Oct. 28, the Bennington community came together for an unforgettable night of Halloween fun for Trunk or Treat 2023 at Coggins' Honda and Toyota dealerships on Northside Drive

Banner/ Coggins Trunk or Treat 2023: A Spooktacular Success

One of the unidentified naysayers about the status of Choo Choo City has erroneously forwarded their version of the economic conditions in our community that falsely suggests that the anniversary ... more

Do They Think?

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal attended the 7th Edition of Future Investment

Union Minister Piyush Goyal attends 7th Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia's Riyadh

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday held discussions with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Majid bin Abdullah AlKassabi on ways to further promote trade ties between the two countries.

India, Saudi Arabia commerce ministers discuss ways to promote trade ties

Indian Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, will attend the 7th Edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, Saudi A

Union Minister Piyush Goyal to attend future investment initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

During the event, Minister Goyal will hold meetings with several dignitaries from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), including Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman Al-Saud, the Energy Minister of KSA; Majid bin Abdullah AlKassabi,

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will meet senior leaders and businesses in Riyadh during his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, starting from October 24, to discuss ways to boost trade and investments between the two countries,

Piyush Goyal to meet ministers, businesses in Riyadh this week to discuss trade, investment

Piyush Goyal will attend the annual event of the seventh Future Investment Initiative, a global non-profit foundation launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Piyush Goyal to meet Saudi ministers on 2-day visit to Riyadh to deepen ties

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will visit Saudi Arabia to discuss ways to enhance trade and investments between the two countries. He will attend the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh and meet Saudi Arabian dignitaries,

Goyal to meet ministers, businesses in Riyadh this week to discuss trade, investment

The event conducted in India was the world championship and the Eco-Marathon has been since 1939, which actually started off as a bet between two Shell employees in the US as to who can get the best fuel efficiency.

Shell Eco-Marathon: How a bet between two employees led to a global event?

Yassir

yassir

Why Mamba Could Be the Future of Big Data Processing

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Roxana Insists Upon Reform here Roxana Insists Upon Reform The true Southern watermelon is a boon apart, and not to be mentioned with commoner things. It is chief of this world’s luxuries, king by the grace of God over all the fruits of the earth. When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat. It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented. —Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. About the time that Wilson was bowing the committee out, Pembroke Howard was entering the next house to report. He found the old Judge sitting grim and straight in his chair, waiting. “Well, Howard—the news?” “The best in the world.” “Accepts, does he?” and the light of battle gleamed joyously in the Judge’s eye. “Accepts? Why, he jumped at it.” “Did, did he? Now that’s fine—that’s very fine. I like that. When is it to be?” “Now! Straight off! To-night! An admirable fellow—admirable!” “Admirable? He’s a darling! Why, it’s an honor as well as a pleasure to stand up before such a man. Come—off with you! Go and arrange everything—and give him my heartiest compliments. A rare fellow, indeed; an admirable fellow, as you have said!” Howard hurried away, saying— “I’ll have him in the vacant stretch between Wilson’s and the haunted house within the hour, and I’ll bring my own pistols.” Judge Driscoll began to walk the floor in a state of pleased excitement; but presently he stopped, and began to think—began to think of Tom. Twice he moved toward the secretary, and twice he turned away again; but finally he said— “This may be my last night in the world—I must not take the chance. He is worthless and unworthy, but it is largely my fault. He was intrusted to me by my brother on his dying bed, and I have indulged him to his hurt, instead of training him up severely, and making a man of him. I have violated my trust, and I must not add the sin of desertion to that. I have forgiven him once already, and would subject him to a long and hard trial before forgiving him again, if I could live; but I must not run that risk. No, I must restore the will. But if I survive the duel, I will hide it away, and he will not know, and I will not tell him until he reforms, and I see that his reformation is going to be permanent.” He re-drew the will, and his ostensible nephew was heir to a fortune again. As he was finishing his task, Tom, wearied with another brooding tramp, entered the house and went tiptoeing past the sitting-room door. He glanced in, and hurried on, for the sight of his uncle had nothing but terrors for him to-night. But his uncle was writing! That was unusual at this late hour. What could he be writing? A chill of anxiety settled down upon Tom’s heart. Did that writing concern him? He was afraid so. He reflected that when ill luck begins, it does not come in sprinkles, but in showers. He said he would get a glimpse of that document or know the reason why. He heard some one coming, and stepped out of sight and hearing. It was Pembroke Howard. What could be hatching? Howard said, with great satisfaction: “Everything’s right and ready. He’s gone to the battle-ground with his second and the surgeon—also with his brother. I’ve arranged it all with Wilson—Wilson’s his second. We are to have three shots apiece.” “Good! How is the moon?” “Bright as day, nearly. Perfect, for the distance—fifteen yards. No wind—not a breath; hot and still.” “All good; all first-rate. Here, Pembroke, read this, and witness it.” Pembroke read and witnessed the will, then gave the old man’s hand a hearty shake and said: “Now that’s right, York—but I knew you would do it. You couldn’t leave that poor chap to fight along without means or profession, with certain defeat before him, and I knew you wouldn’t, for his father’s sake if not for his own.” “For his dead father’s sake I couldn’t, I know; for poor Percy—but you know what Percy was to me. But mind—Tom is not to know of this unless I fall to-night.” “I understand. I’ll keep the secret.” The Judge put the will away, and the two started for the battle-ground. In another minute the will was in Tom’s hands. His misery vanished, his feelings underwent a tremendous revulsion. He put the will carefully back in its place, and spread his mouth and swung his hat once, twice, three times around his head, in imitation of three rousing huzzas, no sound issuing from his lips. He fell to communing with himself excitedly and joyously, but every now and then he let off another volley of dumb hurrahs. He said to himself: “I’ve got the fortune again, but I’ll not let on that I know about it. And this time I’m going to hang on to it. I take no more risks. I’ll gamble no more, I’ll drink no more, because—well, because I’ll not go where there is any of that sort of thing going on, again. It’s the sure way, and the only sure way; I might have thought of that sooner—well, yes, if I had wanted to. But now—dear me, I’ve had a scare this time, and I’ll take no more chances. Not a single chance more. Land! I persuaded myself this evening that I could fetch him around without any great amount of effort, but I’ve been getting more and more heavy-hearted and doubtful straight along, ever since. If he tells me about this thing, all right; but if he doesn’t, I sha’n’t let on. I—well, I’d like to tell Pudd’nhead Wilson, but—no, I’ll think about that; perhaps I won’t.” He whirled off another dead huzza, and said, “I’m reformed, and this time I’ll stay so, sure!” He was about to close with a final grand silent demonstration, when he suddenly recollected that Wilson had put it out of his power to pawn or sell the Indian knife, and that he was once more in awful peril of exposure by his creditors for that reason. His joy collapsed utterly, and he turned away and moped toward the door moaning and lamenting over the bitterness of his luck. He dragged himself up-stairs, and brooded in his room a long time disconsolate and forlorn, with Luigi’s Indian knife for a text. At last he sighed and said: “When I supposed these stones were glass and this ivory bone, the thing hadn’t any interest for me because it hadn’t any value, and couldn’t help me out of my trouble. But now—why, now it is full of interest; yes, and of a sort to break a body’s heart. It’s a bag of gold that has turned to dirt and ashes in my hands. It could save me, and save me so easily, and yet I’ve got to go to ruin. It’s like drowning with a life-preserver in my reach. All the hard luck comes to me, and all the good luck goes to other people—Pudd’nhead Wilson, for instance; even his career has got a sort of a little start at last, and what has he done to deserve it, I should like to know? Yes, he has opened his own road, but he isn’t content with that, but must block mine. It’s a sordid, selfish world, and I wish I was out of it.” He allowed the light of the candle to play upon the jewels of the sheath, but the flashings and sparklings had no charm for his eye; they were only just so many pangs to his heart. “I must not say anything to Roxy about this thing,” he said, “she is too daring. She would be for 186digging these stones out and selling them, and then—why, she would be arrested and the stones traced, and then—” The thought made him quake, and he hid the knife away, trembling all over and glancing furtively about, like a criminal who fancies that the accuser is already at hand. Should he try to sleep? Oh, no, sleep was not for him; his trouble was too haunting, too afflicting for that. He must have somebody to mourn with. He would carry his despair to Roxy. He had heard several distant gunshots, but that sort of thing was not uncommon, and they had made no impression upon him. He went out at the back door, and turned westward. He passed Wilson’s house and proceeded along the lane, and presently saw several figures approaching Wilson’s place through the vacant lots. These were the duelists returning from the fight; he thought he recognized them, but as he had no desire for white people’s company, he stooped down behind the fence until they were out of his way. Roxy was feeling fine. She said: “Whah was you, child? Warn’t you in it?” “In what?” “In de duel.” “Duel? Has there been a duel?” “’Co’se dey has. De ole Jedge has be’n havin’ a duel wid one o’ dem twins.” “Great Scott!” Then he added to himself: “That’s what made him re-make the will; he thought he might get killed, and it softened him toward me. And that’s what he and Howard were so busy about.… Oh dear, if the twin had only killed him, I should be out of my—” “What is you mumblin’ bout, Chambers? Whah was you? Didn’t you know dey was gwyne to be a duel?” “No, I didn’t. The old man tried to get me to fight one with Count Luigi, but he didn’t succeed, so I reckon he concluded to patch up the family honor himself.” He laughed at the idea, and went rambling on with a detailed account of his talk with the Judge, and how shocked and ashamed the Judge was to find that he had a coward in his family. He glanced up at last, and got a shock himself. Roxana’s bosom was heaving with suppressed passion, and she was glowering down upon him with measureless contempt written in her face. “En you refuse’ to fight a man dat kicked you, ’stid o’ jumpin’ at de chance! En you ain’t got no mo’ feelin’ den to come en tell me, dat fetched sich a po’ low-down ornery rabbit into de worl’! Pah! it make me sick! It’s de nigger in you, dat’s what it is. Thirty-one parts o’ you is white, en on’y one part nigger, en dat po’ little one part is yo’ . Tain’t wuth savin’; tain’t wuth totin’ out on a shovel en throwin’ in de gutter. You has disgraced yo’ birth. What would yo’ pa think o’ you? It’s enough to make him turn in his grave.” soul The last three sentences stung Tom into a fury, and he said to himself that if his father were only alive and in reach of assassination his mother would soon find that he had a very clear notion of the size of his indebtedness to that man, and was willing to pay it up in full, and would do it too, even at risk of his life; but he kept this thought to himself; that was safest in his mother’s present state. “Whatever has come o’ yo’ Essex blood? Dat’s what I can’t understan’. En it ain’t on’y jist Essex blood dat’s in you, not by a long sight—’deed it ain’t! My great-great-great-gran’father en yo’ great-great-great-great-gran’father was Ole Cap’n John Smith, de highest blood dat Ole Virginny ever turned out, en great-great-gran’mother or somers along back dah, was Pocahontas de Injun queen, en her husbun’ was a nigger king outen Africa—en yit here you is, a slinkin’ outen a duel en disgracin’ our whole line like a ornery low-down hound! Yes, it’s de nigger in you!” his She sat down on her candle-box and fell into a reverie. Tom did not disturb her; he sometimes lacked prudence, but it was not in circumstances of this kind, Roxana’s storm went gradually down, but it died hard, and even when it seemed to be quite gone, it would now and then break out in a distant rumble, so to speak, in the form of muttered ejaculations. One of these was, “Ain’t nigger enough in him to show in his finger-nails, en dat takes mighty little—yit dey’s enough to paint his soul.” Presently she muttered. “Yassir, enough to paint a whole thimbleful of ’em.” At last her ramblings ceased altogether, and her countenance began to clear—a welcome sign to Tom, who had learned her moods, and knew she was on the threshold of good-humor, now. He noticed that from time to time she unconsciously carried her finger to the end of her nose. He looked closer and said: “Why, mammy, the end of your nose is skinned. How did that come?” She sent out the sort of whole-hearted peal of laughter which God had vouchsafed in its perfection to none but the happy angels in heaven and the bruised and broken black slave on the earth, and said: “Dad fetch dat duel, I be’n in it myself.” “Gracious! did a bullet do that?” “Yassir, you bet it did!” “Well, I declare! Why, how did that happen?” “Happened dis-away. I ’uz a-sett’n’ here kinder dozin’ in de dark, en goes a gun, right out dah. I skips along out towards t’other end o’ de house to see what’s gwyne on, en stops by de ole winder on de side towards Pudd’nhead Wilson’s house dat ain’t got no sash in it,—but dey ain’t none of ’em got any sashes, fur as dat’s concerned,—en I stood dah in de dark en look out, en dar in de moonlight, right down under me ’uz one o’ de twins a-cussin’—not much, but jist a-cussin’ soft—it ’uz de brown one dat ’uz cussin’, ’ca’se he ’uz hit in de shoulder. En Doctor Claypool he ’uz a-workin’ at him, en Pudd’nhead Wilson he ’uz a-he’pin’, en ole Jedge Driscoll en Pem Howard ’uz a-standin’ out yonder a little piece waitin’ for ’em to git ready agin. En treckly dey squared off en give de word, en went de pistols, en de twin he say, ‘Ouch!’—hit him on de han’ dis time,—en I hear dat same bullet go ag’in, de logs under de winder; en de nex’ time dey shoot, de twin say, ‘Ouch!’ ag’in, en I done it too, ’ca’se de bullet glance’ on his cheek-bone en skip up here en glance on de side o’ de winder en whiz right acrost my face en tuck de hide off’n my nose—why, if I’d ’a’ be’n jist a inch or a inch en a half furder ’t would ’a’ tuck de whole nose en disfiggered me. Here’s de bullet; I hunted her up.” che-bang! bang-bang spat! “Did you stand there all the time?” “Dat’s a question to ask, ain’t it? What else would I do? Does I git a chance to see a duel every day?” “Why, you were right in range! Weren’t you afraid?” The woman gave a sniff of scorn. “’Fraid! De Smith-Pocahontases ain’t ’fraid o’ nothin’, let alone bullets.” “They’ve got pluck enough, I suppose; what they lack is judgment. wouldn’t have stood there.” I “Nobody’s accusin’ you!” “Did anybody else get hurt?” “Yes, we all got hit ’cep’ de blon’ twin en de doctor en de seconds. De Jedge didn’t git hurt, but I hear Pudd’nhead say de bullet snip some o’ his ha’r off.” “’George!” said Tom to himself, “to come so near being out of my trouble, and miss it by an inch. Oh dear, dear, he will live to find me out and sell me to some nigger-trader yet—yes, and he would do it in a minute.” Then he said aloud, in a grave tone— “Mother, we are in an awful fix.” Roxana caught her breath with a spasm, and said— “Chile! What you hit a body so sudden for, like dat? What’s be’n en gone en happen’?” “Well, there’s one thing I didn’t tell you. When I wouldn’t fight, he tore up the will again, and—” Roxana’s face turned a dead white, and she said— “Now you’s —done forever! Dat’s de end. Bofe un us is gwyne to starve to—” done! “Wait and hear me through, can’t you! I reckon that when he resolved to fight, himself, he thought he might get killed and not have a chance to forgive me any more in this life, so he made the will again, and I’ve seen it, and it’s all right. But—” “Oh, thank goodness, den we’s safe ag’in!—safe! en so what did you want to come here en talk sich dreadful—” “Hold , I tell you, and let me finish. The swag I gathered won’t half square me up, and the first thing we know, my creditors—well, you know what’ll happen.” on Roxana dropped her chin, and told her son to leave her alone—she must think this matter out. Presently she said impressively: “You got to go mighty keerful now, I tell you! En here’s what you got to do. He didn’t git killed, en if you gives him de least reason, he’ll bust de will ag’in, en dat’s de time, now you hear me! So—you’s got to show him what you kin do in de nex’ few days. You’s got to be pison good, en let him see it; you got to do everything dat’ll make him b’lieve in you, en you got to sweeten aroun’ ole Aunt Pratt, too,—she’s pow’ful strong wid de Jedge, en de bes’ frien’ you got. Nex’, you’ll go ’long away to Sent Louis, en dat’ll him in yo’ favor. Den you go en make a bargain wid dem people. You tell ’em he ain’t gwyne to live long—en dat’s de fac’, too,—en tell ’em you’ll pay ’em intrust, en big intrust, too,—ten per—what you call it?” las’ keep “Ten per cent. a month?” “Dat’s it. Den you take and sell yo’ truck aroun’, a little at a time, en pay de intrust. How long will it las’?” “I think there’s enough to pay the interest five or six months.” “Den you’s all right. If he don’t die in six months, dat don’t make no diff’rence—Providence’ll provide. You’s gwyne to be safe—if you behaves.” She bent an austere eye on him and added, “En you gwyne to behave—does you know dat?” is He laughed and said he was going to try, anyway. She did not unbend. She said gravely: “Tryin’ ain’t de thing. You’s gwyne to it. You ain’t gwyne to steal a pin—’ca’se it ain’t safe no mo’; en you ain’t gwyne into no bad comp’ny—not even once, you understand; en you ain’t gwyne to drink a drop—nary single drop; en you ain’t gwyne to gamble one single gamble—not one! Dis ain’t what you’s gwyne to to do, it’s what you’s gwyne to . En I’ll tell you how I knows it. Dis is how. I’s gwyne to foller along to Sent Louis my own self; en you’s gwyne to come to me every day o’ yo’ life, en I’ll look you over; en if you fails in one single one o’ dem things—jist —I take my oath I’ll come straight down to dis town en tell de Jedge you’s a nigger en a slave—en it!” She paused to let her words sink home. Then she added, “Chambers, does you b’lieve me when I says dat?” do try do one prove Tom was sober enough now. There was no levity in his voice when he answered: “Yes, mother, I know, now, that I am reformed—and permanently. Permanently—and beyond the reach of any human temptation.” “Den g’ long home en begin!” 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. Mark Twain (2004). The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/102/pg102-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

Roxana Insists Upon Reform

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Tom Practises Sycophancy here Tom Practises Sycophancy Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved. —Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. It is easy to find fault, if one has that disposition. There was once a man who, not being able to find any other fault with his coal, complained that there were too many prehistoric toads in it. —Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. Tom flung himself on the sofa, and put his throbbing head in his hands, and rested his elbows on his knees. He rocked himself back and forth and moaned. “I’ve knelt to a nigger wench!” he muttered. “I thought I had struck the deepest depths of degradation before, but oh, dear, it was nothing to this.… Well, there is one consolation, such as it is—I’ve struck bottom this time; there’s nothing lower.” But that was a hasty conclusion. At ten that night he climbed the ladder in the haunted house, pale, weak and wretched. Roxy was standing in the door of one of the rooms, waiting, for she had heard him. This was a two-story log house which had acquired the reputation a few years before of being haunted, and that was the end of its usefulness. Nobody would live in it afterward, or go near it by night, and most people even gave it a wide berth in the daytime. As it had no competition, it was called haunted house. It was getting crazy and ruinous, now, from long neglect. It stood three hundred yards beyond Pudd’nhead Wilson’s house, with nothing between but vacancy. It was the last house in the town at that end. the Tom followed Roxy into the room. She had a pile of clean straw in the corner for a bed, some cheap but well-kept clothing was hanging on the wall, there was a tin lantern freckling the floor with little spots of light, and there were various soap-and-candle boxes scattered about, which served for chairs. The two sat down. Roxy said— “Now den, I’ll tell you straight off, en I’ll begin to k’leck de money later on; I ain’t in no hurry. What does you reckon I’s gwine to tell you?” “Well, you—you—oh, Roxy, don’t make it too hard for me! Come right out and tell me you’ve found out somehow what a shape I’m in on account of dissipation and foolishness.” “Disposition en foolishness! sir, dat ain’t it. Dat jist ain’t nothin’ at all, ’longside o’ what knows.” No I Tom stared at her, and said— “Why, Roxy, what do you mean?” She rose, and gloomed above him like a Fate. “I means dis—en it’s de Lord’s truth. You ain’t no more kin to ole Marse Driscoll den I is!— what I means!” and her eyes flamed with triumph. dat’s “What!” “Yassir, en ain’t all! You’s a — a nigger en a —en you’s a nigger en a slave dis minute; en if I opens my mouf ole Marse Driscoll’ll sell you down de river befo’ you is two days older den what you is now!” dat nigger! bawn slave! “It’s a thundering lie, you miserable old blatherskite!” “It ain’t no lie, nuther. It’s jes de truth, en nothin’ de truth, so he’p me. Yassir—you’s my —” but son “You devil!” “En dat po’ boy dat you’s be’n a-kickin’ en a-cuffin’ to-day is Percy Driscoll’s son en yo’ —” marster “You beast!” “En name’s Tom Driscoll, en name’s Valet de Chambers, en you ain’t no fambly name, beca’se niggers don’t em!” his yo’ got have Tom sprang up and seized a billet of wood and raised it; but his mother only laughed at him, and said— “Set down, you pup! Does you think you kin skyer me? It ain’t in you, nor de likes of you. I reckon you’d shoot me in de back, maybe, if you got a chance, for dat’s jist yo’ style— knows you, throo en throo—but I don’t mind gitt’n killed, beca’se all dis is down in writin’ en it’s in safe hands, too, en de man dat’s got it knows whah to look for de right man when I gits killed. Oh, bless yo’ soul, if you puts yo’ mother up for as big a fool as is, you’s pow’ful mistaken, I kin tell you! Now den, you set still en behave yo’self; en don’t you git up ag’in till I tell you!” I you Tom fretted and chafed awhile in a whirlwind of disorganizing sensations and emotions, and finally said, with something like settled conviction— “The whole thing is moonshine; now then, go ahead and do your worst; I’m done with you.” Roxy made no answer. She took the lantern and started toward the door. Tom was in a cold panic in a moment. “Come back, come back!” he wailed. “I didn’t mean it, Roxy; I take it all back, and I’ll never say it again! Please come back, Roxy!” The woman stood a moment, then she said gravely: “Dat’s one thing you’s got to stop, Valet de Chambers. You can’t call me , same as if you was my equal. Chillen don’t speak to dey mammies like dat. You’ll call me ma or mammy, dat’s what you’ll call me—leastways when dey ain’t nobody aroun’. it!” Roxy Say It cost Tom a struggle, but he got it out. “Dat’s all right. Don’t you ever forgit it ag’in, if you knows what’s good for you. Now den, you has said you wouldn’t ever call it lies en moonshine ag’in. I’ll tell you dis, for a warnin’: if you ever does say it ag’in, it’s de time you’ll ever say it to me; I’ll tramp as straight to de Judge as I kin walk, en tell him who you is, en it. Does you b’lieve me when I says dat?” las’ prove “Oh,” groaned Tom, “I more than believe it; I it.” know Roxy knew her conquest was complete. She could have proved nothing to anybody, and her threat about the writings was a lie; but she knew the person she was dealing with, and had made both statements without any doubt as to the effect they would produce. She went and sat down on her candle-box, and the pride and pomp of her victorious attitude made it a throne. She said— “Now den, Chambers, we’s gwine to talk business, en dey ain’t gwine to be no mo’ foolishness. In de fust place, you gits fifty dollahs a month; you’s gwine to han’ over half of it to yo’ ma. Plank it out!” But Tom had only six dollars in the world. He gave her that, and promised to start fair on next month’s pension. “Chambers, how much is you in debt?” Tom shuddered, and said— “Nearly three hundred dollars.” “How is you gwine to pay it?” Tom groaned out—“Oh, I don’t know; don’t ask me such awful questions.” But she stuck to her point until she wearied a confession out of him: he had been prowling about in disguise, stealing small valuables from private houses; in fact, he made a good deal of a raid on his fellow-villagers a fortnight before, when he was supposed to be in St. Louis; but he doubted if he had sent away enough stuff to realize the required amount, and was afraid to make a further venture in the present excited state of the town. His mother approved of his conduct, and offered to help, but this frightened him. He tremblingly ventured to say that if she would retire from the town he should feel better and safer, and could hold his head higher—and was going on to make an argument, but she interrupted and surprised him pleasantly by saying she was ready; it didn’t make any difference to her where she stayed, so that she got her share of the pension regularly. She said she would not go far, and would call at the haunted house once a month for her money. Then she said— “I don’t hate you so much now, but I’ve hated you a many a year—and anybody would. Didn’t I change you off, en give you a good fambly en a good name, en made you a white gen’l’man en rich, wid store clothes on—en what did I git for it? You despised me all de time, en was al’ays sayin’ mean hard things to me befo’ folks, en wouldn’t ever let me forgit I’s a nigger—en—en———” She fell to sobbing, and broke down. Tom said—“But you know I didn’t know you were my mother; and besides—” “Well, nemmine ’bout dat, now; let it go. I’s gwine to fo’git it.” Then she added fiercely, “En don’t ever make me remember it ag’in, or you’ll be sorry, tell you.” I When they were parting, Tom said, in the most persuasive way he could command— “Ma, would you mind telling me who was my father?” He had supposed he was asking an embarrassing question. He was mistaken. Roxy drew herself up with a proud toss of her head, and said— “Does I mine tellin’ you? No, dat I don’t! You ain’t got no ’casion to be shame’ o’ yo’ father, kin tell you. He wuz de highest quality in dis whole town—ole Virginny stock. Fust famblies, he wuz. Jes as good stock as de Driscolls en de Howards, de bes’ day dey ever seed.” She put on a little prouder air, if possible, and added impressively: “Does you ’member Cunnel Cecil Burleigh Essex, dat died de same year yo’ young Marse Tom Driscoll’s pappy died, en all de Masons en Odd Fellers en Churches turned out en give him de bigges’ funeral dis town ever seed? Dat’s de man.” I Under the inspiration of her soaring complacency the departed graces of her earlier days returned to her, and her bearing took to itself a dignity and state that might have passed for queenly if her surroundings had been a little more in keeping with it. “Dey ain’t another nigger in dis town dat’s as high-bawn as you is. Now den, go ’long! En jes you hold yo’ head up as high as you want to—you has de right, en dat I kin swah.” 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. Mark Twain (2004). The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/102/pg102-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

Tom Practises Sycophancy

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Marse Tom Tramples His Chance here Marse Tom Tramples His Chance The holy passion of Friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money. —Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. Consider well the proportions of things. It is better to be a young June-bug than an old bird of paradise. —Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar. It is necessary now, to hunt up Roxy. At the time she was set free and went away chambermaiding, she was thirty-five. She got a berth as second chambermaid on a Cincinnati boat in the New Orleans trade, the . A couple of trips made her wonted and easy-going at the work, and infatuated her with the stir and adventure and independence of steamboat life. Then she was promoted and became head chambermaid. She was a favorite with the officers, and exceedingly proud of their joking and friendly way with her. Grand Mogul During eight years she served three parts of the year on that boat, and the winters on a Vicksburg packet. But now for two months she had had rheumatism in her arms, and was obliged to let the wash-tub alone. So she resigned. But she was well fixed—rich, as she would have described it; for she had lived a steady life, and had banked four dollars every month in New Orleans as a provision for her old age. She said in the start that she had “put shoes on one bar’footed nigger to tromple on her with,” and that one mistake like that was enough; she would be independent of the human race thenceforth forevermore if hard work and economy could accomplish it. When the boat touched the levee at New Orleans she bade good-by to her comrades on the and moved her kit ashore. Grand Mogul But she was back in a hour. The bank had gone to smash and carried her four hundred dollars with it. She was a pauper, and homeless. Also disabled bodily, at least for the present. The officers were full of sympathy for her in her trouble, and made up a little purse for her. She resolved to go to her birthplace; she had friends there among the negroes, and the unfortunate always help the unfortunate, she was well aware of that; those lowly comrades of her youth would not let her starve. She took the little local packet at Cairo, and now she was on the home-stretch. Time had worn away her bitterness against her son, and she was able to think of him with serenity. She put the vile side of him out of her mind, and dwelt only on recollections of his occasional acts of kindness to her. She gilded and otherwise decorated these, and made them very pleasant to contemplate. She began to long to see him. She would go and fawn upon him, slave-like—for this would have to be her attitude, of course—and maybe she would find that time had modified him, and that he would be glad to see his long-forgotten old nurse and treat her gently. That would be lovely; that would make her forget her woes and her poverty. Her poverty! That thought inspired her to add another castle to her dream: maybe he would give her a trifle now and then—maybe a dollar, once a month, say; any little thing like that would help, oh, ever so much. By the time she reached Dawson’s Landing she was her old self again; her blues were gone, she was in high feather. She would get along, surely; there were many kitchens where the servants would share their meals with her, and also steal sugar and apples and other dainties for her to carry home—or give her a chance to pilfer them herself, which would answer just as well. And there was the church. She was a more rabid and devoted Methodist than ever, and her piety was no sham, but was strong and sincere. Yes, with plenty of creature comforts and her old place in the amen-corner in her possession again, she would be perfectly happy and at peace thenceforward to the end. She went to Judge Driscoll’s kitchen first of all. She was received there in great form and with vast enthusiasm. Her wonderful travels, and the strange countries she had seen and the adventures she had had, made her a marvel, and a heroine of romance. The negroes hung enchanted upon the great story of her experiences, interrupting her all along with eager questions, with laughter, exclamations of delight and expressions of applause; and she was obliged to confess to herself that if there was anything better in this world than steamboating, it was the glory to be got by telling about it. The audience loaded her stomach with their dinners, and then stole the pantry bare to load up her basket. Tom was in St. Louis. The servants said he had spent the best part of his time there during the previous two years. Roxy came every day, and had many talks about the family and its affairs. Once she asked why Tom was away so much. The ostensible “Chambers” said: “De fac’ is, ole marster kin git along better when young marster’s away den he kin when he’s in de town; yes, en he love him better, too; so he gives him fifty dollahs a month—” “No, is dat so? Chambers, you’s a-jokin’, ain’t you?” “’Clah to goodness I ain’t, mammy; Marse Tom tole me so his own self. But nemmine, ’tain’t enough.” “My lan’, what de reason ’tain’t enough?” “Well, I’s gwine to tell you, if you gimme a chanst, mammy. De reason it ain’t enough is ’ca’se Marse Tom gambles.” Roxy threw up her hands in astonishment and Chambers went on— “Ole marster found it out, ’ca’se he had to pay two hundred dollahs for Marse Tom’s gamblin’ debts, en dat’s true, mammy, jes as dead certain as you’s bawn.” “Two—hund’d—dollahs! Why, what is you talkin’ ’bout? Two—hund’d—dollahs. Sakes alive, it’s ’mos’ enough to buy a tol’able good second-hand nigger wid. En you ain’t lyin’, honey?—you wouldn’t lie to yo’ ole mammy?” “It’s God’s own truth, jes as I tell you—two hund’d dollahs—I wisht I may never stir outen my tracks if it ain’t so. En, oh, my lan’, ole Marse was jes a-hoppin’! he was b’ilin’ mad, I tell you! He tuck ’n’ dissenhurrit him.” He licked his chops with relish after that stately word. Roxy struggled with it a moment, then gave it up and said— “Dissen him?” whiched “Dissenhurrit him.” “What’s dat? What do it mean?” “Means he bu’sted de will.” “Bu’s—ted de will! He wouldn’t treat him so! Take it back, you mis’able imitation nigger dat I bore in sorrow en tribbilation.” ever Roxy’s pet castle—an occasional dollar from Tom’s pocket—was tumbling to ruin before her eyes. She could not abide such a disaster as that; she couldn’t endure the thought of it. Her remark amused Chambers: “Yah-yah-yah! jes listen to dat! If I’s imitation, what is you? Bofe of us is imitation —dat’s what we is—en pow’ful good imitation, too—yah-yah-yah!—we don’t ’mount to noth’n as imitation ; en as for—” white niggers “Shet up yo’ foolin’, ’fo’ I knock you side de head, en tell me ’bout de will. Tell me ’tain’t bu’sted—do, honey, en I’ll never forgit you.” “Well, —’ca’se dey’s a new one made, en Marse Tom’s all right ag’in. But what is you in sich a sweat ’bout it for, mammy? ’Tain’t none o’ your business I don’t reckon.” ’tain’t “’Tain’t none o’ my business? Whose business is it den, I’d like to know? Wuz I his mother tell he was fifteen years old, or wusn’t I?—you answer me dat. En you speck I could see him turned out po’ en ornery on de worl’ en never care noth’n’ ’bout it? I reckon if you’d ever be’n a mother yo’self, Valet de Chambers, you wouldn’t talk sich foolishness as dat.” “Well, den, ole Marse forgive him en fixed up de will ag’in—do dat satisfy you?” Yes, she was satisfied now, and quite happy and sentimental over it. She kept coming daily, and at last she was told that Tom had come home. She began to tremble with emotion, and straightway sent to beg him to let his “po’ ole nigger mammy have jes one sight of him en die for joy.” Tom was stretched at his lazy ease on a sofa when Chambers brought the petition. Time had not modified his ancient detestation of the humble drudge and protector of his boyhood; it was still bitter and uncompromising. He sat up and bent a severe gaze upon the fair face of the young fellow whose name he was unconsciously using and whose family rights he was enjoying. He maintained the gaze until the victim of it had become satisfactorily pallid with terror, then he said— “What does the old rip want with me?” The petition was meekly repeated. “Who gave you permission to come and disturb me with the social attentions of niggers?” Tom had risen. The other young man was trembling now, visibly. He saw what was coming, and bent his head sideways, and put up his left arm to shield it. Tom rained cuffs upon the head and its shield, saying no word: the victim received each blow with a beseeching, “Please, Marse Tom!—oh, please, Marse Tom!” Seven blows—then Tom said, “Face the door—march!” He followed behind with one, two, three solid kicks. The last one helped the pure-white slave over the door-sill, and he limped away mopping his eyes with his old ragged sleeve. Tom shouted after him, “Send her in!” Then he flung himself panting on the sofa again, and rasped out the remark, “He arrived just at the right moment; I was full to the brim with bitter thinkings, and nobody to take it out of. How refreshing it was! I feel better.” Tom’s mother entered now, closing the door behind her, and approached her son with all the wheedling and supplicating servilities that fear and interest can impart to the words and attitudes of the born slave. She stopped a yard from her boy and made two or three admiring exclamations over his manly stature and general handsomeness, and Tom put an arm under his head and hoisted a leg over the sofa-back in order to look properly indifferent. “My lan’, how you is growed, honey! ’Clah to goodness, I wouldn’t a-knowed you, Marse Tom! ’deed I wouldn’t! Look at me good; does you ’member old Roxy?—does you know yo’ old nigger mammy, honey? Well, now, I kin lay down en die in peace, ’ca’se I’se seed—” “Cut it short, ——— it, cut it short! What is it you want?” “You heah dat? Jes the same old Marse Tom, al’ays so gay and funnin’ wid de ole mammy. I ’uz jes as shore—” “Cut it short, I tell you, and get along! What do you want?” This was a bitter disappointment. Roxy had for so many days nourished and fondled and petted her notion that Tom would be glad to see his old nurse, and would make her proud and happy to the marrow with a cordial word or two, that it took two rebuffs to convince her that he was not funning, and that her beautiful dream was a fond and foolish vanity, a shabby and pitiful mistake. She was hurt to the heart, and so ashamed that for a moment she did not quite know what to do or how to act. Then her breast began to heave, the tears came, and in her forlornness she was moved to try that other dream of hers—an appeal to her boy’s charity; and so, upon the impulse, and without reflection, she offered her supplication: “Oh, Marse Tom, de po’ ole mammy is in sich hard luck dese days; en she’s kinder crippled in de arms en can’t work, en if you could gimme a dollah—on’y jes one little dol—” Tom was on his feet so suddenly that the supplicant was startled into a jump herself. “A dollar!—give you a dollar! I’ve a notion to strangle you! Is your errand here? Clear out! and be quick about it!” that Roxy backed slowly toward the door. When she was half-way she stopped, and said mournfully: “Marse Tom, I nussed you when you was a little baby, en I raised you all by myself tell you was ’most a young man; en now you is young en rich, en I is po’ en gitt’n ole, en I come heah b’lievin’ dat you would he’p de ole mammy ’long down de little road dat’s lef’ ’twix’ her en de grave, en—” Tom relished this tune less than any that had preceded it, for it began to wake up a sort of echo in his conscience; so he interrupted and said with decision, though without asperity, that he was not in a situation to help her, and wasn’t going to do it. “Ain’t you ever gwine to he’p me, Marse Tom?” “No! Now go away and don’t bother me any more.” Roxy’s head was down, in an attitude of humility. But now the fires of her old wrongs flamed up in her breast and began to burn fiercely. She raised her head slowly, till it was well up, and at the same time her great frame unconsciously assumed an erect and masterful attitude, with all the majesty and grace of her vanished youth in it. She raised her finger and punctuated with it: “You has said de word. You has had yo’ chance, en you has trompled it under yo’ foot. When you git another one, you’ll git down on yo’ knees en for it!” beg A cold chill went to Tom’s heart, he didn’t know why; for he did not reflect that such words, from such an incongruous source, and so solemnly delivered, could not easily fail of that effect. However, he did the natural thing: he replied with bluster and mockery: “ give me a chance— ! Perhaps I’d better get down on my knees now! But in case I don’t—just for argument’s sake—what’s going to happen, pray?” You’ll you “Dis is what is gwine to happen. I’s gwine as straight to yo’ uncle as I kin walk, en tell him every las’ thing I knows ’bout you.” Tom’s cheek blenched, and she saw it. Disturbing thoughts began to chase each other through his head. “How can she know? And yet she must have found out—she looks it. I’ve had the will back only three months, and am already deep in debt again, and moving heaven and earth to save myself from exposure and destruction, with a reasonably fair show of getting the thing covered up if I’m let alone, and now this fiend has gone and found me out somehow or other. I wonder how much she knows? Oh, oh, oh, it’s enough to break a body’s heart! But I’ve got to humor her—there’s no other way.” Then he worked up a rather sickly sample of a gay laugh and a hollow chipperness of manner, and said: “Well, well, Roxy dear, old friends like you and me mustn’t quarrel. Here’s your dollar—now tell me what you know.” He held out the wild-cat bill; she stood as she was, and made no movement. It was her turn to scorn persuasive foolery, now, and she did not waste it. She said, with a grim implacability in voice and manner which made Tom almost realize that even a former slave can remember for ten minutes insults and injuries returned for compliments and flatteries received, and can also enjoy taking revenge for them when the opportunity offers: “What does I know? I’ll tell you what I knows. I knows enough to bu’st dat will to flinders—en more, mind you, ” more! Tom was aghast. “More?” he said. “What do you call more? Where’s there any room for more?” Roxy laughed a mocking laugh, and said scoffingly, with a toss of her head, and her hands on her hips— “Yes!—oh, I reckon! you’d like to know—wid yo’ po’ little ole rag dollah. What you reckon I’s gwine to tell for?—you ain’t got no money. I’s gwine to tell yo’ uncle—en I’ll do it dis minute, too—he’ll gimme dollahs for de news, en mighty glad, too.” Co’se you five She swung herself around disdainfully, and started away. Tom was in a panic. He seized her skirts, and implored her to wait. She turned and said, loftily— “Look-a-heah, what ’uz it I tole you?” “You—you—I don’t remember anything. What was it you told me?” “I tole you dat de next time I give you a chance you’d git down on yo’ knees en beg for it.” Tom was stupefied for a moment. He was panting with excitement. Then he said: “Oh, Roxy, you wouldn’t require your young master to do such a horrible thing. You can’t mean it.” “I’ll let you know mighty quick whether I means it or not! You call me names, en as good as spit on me when I comes here po’ en ornery en ’umble, to praise you for bein’ growed up so fine en handsome, en tell you how I used to nuss you en tend you en watch you when you ’uz sick en hadn’t no mother but me in de whole worl’, en beg you to give de po’ ole nigger a dollah for to git her som’n’ to eat, en you call me names— , dad blame you! Yassir, I gives you jes one chance mo’, and dat’s , en it las’ on’y a half a second—you hear?” names now Tom slumped to his knees and began to beg, saying— “You see, I’m begging, and it’s honest begging, too! Now tell me, Roxy, tell me.” The heir of two centuries of unatoned insult and outrage looked down on him and seemed to drink in deep draughts of satisfaction. Then she said— “Fine nice young white gen’l’man kneelin’ down to a nigger-wench! I’s wanted to see dat jes once befo’ I’s called. Now, Gabr’el, blow de hawn, I’s ready … Git up!” Tom did it. He said, humbly— “Now, Roxy, don’t punish me any more. I deserved what I’ve got, but be good and let me off with that. Don’t go to uncle. Tell me—I’ll give you the five dollars.” “Yes, I bet you will; en you won’t stop dah, nuther. But I ain’t gwine to tell you heah—” “Good gracious, no!” “Is you ’feared o’ de ha’nted house?” “N-no.” “Well, den, you come to de ha’nted house ’bout ten or ’leven to-night, en climb up de ladder, ’ca’se de sta’r-steps is broke down, en you’ll find me. I’s a-roostin’ in de ha’nted house ’ca’se I can’t ’ford to roos’ nowhers’ else.” She started toward the door, but stopped and said, “Gimme de dollah bill!” He gave it to her. She examined it and said, “H’m—like enough de bank’s bu’sted.” She started again, but halted again. “Has you got any whisky?” “Yes, a little.” “Fetch it!” He ran to his room overhead and brought down a bottle which was two-thirds full. She tilted it up and took a drink. Her eyes sparkled with satisfaction, and she tucked the bottle under her shawl, saying, “It’s prime. I’ll take it along.” Tom humbly held the door for her, and she marched out as grim and erect as a grenadier. 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. Mark Twain (2004). The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/102/pg102-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

Marse Tom Tramples His Chance

* * Achievement unlocked: With more than ‘4 billion’ in total votes -- almost half the population of earth voted for startups! JUST KIDDING! Some companies had a to accumulating their votes. unique approach In 2021, decided to host to highlight the backbone of the future - tech startups! for the first time in forever (make sure you sing it in Anna’s voice), HackerNoon.com Startups of The Year More than 44,000 startups were nominated all across the globe, spanning over 4,553 cities. That’s.Just.Spiffy! To see who is a winner in each respective city, visit and pick a city. The name at the top of the list is the winner. (Compromised awards are under review.) startups.hackernoon.com The will announce the winners per region in their respective cities. Startups Winners Announcement Series We’d like to take a moment here and thank every single person who cast a vote and every single company, both nominated and not nominated yet this year. Furthermore, we thank you for existing and opening more opportunities for the wonders of the future to come. Even if you don’t win anything today, you’ve won something much more valuable - our hearts <3 Okay, sorry for the long introduction. Below are all the Startups Winners: Startups of the Year (SOTY) in Africa Johannesburg, South Africa With more than 900 votes cast, #SOTY calls.... MiBRAND Thank you for connecting businesses and consumers, great job! Lagos, Nigeria With 836 votes in the bag, let’s give it up for... Goodtalent Thanks for helping tech companies build great engineering teams. Cape Town, South Africa Want to learn more about finance and use that knowledge to make better financial decisions? Look no further. Introducing winner of Startups of The Year, Cape Town: Revix With 527 votes cast, it seems like a lot of people have more money in their pockets thanks to . Revix Mahé, Seychelles With around 515 votes cast, #SOTY summons... DAOLaunch Thank you for bridging the gap between investors and startups. Lusaka And the winner for #SOTY in Lusaka is... ComGrow Thanks to them, people here are getting closer to the reality of the digitization of village banking. Nairobi, Kenya With 252 votes cast, UTU came out top as the Startup of The Year. Thanks for building the trust infrastructure of the internet to help businesses and consumers engage and transact in a more reliable way. Yaoundé Accounting for more than 73% of total votes, CamPay won this award fair and square. Thank you for making sending and receiving payments easier between online merchants. Abuja, Nigeria A proud winner in the prestigious capital of Nigeria, Elesaro deserves all the plaudits it gets. is a suite crowdfunding protocol built on BSC, Reward, Equity, Lending & NFT Marketplace. Congratulations! Elesaro Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania Jamii Africa is the name that will always be engraved on the #SOTY trophy. As a mobile micro-health insurance, Jamii Africa has done a great job for the health sector in Tanzania. Kigali, Rwanda Another #SOTY medal in the bag for none other than …wait for it… BAG Innovation BAG Innovation applies Gamification to offer real-time access to experience-based learning for University students in East Africa. Everybody loves playing games, but using games to learn in school is on another level. Gauteng, South Africa And the award goes to... Planet42 Thanks for democratising mobility by enabling people ignored by banks to get access to a personal vehicle through a car subscription service. Once again, congratulations! Port Harcourt, Nigeria Cryptocurrency is the present and the future, as we’ve all come to know. FLITBASE makes these digital assets more accessible to everyone. #SOTY is proud to add you to our Hall of Fame. Cairo, Egypt With 18 votes won out of the 91 cast, it seems there was fierce competition. Congratulations to... SubsBase for winning Startups of The Year. SubsBase allows businesses to manage their subscribers, automate recurring billings, set pricing plans, and monitor subscription KPIs. Tunis, Tunisia Come one, come all! Witness the greatness of yet another wonderful startup in the #SOTY. Thank you... VYND for providing a fully integrated digital platform to help venue owners better serve their customers and grow their businesses. Stellenbosch, South Africa BankTech connects clients to a payment network where it provides a convenient interface to meet various payments needs. You’ve won #SOTY proudly! Pretoria #SOTY acknowledges... Grays Pharmaceuticals Thank you for all you do. Lekki, Nigeria Middletrust provides reliable escrow services in Africa. Congratulations on winning a #SOTY medal. Addis Ababa Thank you... Hello Solar for consistently accelerating sustainable energy solutions, especially for remote communities. With half of the votes cast, you beat the odds. Accra, Ghana UT Bank Ghana provides various commercial banking services to individuals and companies in Ghana. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of financial services to humankind. #SOTY is proud of all you do. Gîza, Egypt Big congratulations to... HOVO for winning this award. Your on-demand mobile app for ordering trucks is truly appreciated! Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Congratulations for coming out on top of #SOTY, SillonBlue Technologies As an ICT Consulting and SaaS company, SillonBlue Technologies focuses on software and mobile app development, and data collection. Yaba, Nigeria With more than half of the votes cast, this nominee conquered undisputedly. Let’s give it up for... Kuda a no-fee full-service digital bank making banking affordable for all Africans on the planet. Morocco City Almes provides infrastructure and logistics services. Congratulations on earning a #SOTY medal. Dakar ShopMeAway provides families and businesses with new ways to shop around the world with reduced shipping costs. You deserve the plaudits you’ve received! Casablanca Sheaply provides crowd shipping and crowd shopping solutions. This reduces cost and improves efficiency on shipping and shopping. Congratulations on winning a #SOTY medal. Nguru, Nigeria Accounting for 88% of the votes, TradeBuza wins #SOTY almost flawlessly. TradeBuza is a tech-enabled commodities sourcing platform for commodities aggregators and out-grower schemes. Ikeja, Nigeria PropertyPro Nigeria is now pronounced Startup of the Year in Ikeja. Let’s admit, who doesn’t appreciate a platform built to search for real estate properties? Ibadan, Nigeria No Bank, No Problem! (That’s probably not their motto, by the way) Shield Finders is a fintech and financial service provider to the unbanked. Congratulation on winning most of the votes! 6 October City, Egypt Wuilt is a website builder where you can create your own Arabic website in under 5 minutes. Thank you for making this technology accessible to people. One #SOTY medal for you! Algiers The only nominee who outvoted all others, please give it up for... Yassir Thank you for providing convenient transport services using your app. Enugu In an area that usually suffers from inconsistent electricity, Greenage comes to the rescue with their green cape and spandex suit. Greenage Technologies is a Nigerian startup solving electricity problems in Nigeria using solar energy technology. Congrats, Greenage. Abeokuta, Nigeria A government organization creating opportunities for entrepreneurs and the unemployed - no one deserves the title Startup of The Year better than Ogun Innovate Congratulations! Ariana And the award goes to... E-Stores Factory a web platform that helps rent and manage e-shops for enterprises seeking to sell online. Thank you for making the (not a typo) more friendly! e-cosystem Benin City Health really is wealth. MOBicure provides mobile technology solutions for Africa's biggest health problems. Thank you for all you do. From #SOTY with love <3 Centurion GameZBoost offers white label gaming platforms, including online desktop solutions, fully responsive mobile and social platforms. Thank you for making the world a more fun place! Gaborone Augmenta Cyber Security provides services in cyber security, safe data storage, SCADA security, SAP Security, etc. Congratulations on winning 10/10 of the votes. You rock! Garki There can never be enough medical platforms in the world. Congratulations to... Wella Health an operator of a healthcare technology company intended to provide treatments and medicines for malaria. Thank you for all you do! Lilongwe Yellow is a digital platform enabling informal merchants in Africa. #SOTY welcomes you to its hall of fame. Make yourself at home ;) Luanda Access to finance is important for any company or sector to succeed. And no other company deserves the title Startup of The Year more than Deya the first Angolan and PALOP crowdfunding platform that aims to increase access to financing for social impact causes and entrepreneurs. . 10/10 will recommend Mombasa Life can be hard, and so a little humor helps ease these hardships. Congratulations to this political satire puppet show, The XYZ Show for winning #SOTY. Thanks for putting smiles on our faces. Port Louis Town Bet you’ve never heard of a Smartcup. Thanks to Intellicup that exists now, and therefore earns this startup a #SOTY badge.  Intellicup is a unique high-speed beverage dispensing solution with integrated smart technology. While this cup won’t be able to wake you up in the morning, you have to agree that it’s still pretty impressive. Rabat Atlan Space is a startup building AI to autonomously pilot any fixed-wing drone, to monitor and take measures over very large areas. You deserve the #SOTY medal. Réunion Imagine having the power to do ultrasound scans on your handheld device. OSCULT by Oscadi is a handheld ultrasound imaging device interfaced with the Apple iPad. Congratulations on making it into the #SOTY! Somerset West Winning the award fair and square is Sticitt a cashless payment platform that is also aimed at teaching learners at school the basics of finance. The future of the world would be in good hands when our children know how to adequately manage finances. Thank you for saving the world in advance. Thika Flowers make the world a beautiful place to live in. Wilmar Flowers exports summer flowers grown by small and medium-sized farmers from Kenya. Kudos for making the world beautiful, #SOTY is honored to have you in our Hall of Fame. Kampala, Uganda Yo-Waste Limited is an African startup that provides waste, recycling and “smart city” solutions to businesses and governments. Your #SOTY gold medal shines as much as you do <3 Harare, Zimbabwe The world is becoming more and more digital every day. Thanks to companies like Golix that provide services of digital currencies for people in Africa, the digitization of the world is becoming more robust. Freetown Easy Solar is a distribution company making energy, durable goods and financial services affordable and accessible through pay-as-you-go tech. Thumbs up! Kicukiro FOODLINE specializes in non-genetically-modified grocery farming and production lines. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! #SOTY Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo Startups Nuru is a renewable and environmental company that specializes in the fields of storage micro-grids and solar energy. After racking up all the votes, #SOTY honors you. Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire Digitech provides a fully integrated and cloud-based InsurTech platform to incumbent insurance companies. You are awesome! Durban Security can never really be enough. We’d like to honor Blue Security the title Startup of The Year, for specializing in the installation and monitoring of intruder detection systems, and in providing armed response services. Ikoyi And the Startup of The year goes to... Winich Farms an Agritech Startup leveraging tech to connect rural farmers to Finance & Market, thus, increasing productivity and cutting post-harvest loss. You rock! Lomé The last recipient of #SOTY in Africa calls for... Gozem a transport technology platform for Francophone West and Central Africa. Thank you for providing a platform for transportation. We are honored to have you! *Winners missing from this list will be added accordingly. More Information If you’re a winner, please answer ! If you’re a reader, participant, just a curious individual, consider answering one of our interviews . this interview here Read the FAQs about or . Startups here here To see all of the winners you may visit , pick any city and view the name that appears at the top. this site If you’re interested in partnering with us, we invite you to look through some of these or reach out to our business department. unique sponsorship options Perhaps creating your very own tickles your fancy or maybe you have a whole new idea for how we can partner! writing contest Thank you to all of our sponsors! We truly appreciate your contribution to the tech world and thus the future! The Startups Awards are sponsored by: , , , , , , , , , , Blockster Brex FreeCodeCamp LaunchDarkly Coil Udacity Udemy Vercel Asia Pacific Transgender Network Bybit Everscale Network This post was written and edited by Kien Dao and Joshua Omale. If you have any questions or concerns or would like to report a discrepancy please email ellen@hackernoon.com.

What are the Top Startups in Africa?

went all out for its annual in 2021 making it the most exciting Noonies to date! HackerNoon Noonies Awards The theme for the awards can be deemed “ .” Because we had more categories, more sub-categories, more nominees, than ever before, and you guessed it, there are More more winners too! In case you don’t believe us, here are some stats for y’all nerds: . 4,961 nominees for 2021. 586 Hacker Noon awards Across : 6 award categories , , , , , and . Decentralization Gaming Internet Heroes Internet Software Development Technology A monumental over at 105,122 votes were cast noonies.tech To see the winners simply visit , pick an award, and discover which name appears at the top. That’s the winner! noonies.tech The will announce some of the top founders, hackers, and makers in all 6 categories. Noonies Winners Annoucement series Software Development The Software Development award category honors individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions within the Engineering space in the last year! It further honors the writers helping more and more people to get their techGod flex on! This category alone had ! 91 Awards Please follow for posts with the lists of category winners released over the course of the week of February 14, 2022. this account Software Engineering has changed the way we interact with the world. Technology is here to stay and Software Engineers are at the forefront of that. At HackerNoon, we have a thriving developer community that consistently puts out relevant, well-researched content that has helped thousands of people implement new features and resolve bugs. Now, without further delay...Here below all the winners in . Software Development List of 2021 Winners for the Noonies Software Development Category Developer Defying Patriarchy (While Being an Awesome Developer) Adora Nwodo HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - LARAVEL Yannick Chenot HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - LINUX Pavlo (Paul) Buidenkov HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - DEVELOPMENT Yassir Hartani HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - ES6 Iskander Samatov HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - OPTIMIZATION Khoa Tran HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - SOFTWARE-ARCHITECTURE Courier HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - TUTORIAL Maverick HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - DEVOPS CTO.ai HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - DOCKER David Patterson HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - ENGINEERING Miles Murray HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - FUNCTIONAL-PROGRAMMING Aswin Barath HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - NLP Akis Loumpourdis HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - GIT Agnieszka Stec HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - GITHUB Antoine Caron HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - GOLANG Olga Galik HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CICD Arjav Dave HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CODING-SKILLS Guy Ariely HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CPP Lenvin Gonsalves HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - AWS NARUHODO HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - GRAPHQL Prismatic HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - AWS-LAMBDA Dylan Albertazzi HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - PROGRAMMING-LANGUAGES Dolamu Asipa HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - TYPESCRIPT Alex Adam HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - VENTURE-CAPITAL Zoe Chew HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CSS Nima Owji HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - ENGINEERING-MANAGEMENT John HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - LEARNING-TO-CODE UppLabs HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - RUBY Dragon Astronauts HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - SOFTWARE-ENGINEERING Brenda Jin HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - SERVERLESS Max Kalmykov HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - SCRUM Ryan Dawson HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - AZURE Arjav Dave HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - FIREBASE Suhail Kakar HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - PYTHON3 Emil Sadek HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - PHP John Risby HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - APP-DEVELOPMENT Courier HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - API Israel Abraham HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - NEURAL-NETWORKS Rishit Dagli HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - VIDEOGAMES Bryan Applegate HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - HTML Nima Owji HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - PYTHON-PROGRAMMING Ruchir Kakkad HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - FLUTTER Shubham Soni HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - VUEJS Austin Gil HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CODE Elizabeth Lvova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - JAVA Shai Almog HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - KOTLIN Shai Almog HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - BACKEND Elizabeth Lvova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - DEBUGGING Shai Almog HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CSS3 CodeBucks HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - REDUX CodeBucks HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - SOFTWARE Elizabeth Lvova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - TENSORFLOW Rishit Dagli HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CODE QUALITY Kanishk Tagade HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - TESTING Victor Anuebunwa HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CSHARP Sukhpinder Singh HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - NODEJS Victor Anuebunwa HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CONTAINERS Elizabeth Lvova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - ARCHITECTURE Varun Sharma HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - MONGODB Rushikesh Mhetre HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - KUBERNETES Elizabeth Lvova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CONTINUOUS-INTEGRATION ITRex HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - REACT Gorrion Software House HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - DEVELOPER Shravan Kumar B HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - LEARN-TO-CODE Azamah Jr HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - WEB Rodrigo Kamada HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - SOFTWARE-TESTING Sergei Shaikin HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - IOS-APP-DEVELOPMENT kunal rajput HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - JAVASCRIPT-DEVELOPMENT yantsishko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - MICROSERVICES Fabrizio Montesi HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - JAVASCRIPT yantsishko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - REACTJS Gorrion Software House HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - FRONT-END-DEVELOPMENT yantsishko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - PROGRAMMING Elizabeth Lvova HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - AUTHENTICATION Rohit Jacob Mathew HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - FRONTEND yantsishko HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - ANDROID-APP-DEVELOPMENT kunal rajput HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - CODING Victor Anuebunwa HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - DJANGO Anna HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - PYTHON Veronika HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - RUBY-ON-RAILS Abdel Pérez HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - REACT-NATIVE Functionland HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - PYTHON TUTORIALS Veronika HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - SQL Veronika HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - REST-API Alesia Traichuk HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - SWIFT Panos HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - ANGULAR Stanley Lim HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - DEVELOPER-TOOLS Pleasant Tech Most Authentic Developer Advocate of The Year Ada Nduka Oyom Top Programming Guru Programming with Mosh More Information: Read about the Noonies . To see all of the winners you may visit , pick any award, and view the name that appears at the top. here this site Or follow for posts with the list of names released over the course of the week of February 14, 2022. this account The will announce some of the top founders, hackers, and makers in all 6 categories. Noonies Winners Annoucement series Thank you to all of our sponsors! We truly appreciate your contribution to the tech world and thus the future! The Noonies Awards are sponsored by: , , and hosted by: Bybit Avast TECH Domains HackerNoon This post was written by Adebola Adeniran. If you have any questions or concerns or would like to report a discrepancy please email ellen@hackernoon.com.

#Noonies2021 Awards: The List of Winners in the Software Development Category 

Recently I was listening to , for you who doesn’t know Json Fried he is the chief executive officer of Basecamp, in this podcast mentioned how basecamp hire and it was mind-blowing for me, the first criteria they see in a candidate is their writing skills, and when you think about it, it actually makes sense, now people tend to work remotely with different timezone, the good writer knows how to communicate, he can make difficult things easy to understand, this clear writing leads to better communication in a remote team. in the chase Jaris podcast Jason Fried Jason So the question here is what are other benefits that a developer can learn from writing? 1. A good writer is a good thinker In the there is a quote basically what this means is writing will help you organize your mind by arranging information and arguments in a systematic fashion that will help your reader understand the topic. Getting real book “Clear Writing Leads To Clear Thinking”, Imagine that you are working with someone in a different timezone, your communications will not be in sync, so when sending a message before your day ends it needs to be understood, a misunderstanding can have a big impact on productivity, time-wasting as he needs to wait until you are around the next day. 2. It helps you learn more about the topic. If this was the only argument for why you should improve your writing it will be enough. Generally speaking, writing will improve your learning, sometimes as a developer, you’ll find yourself writing about certain solutions or technologies, in the process of writing about the topic you’ll find yourself learning more about it. 3. It will improve your critical thinking This one is from DR Jordan Peterson, when he was asked how to develop critical thinking he said: “the best way to teach people critical thinking is to teach them how to write”. With critical thinking you’ll be able to: understand the connection between ideas. Identify, construct and evaluate ideas. detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning solve problems systematically identify the relevance of importance of ideas Final thought As developers, we usually tend to be better at coding/programming and learning new technologies but we don’t pay attention to other skills that can improve not only our career but our lives, and writing is one of them.

How Writing Can Help Developers Succeed

In this AMA, the team at Hackernoon talks to Yasser Jilani, Code With Us founder, an EdTech start-up pioneering in coding education for children and teenagers and improving their academic performance and career skills. Slogging This Slogging thread by Mónica Freitas, Linh Smooke, Yasser Jilani, Limarc Ambalina, Verushka Buonaffina and Jack Boreham occurred in slogging's official #amas channel, and has been edited for readability. Mónica Freitas Nov 11, 2021, 6:30 PM I have here Yasser Jilani from ; it is a Silicon valley EdTech start-up that pioneers in coding education for students ages 6 to 18, to improve their academic performance and elevate their career skills. Their belief is that through coding students develop a wide range of competences applicable both at school and work. We discussed an AMA event with , who’s the COO of the company. These are some of the topics we mentioned for the activity: https://www.codewithus.com/en https://www.linkedin.com/in/yjilani/ 5 skills children learn through coding How coding can improve children’s academic performance. Tools for the future: How coding in children will reshape their prospects How coding is the cornerstone for the new generation. What are children learning when they learn to code? Why is coding important in education? 🔥 1 Mónica Freitas Nov 11, 2021, 6:31 PM Hey Yasser Jilani, thank you for being here with us. Linh Smooke Nov 11, 2021, 6:39 PM Awww intersection of technology + education  = my passion! So glad you are doing it! What explains your early interest in these topics? Yasser Jilani Nov 11, 2021, 6:43 PM Hi, Linh Smooke Our main interest grew when we saw a shortage of technology education. In the U.S., we always speak about a shortage of tech workforce and our need for foreign talents to bridge the gap. I strongly believe we need to invest in tech education to deal with this shortage, and that it should be part of early school education. My wife and I were looking for coding schools to enroll our kids to get a head start with that in mind. To our surprise, we couldn’t find quality instructor-driven EdTech resources that would address our needs, and that was the moment we realized the market opportunity and our social responsibility to prepare a tech-ready generation for our future. Linh Smooke Nov 11, 2021, 6:45 PM How old are your kids? in your research, what (if any) were available for that age range? Yasser Jilani Nov 11, 2021, 6:47 PM In the beginning, we started with after-school programs, then we transitioned to in-person, online, and now offering in-school graded classes at many school campuses throughout North America and Europe. Yasser Jilani Nov 11, 2021, 6:49 PM We started our organization with the goal of making coding education ubiquitous at all elementary, middle school and high school campuses globally, and making the service readily available and affordable for all. Yasser Jilani Nov 11, 2021, 6:50 PM I have three kids, ages 5, 11 and 12. 💚 1 Yasser Jilani Nov 11, 2021, 6:52 PM Our program teaches kids ages 5 to 18. Currently, we are in talks with career bootcamp programs to teach students fresh out of high school to prepare them for a high-paying technology career. Linh Smooke Nov 11, 2021, 7:03 PM Ours is still young, age 4, but so surprising to me that there’re so little available coding resources for kids that are affordable! When did you start and when did you first see traction? Yasser Jilani Nov 11, 2021, 7:22 PM We started our journey in 2017. And from the beginning, we saw a great demand. We pivoted to Online starting 2019, and our business wasn't affected by the pandemic. We started our push towards in-school programs in the beginning of 2021, and our bookings are solid. Many schools are looking for coding programs, and we have the capability to customize programs based on their needs. Limarc Ambalina Nov 12, 2021, 3:33 AM Thanks for joining us Yasser Jilani! It was only a matter of time before kids started to learn coding alongside mathematics. When do you think coding will become a mandatory class in all schools in the United States? Do you think it ever will? Yasser Jilani Nov 12, 2021, 5:56 AM Hi Limarc Ambalina, thanks for asking! I believe in the near future we will see our children learning coding besides math and science at school. Coding is getting more popular among early schoolers. Some states in the U.S have taken steps towards formulating CS framework for K-12 students, which is a great step towards making CS a part of the standard education. We started our journey with the goal of making coding education ubiquitous at all elementary, middle school and high school campuses. Recently we are observing huge responses to our school marketing efforts, which is very promising. Limarc Ambalina Nov 12, 2021, 6:05 AM That's great to hear! I actually looked into a few kids coding platforms and really loved CodeCombat I think for teaching children especially, gamifying ALL learning, not just coding will be key in the future. Is your team looking to gamify your programming education for kids? Mónica Freitas Nov 12, 2021, 5:14 PM Yasser Jilani, What are the main challenges you face when introducing your startup? Yasser Jilani Nov 12, 2021, 6:25 PM Hi Mónica Freitas, one challenge we face is finding an effective marketing channel. Our product and service are great. When a student or a school comes on board, they stay for a long period. Our trial to conversion rate is excellent. But we are seeking a cost-effective marketing medium to broadcast our messages to end-users. Our current CAC is high, and we would like to bring it down. Mónica Freitas Nov 12, 2021, 7:33 PM Yasser Jilani do you think that your marketing difficulties could also be connected to the type of service you offer and how new it is! Also, what are children learning when they learn to code? Verushka Buonaffina Nov 12, 2021, 8:58 PM Hey, Yasser Jilani Which abilities (soft and technical) does coding trigger in young kids? Yasser Jilani Nov 12, 2021, 11:00 PM Hi Mónica Freitas The coding industry is still evolving, as coding awareness increases, organic demand for our service increases too. Coding is basic knowledge children need to have in this day and age. We offer project-based education, where kids will learn how to design games and create Apps using programming languages like Scratch, Python, JavaScript, and many more. Our curriculum is designed to make learning exciting and engaging for kids. Yasser Jilani Nov 12, 2021, 11:01 PM Hi Verushka Buonaffina. Having children learn coding at a young age prepares them for the future. Coding helps children with communication, problem-solving, creativity, math, and teamwork. Jack Boreham Nov 13, 2021, 5:38 PM Hi Yasser Jilani, great to have you with us. What kind of coding do you teach children? Yasser Jilani Nov 13, 2021, 7:11 PM Hi, Jack Boreham We teach 15+ topics and programming languages to students, and thousands of projects they can work on with their teacher to gain the necessary skills. Our six popular topics are; Game Design in Scratch Software Design in Python Web Development in JavaScript Roblox Game Design Robotics with Arduino & C++ Minecraft Modding Mónica Freitas Nov 13, 2021, 8:52 PM Yasser Jilani that's great! In your experience what are children's favorite topics to learn? What gets them really excited? Yasser Jilani Nov 15, 2021, 8:52 PM Mónica Freitas, Children love to play games, that's the reason our curriculum is focused on game designing in coding languages. Children love creating animation games and playing with their peers, this gives them a sense of accomplishment of playing with a tool that they have created by themselves. Game Designing in Scratch and Robotics with Arduino are two most favorite topics with younger kids. Yasser Jilani Nov 15, 2021, 8:55 PM Kids 10 to 14, love to design creative Mods in Minecraft, also, design obbys (obstacle course games) and games with scripts using Roblox Lua. Mónica Freitas Nov 16, 2021, 11:20 AM Yasser Jilani that's amazing. Thank you! That's a wrap on this AMA. Thank you for joining us; it has been a pleasure to have you. 😊

Yasser Jilani is Bringing Coding to Children

Hacker Noon's annual Noonie awards, hosted on , seeks to find the best minds in the Tech industry today. One such impressive mind is NOONIES.TECH Yassine Rachid from Canada. Yassine is nominated in the and is the Founder and CEO of Pairdesk. Let's learn more about him below! Software Development category 1. Which 2020 Noonie have you been nominated for? Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - Python Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - Java Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - Swift 2. Tell us a bit about yourself. At a young age, my computer scientist father shared his passion for information technology. Like him, I liked the problem-solving parts of this field and I decided to study for a Bachelor's Degree in Software Engineering. After my graduation, I worked as a consultant for a few companies like Expedia and Trilliant Network. As a freelancer, I saw many limitations with the third-party freelancing platforms interacting between me and my clients. I had 2 choices: either be bogged down by the lengthy process of traditional consulting firms to work with my client, or go on a freelancing platform and be severely limited by their lack of features or high commission rates. I chose neither and instead wanted to offer a better solution to empower freelancers and their clients, which led me to launch Pairdesk! 3. Tell us about the things you make / write / manage / build. I mainly lead the technical effort when creating Pairdesk. My experience as an ex-freelancer was really helpful making the platform freelancer-centric and provide a better experience for freelancers, which makes life easier for clients as well! Alongside Pairdesk, I decided to write articles on Hacker Noon to share my experience. And, since this week, I decided to create my own Youtube channel to make programming tutorials. I always loved teaching my friends and peers various things, and I thought I could share this passion with others! 4. What are you most excited about right now? How our generation and the future ones have access to all the information gathered by humanity. The internet has granted us access to global knowledge, and it empowers us in so many ways. 5. What are you worried about right now? I am worried that, despite this connected world, we keep isolating ourselves to our views and stop looking outwards and thinking outside the box. The Internet and our connected world should allow us to challenge our views and constantly evolve, and I'm worried it can just create echo chambers and stall us in improving ourselves. 6. What's the most useful advice you've ever given somebody? “Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause" - Richard Francis Burton 7. How has the pandemic changed your life and/or career? The pandemic has been one of the most difficult challenges in the 21st century, it forced us to adapt ourselves to a "remote" approach when it comes to work and social interactions, and it has impacted me in this way. From a social standpoint, the impact has clearly been challenging and straining. When it comes to Pairdesk, we definitely wanted to push our platform forward in order to provide an alternative to the way people work and find opportunities. We found a massive growth in freelancers and clients alike and we want to make it as easy as possible, in the present and in the future, for people to join the freelancing world and empower themselves. 8. If we gave you $10 million to invest in one thing right now, where would you put it? I firmly believe in investing it and growing it in order to further invest in Pairdesk's mission. 9. What's an opinion you have that most people don't agree with? One of my core beliefs is the fact that we can master any subject or field. With our global access to information, we can easily become experts in anything given enough time and effort. Many people think that I'm being too optimistic when it comes to our potential as human beings in terms of personal growth, and that only long studies can provide us with this kind of knowledge. 10. Which apps can't you live without? Youtube. It's the application I use the most for learning and for entertainment. 11. What are you currently learning? While I am technically comfortable at what we do at Pairdesk, I'm really working on my communication skills in order to better share our mission and our values. Make somebody’s day and nominate them to be recognized in the internet’s most independent and community-driven awards: . NOONIES.TECH Don't forget to in the following awards: vote for Yassine Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - Python Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - Java Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - Swift

Stories, News & Mentions about YASSIR

Yassir’s Stories on HackerNoon

Yassir's News & Mentions