Owen Poindexter
@owenpoindexter.bsky.social
Weird turned pro. Former podcaster and writer for Front Office Sports. Have also written for Wired, Slate, The Athletic, and many more.
Strengths: pesto-making, karaoke, seeing where the plot is going
Weaknesses: excessive heat, lactose, Mets fandom
Strengths: pesto-making, karaoke, seeing where the plot is going
Weaknesses: excessive heat, lactose, Mets fandom
For Slate, I wrote about the death of the internet’s best chess teacher, and where the chess world goes from here. slate.com/technology/2...
What Daniel Naroditsky’s Death Reveals About the Chess World’s Dark Side
Daniel Naroditsky was a young, popular chess streamer. Then his childhood hero accused him of cheating online—and his world flipped over.
slate.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:40 PM
For Slate, I wrote about the death of the internet’s best chess teacher, and where the chess world goes from here. slate.com/technology/2...
Not the biggest problem in the world right now, but still super fucked up.
Military Plans to Fire Artillery Over California Freeway on Saturday www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
Military Plans to Fire Artillery Over California Freeway on Saturday www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
Military Plans to Fire Artillery Over California Freeway on Saturday
www.nytimes.com
October 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Not the biggest problem in the world right now, but still super fucked up.
Military Plans to Fire Artillery Over California Freeway on Saturday www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
Military Plans to Fire Artillery Over California Freeway on Saturday www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/u...
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what pointlessly harmful thing you can do to your country www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
$10 Million in Contraceptives Have Been Destroyed on Orders From Trump Officials
www.nytimes.com
September 12, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what pointlessly harmful thing you can do to your country www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/h...
If I were president, I wouldn’t declare martial law to forward a racist, fascist agenda, but I would declare that technology in movies now follows kid movie logic: any device can do anything if it forwards the plot.
August 13, 2025 at 1:59 AM
If I were president, I wouldn’t declare martial law to forward a racist, fascist agenda, but I would declare that technology in movies now follows kid movie logic: any device can do anything if it forwards the plot.
Brain is glitching out at how dumb and self-destructive it is.
Release from HHS: HHS will wind down its development of the mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
August 6, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Brain is glitching out at how dumb and self-destructive it is.
If you woke up from a coma and heard that scientists, diplomats, public health experts and thousands of other civil servants were all out of work, what would you think had happened?
My guess would probably be that we’d lost some kind of terrible war.
My guess would probably be that we’d lost some kind of terrible war.
I talked to a NOAA colleague yesterday who told me that 75% of the federal employees of his division have left and he’s worried about their ability to get work done even if Congress funds NOAA at some level. The devastation to science will be felt for generations.
July 17, 2025 at 3:58 AM
If you woke up from a coma and heard that scientists, diplomats, public health experts and thousands of other civil servants were all out of work, what would you think had happened?
My guess would probably be that we’d lost some kind of terrible war.
My guess would probably be that we’d lost some kind of terrible war.
I may regret saying this, but I’m optimistic about California’s future. (And in case you’re just seeing the headline and my comment without all the context, I am a big environmentalist and CEQA was making pro-climate action harder) www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...
California Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law
www.nytimes.com
July 1, 2025 at 3:00 AM
I may regret saying this, but I’m optimistic about California’s future. (And in case you’re just seeing the headline and my comment without all the context, I am a big environmentalist and CEQA was making pro-climate action harder) www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...
This is both a good article for understanding the bill, and how conservatives cut benefits without saying they’re cutting benefits. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/u...
How the G.O.P. Bill Saves Money: Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork
www.nytimes.com
June 30, 2025 at 12:24 AM
This is both a good article for understanding the bill, and how conservatives cut benefits without saying they’re cutting benefits. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/u...
Good job, people. Keep it up.
Here’s a New York Times photo of the Chicago “No Kings” rally. NYT said the march that followed spanned at least 10 blocks.
June 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Good job, people. Keep it up.
Reposted by Owen Poindexter
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program
In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...
www.spencer.org
May 2, 2025 at 9:07 PM
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
If it’s possible to quantify US science progress, the graph is going to look like the one for housing prices when the financial crisis hit.
🔔BREAKING🔔
The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding.
This is censorship disguised as oversight.
Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3):
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The NSF has frozen all research grant awards—cutting off life-saving science midstream and demanding ideological screenings for future funding.
This is censorship disguised as oversight.
Here’s how you can help us spread the word ➡️🧵(1/3):
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones
US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.
www.nature.com
May 2, 2025 at 2:07 PM
If it’s possible to quantify US science progress, the graph is going to look like the one for housing prices when the financial crisis hit.
Reposted by Owen Poindexter
IF WHAT YOU’RE DOING IS SO RIGHTEOUS WHY DO YOU HAVE TO HIDE YOUR FACES?
Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.
From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
March 26, 2025 at 6:32 PM
IF WHAT YOU’RE DOING IS SO RIGHTEOUS WHY DO YOU HAVE TO HIDE YOUR FACES?
Reposted by Owen Poindexter
The Mayor of Somerville, MA (where this took place) says that the mostly masked ICE agents misidentified themselves as "police" even though they had no connection with either Somerville or Tufts police. whdh.com/news/video-r...
March 26, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The Mayor of Somerville, MA (where this took place) says that the mostly masked ICE agents misidentified themselves as "police" even though they had no connection with either Somerville or Tufts police. whdh.com/news/video-r...
The super smart robots are coming ... maybe. Wrote this article for Prediction News on the likelihood that we're a few years away from artificial general intelligence (AGI): predictionnews.com/featured/the...
The Race to AGI: Markets, Experts, and the Uncertain Path to Superintelligence
Prediction market traders are pricing in a rapid AI breakthrough—are they ahead of the curve or just wishful thinkers?
predictionnews.com
March 11, 2025 at 6:36 PM
The super smart robots are coming ... maybe. Wrote this article for Prediction News on the likelihood that we're a few years away from artificial general intelligence (AGI): predictionnews.com/featured/the...
I miss the time when people were capable of feeling embarrassed.
Trump claimed the Biden administration spent $8 million "making mice transgender." The White House tried to back up this number with records of funding for research into cancer, asthma, and HIV, some of which used *transgenic* (genetically modified) mice.
Trump Decried Millions Spent 'Making Mice Transgender.' It Was Cancer and Asthma Research
President Trump falsely claimed that Biden spent $8 million on 'making mice transgender,' but the real research was for human health.
www.rollingstone.com
March 6, 2025 at 5:07 AM
I miss the time when people were capable of feeling embarrassed.
Anyone want to help deliver medicine to people with infectious diseases through the power of fantasy baseball?
I'm looking to start a league where half the buy-in goes to a global health org. Say hi if interested.
I'm looking to start a league where half the buy-in goes to a global health org. Say hi if interested.
February 24, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Anyone want to help deliver medicine to people with infectious diseases through the power of fantasy baseball?
I'm looking to start a league where half the buy-in goes to a global health org. Say hi if interested.
I'm looking to start a league where half the buy-in goes to a global health org. Say hi if interested.
Reposted by Owen Poindexter
The measles outbreak in Texas is reminding me of the public letter Roald Dahl wrote about losing his daughter to measles in 1962, just before the vaccine was publicly available.
February 15, 2025 at 5:49 PM
The measles outbreak in Texas is reminding me of the public letter Roald Dahl wrote about losing his daughter to measles in 1962, just before the vaccine was publicly available.
Soy milk walked so oat milk could run.
February 13, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Soy milk walked so oat milk could run.
Thanks @hankgreen.bsky.social this was well explained. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI14...
What Trump's Doing
YouTube video by vlogbrothers
www.youtube.com
February 8, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Thanks @hankgreen.bsky.social this was well explained. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI14...
Taking a break from all of that (gestures at world) to say woot for this! www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/mets...
Mets To Re-Sign Pete Alonso
The Polar Bear is headed back to Queens. Find the contract details at MLB Trade Rumors.
www.mlbtraderumors.com
February 6, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Taking a break from all of that (gestures at world) to say woot for this! www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/mets...
The big pharmaceuticals are already working on a bird flu vaccine, right? Please? At least a half serious sketch?
February 5, 2025 at 9:59 PM
The big pharmaceuticals are already working on a bird flu vaccine, right? Please? At least a half serious sketch?
Life saving aid is good, actually
New and important: we built a federal expenditure tracker. All expenditure line items that are available on the Daily Treasury Statement.
USAID was zeroed out on 1/28 and has been at zero ever since.
www.hamiltonproject.org/data/trackin...
#EconSky
USAID was zeroed out on 1/28 and has been at zero ever since.
www.hamiltonproject.org/data/trackin...
#EconSky
February 4, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Life saving aid is good, actually
This article on modern teen luddites is a nice brain cleanse from, y'know, all the other stuff. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/s...
Luddite Teens Still Don’t Want Your Likes
Three years after starting a club meant to fight social media’s grip on young people, many original members are holding firm and gaining new converts.
www.nytimes.com
February 1, 2025 at 6:13 PM
This article on modern teen luddites is a nice brain cleanse from, y'know, all the other stuff. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/s...
This is like living with a manic roommate who tells you one day that he's going to put his lifesavings into a brilliant idea to make emojis for memecoins, and then acts like he never really meant it the next day and that happens every day. www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...
Trump administration rescinds order attempting to freeze federal aid spending
The move comes just one day after the order was issued and a federal district judge temporarily halted it.
www.nbcnews.com
January 29, 2025 at 6:25 PM
This is like living with a manic roommate who tells you one day that he's going to put his lifesavings into a brilliant idea to make emojis for memecoins, and then acts like he never really meant it the next day and that happens every day. www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...
This is due to the elimination of funding that amounts to a trivial amount of money to the US government.
Even if you only care about US interests, it’s pretty hard to argue against the value of saving thousands of lives and containing infectious diseases overseas.
Even if you only care about US interests, it’s pretty hard to argue against the value of saving thousands of lives and containing infectious diseases overseas.
Calls and text messages have flooded me in the last 72 hours from friends and colleagues in Sierra Leone and elsewhere: Are my meds going to be cut off? Am I going to die? I don't know what to tell them. I don't know what to tell anyone. Hope is my whole jam, but I feel very distant from it.
January 29, 2025 at 6:17 PM
This is due to the elimination of funding that amounts to a trivial amount of money to the US government.
Even if you only care about US interests, it’s pretty hard to argue against the value of saving thousands of lives and containing infectious diseases overseas.
Even if you only care about US interests, it’s pretty hard to argue against the value of saving thousands of lives and containing infectious diseases overseas.