A wonderful friend passed away last Friday. @NjHassel was taken by cancer from his amazing family and all of us who loved him. At the age of 42. It's bullshit.

Grief is odd, I'm stuck. I don't know what to do, but I need to share what an incredible human Niles was, thus a 🧵.

I met Niles in 2001 as we began our MS degrees @IdahoStateU. He had dreadlocks, an awesome beard (before they were hip); we all know a person like this, a total Character, like someone crafted in a clever novel. A little kooky, smart, antagonizing, loyal, opinionated, lovable.
He was into fungi, soil dynamics, and so many things I knew little about. But I loved our energetic and animated scientific discussions. He was brilliant and fun. @vargaslab has put together a lovely tribute to Niles' scientific interests and achievements:
https://t.co/aUpmeFEwKx
In a place like Pocatello, ID, we had to make our own fun, and the Biology dept. was a tight knit community. I can't say Niles and I were best friends, but we were friends. When he and @emhasselquist started dating little did we know the makings of a future dream team had begun.
Fast forward a couple years, I had finished my MS and was working in Michigan looking for a PhD program. I made my way to @UCRiverside, where Niles had already started his PhD. He and Eliza invited me to be a roommate and Team Goodrich was born (Goodrich = street we lived on).
For two years we lived together and grew close. It was the only period of my life (other than living with actual family) that a house felt like a home. We had a great group again and we were legendary.

Niles loved Halloween, and we had the parties to prove it!
Niles loved to have a meal. A real meal. Time spent preparing food wasn't just to have tasty eats, but was a vehicle for being together, sharing space. A meal was a focal point around which to build love and friendship. I learned this from him and Eliza.
Niles was a great athlete. He played collegiate soccer, and we played intramural together. He was a gazelle sprinting across the pitch. He was also an accomplished climber, skier, diver, marathoner, golfer, curler, etc. He was a patient teacher and stoked my interest in climbing.
Niles was goofy and fun, he was stubborn and argumentative, he was loyal and loving. We had an incredible group of friends, and anyone new was always welcome. He was gracious whenever my family visited, and I know my brother was a big fan. Everyone loved Niles. He was THAT guy.
Niles and Eliza taught me much about relationships (although it took time to sink in). It's not always perfect, but if you try and care, it will endure. Their love was beautiful. It was one of my greatest privileges and honors in life to officiate their wedding.
Looking through photos has been joyful (the memories) and agonizing (the loss). Time pitter-pattered on after the wedding. I regret the long periods of no communication. Wishing I had made more of an effort to spend more time with and talked to such a friend as Niles.
Without the context, you can't know why, but this makes me laugh every time.
Niles wanted to be a dad badly. I remember at first being a bit shocked at his enthusiasm. But, It came naturally to him, or he made it appear so; he was inspiring in his devotion. My heart breaks for Frida and Toby.
This photo doesn't look like much, but it is special to me. My son is cozying up to Niles at a time when he wanted nothing to do with anyone but his mom. Frida and Toby were gracious to share him; Cassius found comfort and fondness for Niles after knowing him less than a day.
The last time I got to see Niles was summer 2018. We got our families together for a weekend in Yellowstone. It had been 7 years since "Team Goodrich" had been together. The team had grown, but the love was the same.
I'm not sure why I post this. It's largely cathartic, but I also feel everyone should know him. I'll also say I will forever regret not calling and talking to him one last time before he passed. I know it's almost cliché, but if you have someone important to talk to, don't wait.
A memorial fund has been started to support Eliza, Frida and Toby during this time. If you have known Niles, you might like to contribute (and maybe even if you don't!).

https://t.co/FjPNQgSn5n
I'll miss my friend. But I will always smile at the memories and feel blessed to have met and shared time with this kooky, lovable character turned accomplished scientist and devoted husband and father. His loss is great.

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Ester Ranzen/ Childline/BBC/Saville/Mandelson 👀👇


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https://t.co/aBsJL2Avqd


2. (Let's This Party Started) Keith Vaz and Ester Ranzen.


3. 'BBC'S ESTHER RANTZEN LINKED TO ELM GUEST HOUSE' https://t.co/a064KgW8LJ


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How I created content in 2020

A thread...

Back in Aug 2016, I started creating content to share my experiences as an entrepreneur.
Over 3 years I had put out 1,200+ hours of content - posting every week without


Little did I know that something I started almost 4 years back would give my life an entirely new direction.

At the end of 2019, my biggest platform was LinkedIn with ~700K followers.

In Jan 2020, I decided to build a team that would help me with the content.

I ran a month long recruitment drive to hire a team of interns.

It comprised 4 detailed rounds - starting with my loved 20 questions, then an assignment, then a WhatsApp video round and finally F2F.

Through 1,200+ applications, I finally selected 6 profiles, starting March.

I am a firm believer in @peterthiel's one task, one person philosophy
So the team was structured such that everyone was responsible for ONLY one task

1. Content ideas
2. Videography
3. Video editing
4. LinkedIn (+TikTok) distribution
5. FB+IG distribution
6. YouTube distribution
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Planet Money on HP's myriad ripoffs; Strength in numbers; and more!

Archived at: https://t.co/esjoT3u5Gr

#Pluralistic

1/


On Feb 22, I'm delivering a keynote address for the NISO Plus conference, "The day of the comet: what trustbusting means for digital manipulation."

https://t.co/Z84xicXhGg

2/


Planet Money on HP's myriad ripoffs: Ink-stained wretches of the world, unite!

https://t.co/k5ASdVUrC2

3/


Strength in numbers: The crisis in accounting.

https://t.co/DjfAfHWpNN

4/


#15yrsago Bad Samaritan family won’t return found expensive camera https://t.co/Rn9E5R1gtV

#10yrsago What does Libyan revolution mean for https://t.co/Jz28qHVhrV? https://t.co/dN1e4MxU4r

5/
the whole point of Dunks was you could go cop them at VIM whenever you wanted for $65. this shit is like having to enter a raffle to buy milk.


like seriously why not make a ton more of them if they're gonna be so sought-after? they land at outlets? so? nike still makes money off that.

the only reason to keep making them so limited is that they KNOW all that matters is the profit on the flip and if they were readily available FEWER people would want them, not more

the whole system is super broken, but it's just gonna go the way it goes, because at this point it all caters to the secondary market. the only reason Nike can sell Jordan 1s for $200 is because the people buying them can flip them for $500

adjusted for inflation, a $65 AJ1 in 1985 is like $160—and modern-day AJ1s are made from cheaper materials in factories staffed by cheaper workers. they don't HAVE to be $200 retail. but the secondary market nuked the whole concept of what sneakers are "worth"
I’ve been frustrated by the tweets I’ve seen of this as a Canadian. Because the facts are being misrepresented.

We’re not under some sort of major persecution. That’s not what this is. A thread. 1/8


This church was fined for breaking health orders in Dec. They continued to break them. So the pastor was arrested and released on conditions of... you guessed it, not breaking health orders. And then they broke the health orders. 2/8

So then he was arrested and told he couldn’t hold church services in person if he was to be released. He refused. He’s still in custody.

Here is my frustration as a Christian in Canada:

1. They were able to gather, with some conditions. They didn’t like those. 3/8

2. He is not actually unable to preach. He is just unable to hold church services because they broke the conditions given by the public health office in Alberta. He says he can’t in good conscience do that, so they are keeping him in jail (because he will break the law). 4/8

3. This is the 1st article of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: “guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” 5/8

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