocity Index can be a decentralized algorithm that monitors the degree to which a user contributes to others' trust in the system versus the degree to which they benefit from it. Scores would rise for those giving trust freely and authentically, while those who merely benefit from others would see diminishing returns on reputation. Context-Aware Reputation Engines Reputation is inherently context-sensitive: the great coding reputation a user has on GitHub doesn't necessarily hold as much standing in some decentralized financial exchange. The silos can only be bridged by having context-aware reputation engines within decentralized protocols that would assess not raw reputation scores but the relevance of the latter for particular domains, dynamically adapting the user trust profiles in accordance with the environment. Reputation systems should also embed models of time decay in which the trust disappears unless it is kept alive. Applying temporal decay ensures that the reputational value will always be current. For example, a person who frequently participated in decentralized governance would see an increased reputation, whereas non-participation would equate to a decrease in their reputation score. This dynamic ensures that the trust indicators reflect the most recent behavior and, therefore, a real-time evolving snapshot of the reputation. Concluding Thoughts By aligning decentralized infrastructure with dynamic, cross-contextual reputation systems, we can push reputation from the realm of philosophy into a space where it's concrete and programmable. The integration of zero-knowledge proofs, time-weighted trust mechanisms, and cross-platform identity verification systems is not just the next step in decentralization but an entirely different approach to trust. But here's the rub: this is infrastructure that is not just technical; it is cultural. The tools we design to handle decentralized reputation must be ones that perform and reflect the rich nuances in human behavior. Trust is nuanced, multilayered, and evolves over time. If decentralized systems can handle that both in code and in practice, we might just build a future where reputation becomes as liquid an asset as currency itself. Perhaps someday, trust will no longer be a question but an asset to be made clear: securely, privately, and with confidence. Reputation, in its most traditional definition, is a fragile tapestry of interaction amongst humans: an elaborate interplay between social proof, intuition, and subjectivity. It's an unspoken calculus by which we decide whom to trust, whom to listen to, and whom best to avoid when operating in the physical world. But in the decentralized world, this fluid-and-frail version of reputation must become hardened into something concretely mathematical, something machine-readable, and yet still quintessentially human. Its realization might be the most ambitious challenge for any designer of decentralized infrastructures. It is not only a question of how to make trust secure but also how to render reputation measurable, reliable, useful, and actionable outside the realm of theory. We are standing in front of a new frontier in trust, an age that requires us to make the notion of reputation programmable and enforceable. While blockchain technology promises a "trustless" world in which centralized intermediaries have no relevance, this vision leaves one critical part of human interaction. Guess what? It is how we quantify such subjective factors as trust and reputation without sacrificing the nuances that make it meaningful and untouched. This is where I want to dig deeper. From Abstract to Measurable: How Reputation Evolved Let me map the key paradox before going into the specifics of the solutions: On decentralized systems, reputation can't exist as an abstract conceptual philosophical issue. The trustworthiness of a user can't be left to subjective judgment on a peer-to-peer network. It has to be quantified, audited, and then enforced. And to actually design this effectively, we really have to resort not just to technology automating trust but encoding quite literally what reputation means. Let me outline three pressing challenges that reputation faces in decentralized systems: Reputation portability. While in a centralized system, reputation might be confined to one particular platform or network; in decentralized ecosystems, reputation has to be portable. This portability is necessary because users span multiple dApps, platforms, and ecosystems, from DeFi protocols to social marketplaces. Reputation data should not be left in silos. In itself, however, portability creates risks: reputation needs to be adapted to context. How can one protocol make assessments about an established reputation elsewhere? How does the user guarantee that standing in a decentralized social network applies in, for instance, a decentralized lending platform? Reputation portability. While in a centralized system, reputation might be confined to one particular platform or network; in decentralized ecosystems, reputation has to be portable. This portability is necessary because users span multiple dApps, platforms, and ecosystems, from DeFi protocols to social marketplaces. Reputation data should not be left in silos. In itself, however, portability creates risks: reputation needs to be adapted to context. How can one protocol make assessments about an established reputation elsewhere? How does the user guarantee that standing in a decentralized social network applies in, for instance, a decentralized lending platform? Verifiable trust without full disclosure. Decentralized infrastructures prize privacy and anonymity. Still, trust (at least in its traditional sense) demands transparency. A balance needs to be reached whereby one's reputation can be verifiable without sensitive information about one's identity or past interactions. How can you prove you are reputable without giving away private transactions or other private information? Verifiable trust without full disclosure. Decentralized infrastructures prize privacy and anonymity. Still, trust (at least in its traditional sense) demands transparency. A balance needs to be reached whereby one's reputation can be verifiable without sensitive information about one's identity or past interactions. How can you prove you are reputable without giving away private transactions or other private information? Dynamic reputation systems. Trust is never set in concrete. A brilliant reputation today may be blemished tomorrow, but in the decentralized world, reputation cannot afford to remain static. Yet, blockchain's immutable nature creates an issue. How can we ensure that reputation reflects the real-time evolution of a user's trustworthiness? Dynamic reputation systems. Trust is never set in concrete. A brilliant reputation today may be blemished tomorrow, but in the decentralized world, reputation cannot afford to remain static. Yet, blockchain's immutable nature creates an issue. How can we ensure that reputation reflects the real-time evolution of a user's trustworthiness? Autonomy Matrix and Aut: A Unified Approach to Trust Āutonomy Matrix and Āut's unified system is active in the space of proposing reputation, not as a concept but rather, as a real and integral part of the solution within a formalized environment. The system is working toward the implementation of a global reputation economy by using reputation scores pegged to DIDs. The gaps remain, though, even with forward momentum in these systems. Of these many intriguing proposals in this matrix, one of the more exciting involves adding zero-knowledge proofs to reputation management. ZKPs allow a person to prove some statement (for instance, that she has behaved in a trustworthy manner) without actually needing to reveal the underlying actions that came to that conclusion. For example, being able to prove that you have a 90% trust score across a DeFi lending platform without revealing just who lent or paid back what. This technique provides an extra layer of privacy, while a person's reputation is portable and provable in this decentralized and trustless environment. Now, a creative question: what if reputation could be tokenized itself? Just picture tokens of reputation flowing in value as any given user behaves well or badly. These would be transferable across platforms and would represent a liquid form of one's digital reputation. This might create "Reputation Markets" - a place where individuals and organizations can trade, lend, or borrow reputation. Undoubtedly, this would embed a layer of gamification, and reputation could be a currency while opening opportunities for abuse and innovation. Now, a creative question: what if reputation could be tokenized itself? Just picture tokens of reputation flowing in value as any given user behaves well or badly. These would be transferable across platforms and would represent a liquid form of one's digital reputation. This might create "Reputation Markets" - a place where individuals and organizations can trade, lend, or borrow reputation. Undoubtedly, this would embed a layer of gamification, and reputation could be a currency while opening opportunities for abuse and innovation. Nevertheless, the idea that reputation can be digitized into something that one owns and can invest in, trade, or loan stretches the limits of how we think about trust. Nevertheless, the idea that reputation can be digitized into something that one owns and can invest in, trade, or loan stretches the limits of how we think about trust. Filling the Gaps in Decentralized Reputation Making reputation measurable and, above all, safe, transforms it from an abstraction into something tangible, to which several structural elements need to be developed and deployed. Trust Provenance Protocols Just as decentralized systems record the origin of assets, so too does reputation require provenance. Smart contract histories could be attached to profiles, and decentralized systems might then track the origins of trust: who vouched for whom, on what terms, and under what circumstances. This all needs to be a lot more sophisticated than simplistic upvote or downvote mechanisms, as now exist on centralized platforms such as Reddit or Yelp. The origin of trust needs to weigh algorithmically according to context, not just frequency. For instance, the Reciprocity Index can be a decentralized algorithm that monitors the degree to which a user contributes to others' trust in the system versus the degree to which they benefit from it. Scores would rise for those giving trust freely and authentically, while those who merely benefit from others would see diminishing returns on reputation. Reciprocity Index Context-Aware Reputation Engines Reputation is inherently context-sensitive: the great coding reputation a user has on GitHub doesn't necessarily hold as much standing in some decentralized financial exchange. The silos can only be bridged by having context-aware reputation engines within decentralized protocols that would assess not raw reputation scores but the relevance of the latter for particular domains, dynamically adapting the user trust profiles in accordance with the environment. Reputation systems should also embed models of time decay in which the trust disappears unless it is kept alive. Applying temporal decay ensures that the reputational value will always be current. For example, a person who frequently participated in decentralized governance would see an increased reputation, whereas non-participation would equate to a decrease in their reputation score. This dynamic ensures that the trust indicators reflect the most recent behavior and, therefore, a real-time evolving snapshot of the reputation. Concluding Thoughts By aligning decentralized infrastructure with dynamic, cross-contextual reputation systems, we can push reputation from the realm of philosophy into a space where it's concrete and programmable. The integration of zero-knowledge proofs, time-weighted trust mechanisms, and cross-platform identity verification systems is not just the next step in decentralization but an entirely different approach to trust. But here's the rub: this is infrastructure that is not just technical; it is cultural. The tools we design to handle decentralized reputation must be ones that perform and reflect the rich nuances in human behavior. Trust is nuanced, multilayered, and evolves over time. If decentralized systems can handle that both in code and in practice, we might just build a future where reputation becomes as liquid an asset as currency itself. Perhaps someday, trust will no longer be a question but an asset to be made clear: securely, privately, and with confidence.

The Tangible Reputation: Engineering Trust in a Decentralized World

Hmatatelná pověst: Inženýrská důvěra v decentralizovaném světě

La reputación tangible: generando confianza en un mundo descentralizado

La réputation tangible : l'ingénierie de la confiance dans un monde décentralisé

A kézzelfogható hírnév: Mérnöki bizalom egy decentralizált világban

具体的な評判: 分散化された世界における信頼の構築

ხელშესახები რეპუტაცია: საინჟინრო ნდობა დეცენტრალიზებულ სამყაროში

Материалдық бедел: орталықтандырылмаған әлемдегі инженерлік сенім

실체적 평판: 분산화된 세계에서의 신뢰 엔지니어링

Taustāmā reputācija: inženieru uzticība decentralizētā pasaulē

Опипљива репутација: инжењерско поверење у децентрализованом свету

እቲ ዝጭበጥ ዝና፡ ምህንድስናዊ ምትእምማን ኣብ ዘይተማእከለ ዓለም

Ang Tangible na Reputasyon: Engineering Trust sa isang Desentralisadong Mundo

The wait is over! - it’s time to celebrate the champion startups of the world. Shout out to all of the participants in our ! You did a wonderful job showcasing your incredible startups and powering through another year. 2023 Startups of the Year is a community-driven voting platform brought to you by HackerNoon that recognizes and celebrates tech startups changing technology and the world for the better. The award started on May 8th, 2023, where the internet nominated and voted for 30k startups around the world. The voting period remained open until December 31, 2023, and now we are here with the winner announcement after a comprehensive evaluation by the HackerNoon team. Startups of the Year 2023 To see the top 3 startups in each respective city, visit and pick a city. hackernoon.com/startups You’ll get a little surprise 😉 Here are the Startups of the Year Regional Announcements: North America Europe Asia Africa South America Oceania Misc/Remote From all of us at HackerNoon, thank YOU for your excellent campaign perseverance 🥺 This year has been awesome! Startups of the Year 2023 is concluded with 623k+ total votes, up from 215k+ votes in the inaugural startup competition. We look forward to seeing you again in the next campaign (stay tuned 😉)! Without further ado, let us kick off the announcement by celebrating the cities with top votes per region for 2023 🎉 North America (11,697 votes): Winner: Bloomfilter Cleveland, Ohio (8,835 votes) - Winner: SerpApi Austin, Texas , California (5,564 votes) - Winner: Finch San Francisco (4,258 votes) - Winner: RELAYTO SoMa, California - (3339 votes) Winner: Windscribe Toronto, Canada, North America (3304 votes) - Winner: Vouched Seattle (2716 votes) - Winner: Seccuri Palo Alto, CA, North America (2671 votes) - Winner: Salsa Valley Miami, FL, North America (2,613 votes) - Winner: Majhi Group Manhattan, New York (2423 votes) - Winner: Flieber, Inc. New York City, NY, North America See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, North America, here Europe (45,612 votes) - Winner: Algomo London, UK (2,344votes) - Winner: Data Lake Warsaw, Poland (1,955 votes) - Winner: Hoken Tech Bari, Italy (1716 votes) - Winner: Not8 Amsterdam, Netherlands (1657 votes) - Winner: KYVE Frankfurt Am Main, Germany (1566 votes) - Winner: BazaIT Kyiv, Ukraine (1496 votes) - Winner:  Unity Network Tallinn, Estonia (1,478 votes) - Winner: Volcaino Ghent, Belgium (1,288 votes) - Winner: Owl Me Dublin, Ireland (1198 votes) - Winner: Groover Paris, France See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Europe, here Oceania (3,350 votes) - Winner: Sharepass Melbourne (2,107 votes) - Winner: The Catfisher Project Perth, Australia (220 votes) - Winner: Gemini AI Solutions Auckland, New Zealand, Oceania (213 votes) - Winner: Nexustorage Wellington, New Zealand, Oceania (138 votes) - Winner: Coviu Sydney (124 votes) - Winner: Bopple Brisbane, Australia, Oceania (124 votes) - Winner: Regional CFO New South Wales, Australia, Oceania (106 votes) - Winner: Edit on the Spot Gold Coast, Australia, Oceania (93 votes) - Winner: Knowledge Satnav Canbera, Australia, Oceania , Australia, Oceania (48 votes) - Winner: Peptalk360 North Melbourne, Melbourne See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Oceania, here Asia (16,345 votes) - Winner: Serenity Shield Singapore (13,588 votes) - Winners: QUIXY Telangana, India (10,168 votes) - Winner: HealthySure Mumbai, India (3,865 votes) - Winner: InterviewBuddy Visakhapatnam, India (3,733 votes) - Winner: Omniflo Bengaluru, India (4589 votes) - Winner: MeNow Tel Aviv (3877 votes) - Winner: ForestVPN Dubai (2478 votes) - Winner: TechGraph Powai, Mumbai, India (1004 votes) - Winner: Reelo Ahmedabad, GJ, India (875 votes) - Winner: Debt Hunter Hong Kong, China See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Asia, here Africa (8,179 votes) - Winner: GO PLATFORM Algiers, Algeria (767 votes) - Winner: Tudu Accra, Ghana (415 votes) - Winner: Treford Lagos, Nigeria (265 votes) - Winner: Phalconwise Ogbomosho, Nigeria (157 votes) - Winner: AbuErdan Cairo (151 votes) - Winner: Eazipay Lekki (144 votes) - Winner: KaziConnect Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (101 votes) - Winner: faceATT Gauteng, South Africa (79 votes) - Winner: Dimagi Cape Town (71 votes) - Winner: Sabi Addis Ababa See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Africa, here South America (376 votes ) - Winner: UpGirl Santiago, Chile (217 votes) - Winner: Klever Sao Paulo, Brazil (191 votes) - Winner: Tributo Simple Buenos Aires, Argentina (127 votes) - Winner: Light-it Montevideo, Uruguay (87 votes) -Winner: Thousand Antioquia, Colombia (108 votes) - Winner: GetLavado Lima (101 votes) - Winner: Cogniflow Medellin (73 votes) - Winner: TPAGA Bogota (73 votes) - Winner: Reliv Quito (47 votes) - WInner: Quantex Cordoba See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, South America, here Misc/Remote: Featured Startups (1500 votes) - Winner: CIC Chain Remote, Earth (1193 votes) - Winner: Reship Colony US Misc (146 Votes) - Winner: Partful UK, Misc (116 votes) - Winner: GoMining British Virgin Islands Misc (283 Votes) - Winner: tomorrowSpace Germany Misc (225 votes) - Winner: Dtravel Cayman Islands See the complete announcement for Misc/Remote startups . here Once again, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS and BIG PROPS to all of the top Startups of each region this year! The whole team at HackerNoon would like to thank you for your perseverance in the campaign, and we look forward to seeing you in the next campaign. About HackerNoon’s Startups Of The Year Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated this year to be crowned the best startup in their city. Visit our page to learn more. FAQ Companies that blog more get 67% more leads - Jumpstart your company’s blogging journey by purchasing our . Business Blogging Package The 2023 Startups Of The Year is sponsored by: . . The winners get a free .Tech Domain, a HackerNoon NFT, and a Tech Company News Page. TECH Domains

Stand Up for the Champion Startups of the Year! 

বছরের চ্যাম্পিয়ন স্টার্টআপের জন্য দাঁড়ান!

Setzen Sie sich für die Champion-Startups des Jahres ein!

¡Defiende a las startups campeonas del año!

Défendez les startups championnes de l’année !

वर्ष के चैंपियन स्टार्टअप के लिए खड़े रहें!

今年のチャンピオンスタートアップのために立ち上がろう!

올해의 챔피언 스타트업을 위해 일어서세요!

Defenda as startups campeãs do ano!

Встаньте на защиту стартапов-чемпионов года!

Yılın Şampiyon Startup'ları için Ayağa Kalkın!

Hãy ủng hộ các công ty khởi nghiệp vô địch của năm!

为年度冠军初创企业挺身而出！

Startups of The Year 2023 Winners: North America 

I started thinking about the way automation can dehumanize marketing and sales in a way that rejects and alienates people. It’s what you get when you view talking to people as being a quantity over quality equation. It’s what you get when you don’t spend time with your audience in a meaningful way, and instead view them as a collection of dollar signs who don’t matter to you as people. This excerpt from Jon Westenberg’s article ‘ ’ got me reflecting on my own experience as a consumer. Stop treating me like a piece of shit. When was the last time I signed up for a newsletter hoping to get value and not get bombarded with a series of sales messages? I kept drawing a blank. Then I peeked through my inbox and LinkedIn Inmails and understood why Jon felt so frustrated. Exhibit A Back to back reminders for a sale when I hadn’t even opened their emails sent two months ago. Exhibit B Sponsored messages like these on LinkedIn are the absolute worst. I have zero relationship with gaming. I’m also neither an engineer nor a management graduate. This is a classic example of the ‘spray and pray’ method. I’m sure you’ve also experienced a similar deluge of spam disguised as marketing communication. With exceptions, of course. At best, they’re easy to ignore. At worst, they feel desperate and invasive. But even then, I wouldn’t say automation is dehumanizing marketing. I think, as always, the problem lies with the people *doing* automation. In What Ways Can Automated Marketing Interactions Be Dehumanizing? The purpose of marketing has always been to generate interest in a business’s products and services among an audience that can genuinely benefit from what it’s selling. ( Emphasis on the ‘genuinely benefit’ part) But when a business chooses to spam you with sales messages left and right, without paying attention to your actual needs, then that’s not marketing. That’s just reducing you to data points in a CRM. You become nothing more than a sales target – as Jon shares in his own experience. This lack of empathy and nuance in communication is the reason why most marketing feels impersonal and generic today. Because most of the time, it actually is! Just sending algorithm-based, pre-set responses and expecting to get a sale? You’ve got to be kidding. But as a content marketer myself, I can understand the intention to use carefully timed, automated communication. Done well, it’s a great way of collecting customer data and getting quantifiable performance insights that can be presented to the stakeholders. Besides, multiple surveys have also vouched for the effectiveness of marketing automation. To quote a few: For every dollar spent, on average. marketing automation returns %5.44 Triggered emails (sent based on user action) have a than other types of campaigns. This makes sense given how they’re synced and queued to mirror the user journey. 152% higher CTR and 70.5% higher open rates Sharing automated, personalized offers based on purchase and browsing history can improve sales by 20%. This looks like a success driver, doesn’t it? No wonder marketers want to automate every touchpoint in the customer journey. That said, I’ll read the data with a grain of salt. It doesn’t always paint the bigger or fuller picture of the real world. But like I said, the real problem with marketing automation is the (mis)use in the hands of the marketers. It has never been about technology. “If it weren't for the people, the god-damn people' said Finnerty, 'always getting tangled up in the machinery. If it weren't for them, the world would be an engineer's paradise.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano Can Personalization Save Automated Marketing? For years, marketers have been touting the combination of automation and personalization as the be-all for marketing success. But personalization as a concept has been woefully reduced to <insert first name> tactics. *ahem* B2B marketers *ahem* So, you know my name and email address? That doesn’t give you the right to spam me for a quick call. Personalization works only if you’re using my personal information to add value to my life or help me overcome a pressing challenge. That said, some of the best examples of marketing automation that I’ve seen are in the eCommerce space. Say you added certain items to the cart but left without checking out. Two days later you get an automated message saying the items in your cart are still available at 25% off – nudging you to take action. What would you do? If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably take the offer. See? If done right, automated interactions can drive revenue growth. I feel the problem is mostly two folds: I understand it’s difficult to scale marketing automation. As of now, the technology lacks the understanding of nuance or context. But there are surely ways to segment the audience and customize messages according to their unique needs. Why do you keep running mass campaigns with generic messages? Show me you care about me to get business from me. Poor Copy: Getting the ‘item on sale’ message, like the one I mentioned above, once in a while is cool. But it’s definitely not cool to send similar promotional messages (personalized or otherwise) every two days in the week – just piling and taking up storage in the customer’s inbox. You’re just creating a hassle for the (potential) customer. Poor Frequency: Parting thoughts Marketing automation was a technology built to save time wasted in doing the grunt work: Collecting data, sending mass emails, and more. It wasn’t, however, meant to replace genuine connection and empathy for customer needs. Marketers who forget that are the ones who are failing to sell anything. As , a well-known voice in the marketing space and CEO of Your Brand Marketing, shared in an article titled “ ” on LinkedIn – Ben Baker Why I hate marketing automation! People do not feel that companies care because they get automated, contrived responses to their queries. People do not feel more loyalty because an automated response email came saying "thank you for your email, someone will be back to you in 24-72 hours.” People do not feel part of the tribe when it is impossible to find a contact phone number of a human within a company because the company feels that people are served better online.

Is Automation Dehumanizing Marketing?

অটোমেশন কি বিপণনকে অমানবিক করছে?

Entmenschlicht Automatisierung das Marketing?

¿La automatización está deshumanizando el marketing?

L’automatisation déshumanise-t-elle le marketing ?

क्या स्वचालन विपणन को अमानवीय बना रहा है?

自動化はマーケティングの人間性を奪うのか?

자동화는 마케팅을 비인간화하는가?

A automação está desumanizando o marketing?

Дегуманизирует ли автоматизация маркетинг?

Otomasyon Pazarlamayı İnsanlıktan Çıkarıyor mu?

Tự động hóa có làm mất tính nhân văn trong tiếp thị?

自动化是否会使营销失去人性化？

This Pharmacist Said Prisoners Wouldn’t Feel Pain During Lethal Injection, But Was That Really True?

Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Chapter XLIV here CHAPTER FORTY-FOURTH. Conclusion.—The Certificate.—The French Settlements.—The Post of Medina.—The Basilic.—Saint Louis.—The English Frigate.—The Return to London. The expedition upon the bank of the river had been sent by the governor of Senegal. It consisted of two officers, Messrs. Dufraisse, lieutenant of marines, and Rodamel, naval ensign, and with these were a sergeant and seven soldiers. For two days they had been engaged in reconnoitring the most favorable situation for a post at Gouina, when they became witnesses of Dr. Ferguson’s arrival. The warm greetings and felicitations of which our travellers were the recipients may be imagined. The Frenchmen, and they alone, having had ocular proof of the accomplishment of the daring project, naturally became Dr. Ferguson’s witnesses. Hence the doctor at once asked them to give their official testimony of his arrival at the cataracts of Gouina. “You would have no objection to signing a certificate of the fact, would you?” he inquired of Lieutenant Dufraisse. “At your orders!” the latter instantly replied. The Englishmen were escorted to a provisional post established on the bank of the river, where they found the most assiduous attention, and every thing to supply their wants. And there the following certificate was drawn up in the terms in which it appears to-day, in the archives of the Royal Geographical Society of London: “We, the undersigned, do hereby declare that, on the day herein mentioned, we witnessed the arrival of Dr. Ferguson and his two companions, Richard Kennedy and Joseph Wilson, clinging to the cordage and network of a balloon, and that the said balloon fell at a distance of a few paces from us into the river, and being swept away by the current was lost in the cataracts of Gouina. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals beside those of the persons hereinabove named, for the information of all whom it may concern. “Done at the Cataracts of Gouina, on the 24th of May, 1862. “(Signed), “SAMUEL FERGUSON “RICHARD KENNEDY, “JOSEPH WILSON, “DUFRAISSE, , “RODAMEL, , “DUFAYS, , “FLIPPEAU, MAYOR, PELISSIER, LOROIS, RASCAGNET, GUILLON, LEBEL, .” Lieutenant of Marines Naval Ensign Sergeant Privates Here ended the astonishing journey of Dr. Ferguson and his brave companions, as vouched for by undeniable testimony; and they found themselves among friends in the midst of most hospitable tribes, whose relations with the French settlements are frequent and amicable. They had arrived at Senegal on Saturday, the 24th of May, and on the 27th of the same month they reached the post of Medina, situated a little farther to the north, but on the river. There the French officers received them with open arms, and lavished upon them all the resources of their hospitality. Thus aided, the doctor and his friends were enabled to embark almost immediately on the small steamer called the , which ran down to the mouth of the river. Basilic Two weeks later, on the 10th of June, they arrived at Saint Louis, where the governor gave them a magnificent reception, and they recovered completely from their excitement and fatigue. Besides, Joe said to every one who chose to listen: “That was a stupid trip of ours, after all, and I wouldn’t advise any body who is greedy for excitement to undertake it. It gets very tiresome at the last, and if it hadn’t been for the adventures on Lake Tchad and at the Senegal River, I do believe that we’d have died of yawning.” An English frigate was just about to sail, and the three travellers procured passage on board of her. On the 25th of June they arrived at Portsmouth, and on the next day at London. We will not describe the reception they got from the Royal Geographical Society, nor the intense curiosity and consideration of which they became the objects. Kennedy set off, at once, for Edinburgh, with his famous rifle, for he was in haste to relieve the anxiety of his faithful old housekeeper. The doctor and his devoted Joe remained the same men that we have known them, excepting that one change took place at their own suggestion. They ceased to be master and servant, in order to become bosom friends. The journals of all Europe were untiring in their praises of the bold explorers, and the struck off an edition of three hundred and seventy-seven thousand copies on the day when it published a sketch of the trip. Daily Telegraph Doctor Ferguson, at a public meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, gave a recital of his journey through the air, and obtained for himself and his companions the golden medal set apart to reward the most remarkable exploring expedition of the year 1862. The first result of Dr. Ferguson’s expedition was to establish, in the most precise manner, the facts and geographical surveys reported by Messrs. Barth, Burton, Speke, and others. Thanks to the still more recent expeditions of Messrs. Speke and Grant, De Heuglin and Muntzinger, who have been ascending to the sources of the Nile, and penetrating to the centre of Africa, we shall be enabled ere long to verify, in turn, the discoveries of Dr. Ferguson in that vast region comprised between the fourteenth and thirty-third degrees of east longitude. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (2002). Five Weeks in a Balloon. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3526/pg3526-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

The expedition upon the bank of the river

Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume I by Charles Mackay, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . RELICS RELICS. A fouth o' auld knick-knackets, Rusty airn caps and jinglin' jackets, Wad haud the Lothians three, in tackets, A towmond guid; An' parritch pats, and auld saut backets, Afore the flood. Burns. The love for relics is one which will never be eradicated as long as feeling and affection are denizens of the heart. It is a love which is most easily excited in the best and kindliest natures, and which few are callous enough to scoff at. Who would not treasure the lock of hair that once adorned the brow of the faithful wife, now cold in death, or that hung down the neck of a beloved infant, now sleeping under the sward? Not one. They are home-relics, whose sacred worth is intelligible to all; spoils rescued from the devouring grave, which, to the affectionate, are beyond all price. How dear to a forlorn survivor the book over whose pages he has pored with one departed! How much greater its value, if that hand, now cold, had written a thought, an opinion, or a name, upon the leaf! Besides these sweet, domestic relics, there are others, which no one can condemn; relics sanctified by that admiration of greatness and goodness which is akin to love; such as the copy of Montaigne's Florio, with the name of Shakspeare upon the leaf, written by the poet of all time himself; the chair preserved at Antwerp, in which Rubens sat when he painted the immortal "Descent from the Cross;" or the telescope, preserved in the Museum of Florence, which aided Galileo in his sublime discoveries. Who would not look with veneration upon the undoubted arrow of William Tell—the swords of Wallace or of Hampden—or the Bible whose leaves were turned by some stern old father of the faith? Thus the principle of reliquism is hallowed and enshrined by love. But from this germ of purity how numerous the progeny of errors and superstitions! Men, in their admiration of the great, and of all that appertained to them, have forgotten that goodness is a component part of true greatness, and have made fools of themselves for the jaw-bone of a saint, the toe-nail of an apostle, the handkerchief a king blew his nose in, or the rope that hanged a criminal. Desiring to rescue some slight token from the graves of their predecessors, they have confounded the famous and the infamous, the renowned and the notorious. Great saints, great sinners; great philosophers, great quacks; great conquerors, great murderers; great ministers, great thieves; each and all have had their admirers, ready to ransack earth, from the equator to either pole, to find a relic of them. The reliquism of modern times dates its origin from the centuries immediately preceding the Crusades. The first pilgrims to the Holy Land brought back to Europe thousands of apocryphal relics, in the purchase of which they had expended all their store. The greatest favourite was the wood of the true cross, which, like the oil of the widow, never diminished. It is generally asserted, in the traditions of the Romish Church, that the Empress Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, first discovered the veritable "true cross" in her pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Emperor Theodosius made a present of the greater part of it to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, by whom it was studded with precious stones, and deposited in the principal church of that city. It was carried away by the Huns, by whom it was burnt, after they had extracted the valuable jewels it contained. Fragments, purporting to have been cut from it were, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to be found in almost every church in Europe, and would, if collected together in one place, have been almost sufficient to have built a cathedral. Happy was the sinner who could get a sight of one of them; happier he who possessed one! To obtain them the greatest dangers were cheerfully braved. They were thought to preserve from all evils, and to cure the most inveterate diseases. Annual pilgrimages were made to the shrines that contained them, and considerable revenues collected from the devotees. Next in renown were those precious relics, the tears of the Saviour. By whom and in what manner they were preserved, the pilgrims did not often inquire. Their genuineness was vouched by the Christians of the Holy Land, and that was sufficient. Tears of the Virgin Mary, and tears of St. Peter, were also to be had, carefully enclosed in little caskets, which the pious might wear in their bosoms. After the tears the next most precious relics were drops of the blood of Jesus and the martyrs. Hair and toe-nails were also in great repute, and were sold at extravagant prices. Thousands of pilgrims annually visited Palestine in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to purchase pretended relics for the home market. The majority of them had no other means of subsistence than the profits thus obtained. Many a nail, cut from the filthy foot of some unscrupulous ecclesiastic, was sold at a diamond's price, within six months after its severance from its parent toe, upon the supposition that it had once belonged to a saint. Peter's toes were uncommonly prolific, for there were nails enough in Europe, at the time of the Council of Clermont, to have filled a sack, all of which were devoutly believed to have grown on the sacred feet of that great apostle. Some of them are still shown in the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The pious come from a distance of a hundred German miles to feast their eyes upon them. At Port Royal, in Paris, is kept with great care a thorn, which the priests of that seminary assert to be one of the identical thorns that bound the holy head of the Son of God. How it came there, and by whom it was preserved, has never been explained. This is the famous thorn, celebrated in the long dissensions of the Jansenists and the Molenists, and which worked the miraculous cure upon Mademoiselle Perrier: by merely kissing it, she was cured of a disease of the eyes of long standing. [Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV.] What traveller is unacquainted with the Santa Scala, or Holy Stairs, at Rome? They were brought from Jerusalem along with the true cross, by the Empress Helen, and were taken from the house which, according to popular tradition, was inhabited by Pontius Pilate. They are said to be the steps which Jesus ascended and descended when brought into the presence of the Roman governor. They are held in the greatest veneration at Rome: it is sacrilegious to walk upon them. The knees of the faithful must alone touch them in ascending or descending, and that only after they have reverentially kissed them. Europe still swarms with these religious relics. There is hardly a Roman Catholic church in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, or Belgium, without one or more of them. Even the poorly endowed churches of the villages boast the possession of miraculous thigh-bones of the innumerable saints of the Romish calendar. Aix-la-Chapelle is proud of the veritable chasse, or thigh-bone of Charlemagne, which cures lameness. Halle has a thighbone of the Virgin Mary; Spain has seven or eight, all said to be undoubted relics. Brussels at one time preserved, and perhaps does now, the teeth of St. Gudule. The faithful, who suffered from the tooth-ache, had only to pray, look at them, and be cured. Some of these holy bones have been buried in different parts of the Continent. After a certain lapse of time, water is said to ooze from them, which soon forms a spring, and cures all the diseases of the faithful. At a church in Halle, there is a famous thigh-bone, which cures barrenness in women. Of this bone, which is under the special superintendence of the Virgin, a pleasant story is related by the incredulous. There resided at Ghent a couple who were blessed with all the riches of this world, but whose happiness was sore troubled by the want of children. Great was the grief of the lady, who was both beautiful and loving, and many her lamentations to her husband. The latter, annoyed by her unceasing sorrow, advised her to make a pilgrimage to the celebrated chasse of the Virgin. She went, was absent a week, and returned with a face all radiant with joy and pleasure. Her lamentations ceased, and, in nine months afterwards, she brought forth a son. But, oh! the instability of human joys! The babe, so long desired and so greatly beloved, survived but a few months. Two years passed over the heads of the disconsolate couple, and no second child appeared to cheer their fire-side. A third year passed away with the same result, and the lady once more began to weep. "Cheer up, my love," said her husband, "and go to the holy chasse, at Halle; perhaps the Virgin will again listen to your prayers." The lady took courage at the thought, wiped away her tears, and proceeded on the morrow towards Halle. She was absent only three days, and returned home sad, weeping, and sorrow-stricken. "What is the matter?" said her husband; "is the Virgin unwilling to listen to your prayers?" "The Virgin is willing enough," said the disconsolate wife, "and will do what she can for me; but I shall never have any more children! The priest! the priest!—He is gone from Halle, and nobody knows where to find him!" It is curious to remark the avidity manifested in all ages, and in all countries, to obtain possession of some relic of any persons who have been much spoken of, even for their crimes. When William Longbeard, leader of the populace of London, in the reign of Richard I, was hanged at Smithfield, the utmost eagerness was shown to obtain a hair from his head, or a shred from his garments. Women came from Essex, Kent, Suffolk, Sussex, and all the surrounding counties, to collect the mould at the foot of his gallows. A hair of his beard was believed to preserve from evil spirits, and a piece of his clothes from aches and pains. In more modern days, a similar avidity was shown to obtain a relic of the luckless Masaniello, the fisherman of Naples. After he had been raised by mob favour to a height of power more despotic than monarch ever wielded, he was shot by the same populace in the streets, as if he had been a mad dog. His headless trunk was dragged through the mire for several hours, and cast at night-fall into the city ditch. On the morrow the tide of popular feeling turned once more in his favour. His corpse was sought, arrayed in royal robes, and buried magnificently by torch-light in the cathedral, ten thousand armed men, and as many mourners, attending at the ceremony. The fisherman's dress which he had worn was rent into shreds by the crowd, to be preserved as relics; the door of his hut was pulled off its hinges by a mob of women, and eagerly cut up into small pieces, to be made into images, caskets, and other mementos. The scanty furniture of his poor abode became of more value than the adornments of a palace; the ground he had walked upon was considered sacred, and, being collected in small phials, was sold at its weight in gold, and worn in the bosom as an amulet. Almost as extraordinary was the frenzy manifested by the populace of Paris on the execution of the atrocious Marchioness de Brinvilliers. There were grounds for the popular wonder in the case of Masaniello, who was unstained with personal crimes. But the career of Madame de Brinvilliers was of a nature to excite no other feelings than disgust and abhorrence. She was convicted of poisoning several persons, and sentenced to be burned in the Place de Greve, and to have her ashes scattered to the winds. On the day of her execution, the populace, struck by her gracefulness and beauty, inveighed against the severity of her sentence. Their pity soon increased to admiration, and, ere evening, she was considered a saint. Her ashes were industriously collected, even the charred wood, which had aided to consume her, was eagerly purchased by the populace. Her ashes were thought to preserve from witchcraft. In England many persons have a singular love for the relics of thieves and murderers, or other great criminals. The ropes with which they have been hanged are very often bought by collectors at a guinea per foot. Great sums were paid for the rope which hanged Dr. Dodd, and for those more recently which did justice upon Mr. Fauntleroy for forgery, and on Thurtell for the murder of Mr. Weare. The murder of Maria Marten, by Corder, in the year 1828, excited the greatest interest all over the country. People came from Wales and Scotland, and even from Ireland, to visit the barn where the body of the murdered woman was buried. Every one of them was anxious to carry away some memorial of his visit. Pieces of the barn-door, tiles from the roof, and, above all, the clothes of the poor victim, were eagerly sought after. A lock of her hair was sold for two guineas, and the purchaser thought himself fortunate in getting it so cheaply. So great was the concourse of people to visit the house in Camberwell Lane, where Greenacre murdered Hannah Brown, in 1837, that it was found necessary to station a strong detachment of police on the spot. The crowd was so eager to obtain a relic of the house of this atrocious criminal, that the police were obliged to employ force to prevent the tables and chairs, and even the doors, from being carried away. In earlier times, a singular superstition was attached to the hand of a criminal who had suffered execution. It was thought that by merely rubbing the dead hand on the body, the patient afflicted with the king's evil would be instantly cured. The executioner at Newgate, sixty or seventy years ago, derived no inconsiderable revenue from this foolish practice. The possession of the hand was thought to be of still greater efficacy in the cure of diseases and the prevention of misfortunes. In the time of Charles II as much as ten guineas was thought a small price for one of these disgusting relics. When the maniac, Thom, or Courtenay, was shot, in the spring of 1838, the relic-hunters were immediately in motion to obtain a memento of so extraordinary an individual. His long, black beard and hair, which were cut off by the surgeons, fell into the hands of his disciples, by whom they are treasured with the utmost reverence. A lock of his hair commands a great price, not only amongst his followers, but among the more wealthy inhabitants of Canterbury and its neighbourhood. The tree against which he fell when he was shot, has already been stripped of all its bark by the curious, and bids fair to be entirely demolished within a twelvemonth. A letter, with his signature to it, is paid for in gold coins; and his favourite horse promises to become as celebrated as his master. Parties of ladies and gentlemen have come to Boughton from a distance of a hundred and fifty miles, to visit the scene of that fatal affray, and stroke on the back the horse of the "mad Knight of Malta." If a strict watch had not been kept over his grave for months, the body would have been disinterred, and the bones carried away as memorials. Among the Chinese no relics are more valued than the boots which have been worn by an upright magistrate. In Davis's interesting Description of the Empire of China, we are informed, that whenever a judge of unusual integrity resigns his situation, the people all congregate to do him honour. If he leaves the city where he has presided, the crowd accompany him from his residence to the gates, where his boots are drawn off with great ceremony, to be preserved in the hall of justice. Their place is immediately supplied by a new pair, which, in their turn, are drawn off to make room for others before he has worn them five minutes, it being considered sufficient to consecrate them that he should have merely drawn them on. Among the most favourite relics of modern times, in Europe, are Shakspeare's mulberry-tree, Napoleon's willow, and the table at Waterloo, on which the Emperor wrote his despatches. Snuffboxes of Shakspeare's mulberry-tree, are comparatively rare, though there are doubtless more of them in the market than were ever made of the wood planted by the great bard. Many a piece of alien wood passes under this name. The same may be said of Napoleon's table at Waterloo. The original has long since been destroyed, and a round dozen of counterfeits along with it. Many preserve the simple stick of wood; others have them cut into brooches and every variety of ornament; but by far the greater number prefer them as snuff-boxes. In France they are made into bonbonnieres, and are much esteemed by the many thousands whose cheeks still glow, and whose eyes still sparkle at the name of Napoleon. Bullets from the field of Waterloo, and buttons from the coats of the soldiers who fell in the fight, are still favourite relics in Europe. But the same ingenuity which found new tables after the old one was destroyed, has cast new bullets for the curious. Many a one who thinks himself the possessor of a bullet which aided in giving peace to the world on that memorable day, is the owner of a dump, first extracted from the ore a dozen years afterwards. Let all lovers of genuine relics look well to their money before they part with it to the ciceroni that swarm in the village of Waterloo. Few travellers stop at the lonely isle of St. Helena, without cutting a twig from the willow that droops over the grave of Napoleon. Many of them have since been planted in different parts of Europe, and have grown into trees as large as their parent. Relic-hunters, who are unable to procure a twig of the original, are content with one from these. Several of them are growing in the neighbourhood of London, more prized by their cultivators than any other tree in their gardens. But in relics, as in everything else, there is the use and the abuse. The undoubted relics of great men, or great events, will always possess attractions for the thinking and refined. There are few who would not join with Cowley in the extravagant wish introduced in his lines "written while sitting in a chair made of the remains of the ship in which Sir Francis Drake sailed round the world:"— And I myself, who now love quiet too, Almost as much as any chair can do, Would yet a journey take An old wheel of that chariot to see, Which Phaeton so rashly brake. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Charles Mackay (1996). Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume I. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/636/pg636-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

The love for relics is one which will never be eradicated

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . The American Visitor XIII. The American Visitor Superintendent Battle replaced the sheet with the slightly crest-fallen air of a man whose best point has fallen flat. Anthony stood with his hands in his pockets lost in thought. “So that’s what old Lollipop meant when he talked about ‘other means,’” he murmured at last. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Cade?” “Nothing, superintendent. Forgive my abstraction. You see, I—or rather my friend, Jimmy McGrath, has been very neatly done out of a thousand pounds.” “A thousand pounds is a nice sum of money,” said Battle. “It isn’t the thousand pounds so much,” said Anthony, “though I agree with you that it’s a nice sum of money. It’s being done that maddens me. I handed over that manuscript like a little woolly lamb. It hurts, superintendent, indeed it hurts.” The detective said nothing. “Well, well,” said Anthony. “Regrets are vain, and all may not yet be lost. I’ve only got to get hold of dear old Stylptitch’s Reminiscences between now and next Wednesday and all will be gas and gaiters.” “Would you mind coming back to the Council Chamber, Mr. Cade? There’s one little thing I want to point out to you.” Back in the Council Chamber, the detective strode over at once to the middle window. “I’ve been thinking, Mr. Cade. This particular window is very stiff, very stiff indeed. You might have been mistaken in thinking that it was fastened. It might just have stuck. I’m sure—yes, I’m almost sure, that you were mistaken.” Anthony eyed him keenly. “And supposing I say that I’m quite sure I was not?” “Don’t you think you could have been?” said Battle, looking at him very steadily. “Well, to oblige you, superintendent, yes.” Battle smiled in a satisfied fashion. “You’re quick in the uptake, sir. And you’ll have no objection to saying so, careless like, at a suitable moment?” “None whatever. I——” He paused, as Battle gripped his arm. The superintendent was bent forward, listening. Enjoining silence on Anthony with a gesture, he tiptoed noiselessly to the door, and flung it suddenly open. On the threshold stood a tall man with black hair neatly parted in the middle, china blue eyes with a particularly innocent expression, and a large placid face. “Your pardon, gentlemen,” he said in a slow drawling voice with a pronounced transatlantic accent. “But is it permitted to inspect the scene of the crime? I take it that you are both gentlemen from Scotland Yard?” “I have not that honour,” said Anthony. “But this gentleman is Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard.” “Is that so?” said the American gentleman, with a great appearance of interest. “Pleased to meet you, sir. My name is Hiram P. Fish, of New York City.” “What was it you wanted to see, Mr. Fish?” asked the detective. The American walked gently into the room, and looked with much interest at the dark patch on the floor. “I am interested in crime, Mr. Battle. It is one of my hobbies. I have contributed a monograph to one of our weekly periodicals on the subject ‘Degeneracy and the Criminal.’” As he spoke, his eyes went gently round the room, seeming to note everything in it. They rested just a shade longer on the window. “The body,” said Superintendent Battle, stating a self-evident fact, “has been removed.” “Surely,” said Mr. Fish. His eyes went on to the panelled walls. “Some remarkable pictures in this room, gentlemen. A Holbein, two Van Dycks, and, if I am not mistaken, a Velasquez. I am interested in pictures—and likewise in first editions. It was to see his first editions that Lord Caterham was so kind as to invite me down here.” He sighed gently. “I guess that’s all off now. It would show a proper feeling I suppose, for the guests to return to town immediately?” “I’m afraid that can’t be done, sir,” said Superintendent Battle. “Nobody must leave the house until after the inquest.” “Is that so? And when is the inquest?” “May be to-morrow, may not be until Monday. We’ve got to arrange for the autopsy and see the Coroner.” “I get you,” said Mr. Fish. “Under the circumstances, though, it will be a melancholy party.” Battle led the way to the door. “We’d best get out of here,” he said. “We’re keeping it locked still.” He waited for the other two to pass through, and then turned the key and removed it. “I opine,” said Mr. Fish, “that you are seeking for fingerprints?” “Maybe,” said the superintendent laconically. “I should say to that, on a night such as last night, an intruder would have left footprints on the hardwood floor.” “None inside, plenty outside.” “Mine,” explained Anthony cheerfully. The innocent eyes of Mr. Fish swept over him. “Young man,” he said, “you surprise me.” They turned a corner, and came out into the big wide hall, panelled like the Council Chamber in old oak, and with a wide gallery above it. Two other figures came into sight at the far end. “Aha!” said Mr. Fish. “Our genial host.” This was such a ludicrous description of Lord Caterham that Anthony had to turn his head away to conceal a smile. “And with him,” continued the American, “is a lady whose name I did not catch last night. But she is bright—she is very bright.” With Lord Caterham was Virginia Revel. Anthony had been anticipating this meeting all along. He had no idea how to act. He must leave it to Virginia. Although he had full confidence in her presence of mind, he had not the slightest idea what line she would take. He was not long left in doubt. “Why, it’s Mr. Cade,” said Virginia. She held out both hands to him. “So you found you could come down after all?” “My dear Mrs. Revel, I had no idea Mr. Cade was a friend of yours,” said Lord Caterham. “He’s a very old friend,” said Virginia, smiling at Anthony with a mischievous glint in her eye. “I ran across him in London unexpectedly yesterday, and told him I was coming down here.” Anthony was quick to give her her pointer. “I explained to Mrs. Revel,” he said, “that I had been forced to refuse your kind invitation—since it had really been extended to quite a different man. And I couldn’t very well foist a perfect stranger on you under false pretences.” “Well, well, my dear fellow,” said Lord Caterham, “that’s all over and done with now. I’ll send down to the Cricketers for your bag.” “It’s very kind of you, Lord Caterham, but——” “Nonsense, of course you must come to Chimneys. Horrible place, the Cricketers—to stay in, I mean.” “Of course you must come, Mr. Cade,” said Virginia softly. Anthony realized the altered tone of his surroundings. Already Virginia had done much for him. He was no longer an ambiguous stranger. Her position was so assured and unassailable that anyone for whom she vouched was accepted as a matter of course. He thought of the pistol in the tree at Burnham Beeches, and smiled inwardly. “I’ll send for your traps,” said Lord Caterham to Anthony. “I suppose, in the circumstances, we can’t have any shooting. A pity. But there it is. And I don’t know what the devil to do with Isaacstein. It’s all very unfortunate.” The depressed peer sighed heavily. “That’s settled, then,” said Virginia. “You can begin to be useful right away, Mr. Cade, and take me out on the lake. It’s very peaceful there and far from crime and all that sort of thing. Isn’t it awful for poor Lord Caterham having a murder done in his house? But it’s George’s fault really. This is George’s party, you know.” “Ah!” said Lord Caterham. “But I should never have listened to him!” He assumed the air of a strong man betrayed by a single weakness. “One can’t help listening to George,” said Virginia. “He always holds you so that you can’t get away. I’m thinking of patenting a detachable lapel.” “I wish you would,” chuckled her host. “I’m glad you’re coming to us, Cade. I need support.” “I appreciate your kindness very much, Lord Caterham,” said Anthony. “Especially,” he added, “when I’m such a suspicious character. But my staying here makes it easier for Battle.” “In what way, sir?” asked the superintendent. “It won’t be so difficult to keep an eye on me,” explained Anthony gently. And by the momentary flicker of the superintendent’s eyelids he knew that his shot had gone home. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Agatha Christie (1998). The Secret of Chimneys. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65238/pg65238-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

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