Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by EddyTeddy Freddy
Talking about our number of posts. (Spin-off from the Trolls R Us thread.)
May 15, 2026, 4:18pm 1 26 posts will be added here shortly. I am open to a title change of course. As suggested by @LSLGuy From the hamburger menu you can pick Users (left column, 3rd item). Then adjust the drop-down at upper left from [Week] to [All time]. Then click the “Replies Posted” heading to sort the entire user roster by that number. You’ll be listed first and highlighted, then everyone else below you in descending order. I’ve added a link to the all setting.
Resteeping tea leaves
I’ve been trying out lots of different loose teas from Harney & Sons and am currently sipping a mug of Osmanthus Oolong, which I’m finding to be a delicious, complex flavor experience. The description on the tin suggests resteeping the leaves (which unfold very large, I found) for even more complex flavors. I had noticed this suggestion for other teas but hadn’t tried it yet.
Milk and sugar? Milk or sugar? Neither?
May 7, 2026, 3:10am 1 I drink my tea straight – no milk, no sugar. When I used to drink coffee, I needed both milk and sugar, though I weaned myself down to just milk before I quit coffee altogether. So, fellow Dopers, what’s your preference? Tea: With milk and sugar? Just milk? Just sugar? Neither? Coffee: With milk and sugar? Just milk? Just sugar? Neither?
Milk and sugar? Milk or sugar? Neither? {Now with working Polls}
May 7, 2026, 3:10am 1 I drink my tea straight – no milk, no sugar. When I used to drink coffee, I needed both milk and sugar, though I weaned myself down to just milk before I quit coffee altogether. So, fellow Dopers, what’s your preference? Tea: With milk and sugar (or sweetener) Just milk Just sugar (or sweetener) Neither Varies by tea type Coffee: With milk and sugar (or sweetener) Just milk Just sugar (or sweetener) Neither Varies for reasons
Should we be stocking up?
Given events in and around the Strait of Hormuz, I’ve seen multiple predictions that (a) this isn’t going to get resolved soon, so that (b) deliveries of oil, fertilizer, and helium (to name three commodities that move through there) are and will be dropping dramatically, leading (c) to price hikes rippling therough the economy far beyond what we’re already seeing at the gas pump.
Well, this did not go as planned
How do I cope with saying goodbye to a loved pet? I adopt another one! I understand that for some folks, taking in a new pet right way just doesn’t feel right, they have to get through their grief in whatever time it takes. But for me, a new life entering mine is the best balm for my loss. So this morning, I drove up to Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society planning to adopt a cat named Baked Alaska (to be renamed Barnaby), a fluffy 8YO tabby tuxie boy from a 50+ cat hoarder situation.
The last, and hardest, decision
Now? Not yet? How much longer? My cat Freddie Mercury (“Merc”), a senior former stray, has intestinal lymphoma that the vet can now feel with palpation. He’s eating a lot, frequent little meals of the always available wet and sometimes dry food, yet getting thinner; from an adoption weight of 10-point pounds he’s down to 6-something. I suspect the lymphoma is blocking his body from absorbing the nutrients from what he eats, and so he is hungry, hungry, yet can’t be sated.
Macomb, IL election judge removed after telling a voter they needed to be shot
March 18, 2026, 4:43am 1 This is disgusting! The voter asked for a Democratic ballot, and this is what they were told. Illinois had a primary today (the 17th of March). https://www.wgem.com – 18 Mar 26 The McDonough County clerk has confirmed that an election judge at the First Presbyterian Church in Macomb was removed on Tuesday.
Ancient catastrophes reimagined in fiction
February 1, 2026, 11:43pm 1 I was reading the Great Debates thread Did effects of the changes in climate as the glaciers receded result in highly distorted biblical accounts in the book of Genesis? and the discussion turned to the Zanclean Flood, as described here, for example: The largest flood in Earth’s history burst through Gibraltar and Sicily and refilled the entire Mediterranean in just a few years.
Food storage/use question
January 3, 2026, 5:58pm 1 Advice, please. I’ve been clearing out and rearranging kitchen cabinets and have items, canned, two or three years past their “best by”, “use by” date: baked beans and soup. I have Irish steel-cut oats, unopened can. I have cornmeal, unopened cardboard containers with plastic-sealed lids. Chuck or use?
Your pet adoption stories
Pretty much everyone here, I’d wager, has adopted a pet or two (or three, or four, or…) and has a story about it. Here is mine for my latest adoption. A beat-up old stray. That’s what he was, when the rescue took him in. Skinny, fur matted, filthy, ears crumpled from frantic scratching at chronic ear mite infestation, “Gerald” (as they named him) had survived for who knows how long on the streets.
Tea! Beyond the mundane!
December 24, 2025, 3:46pm 1 OMG so good! My Christmas present to myself was an order of four teas from Harney & Sons Fine Teas. The box arrived today and I’m currently sipping a mug of the New England Breakfast, described by their website as “our New England Breakfast begins with a base of strong, bright-tasting black tea.
Sauropod dinosaurs may have been more colorful than we previously thought
December 13, 2025, 12:18am 1 phys.org Scientists have long been trying to reconstruct the appearance of dinosaurs. The tidbits they are able to piece together from fossils and other analysis are displayed in museums, educational materials, and media, lending to our idea of what these... I just watched a podcast interview with one of the scientists behind this study. They looked at diplodocus scales that were incredibly well preserved and they were able to identify a variety of melanosomes.
Do you re-use pet names?
A year and a half or so I adopted a house panther from a rescue. They’d named him Freddie Mercury. Of course, I’d need a nickname for everyday use, right? So, Fred or Freddie, right? Well, no. Way back I had a cat named Fred – yes, the caboose on the trio from whom I took my screen name here. So now what? I went with Merc. Which has got me wondering: does everyone retire a pet’s name when it dies? Or do some folks have no problem with giving a succession of pets the same name?
Is it better to have a mixed pair of cats?
November 25, 2025, 10:54pm 1 My dear dopey cat Rudy passed away a short time ago, and I think his sister needs a new friend. Would it be better for her to have another female around or a male (fixed, of course)?
You get a cold! And you get a cold! And you get a cold!
Because, dammit, I don’t want to be wallowing here in solitary misery! Come be miserable with me, please. It started a few hours ago: the headache, the sore throat, the scratchiness in my voice, the sinus stuffiness, the ear pressure, the overall feeling crummy, with the beginnings of achiness all over. Damn! It’s partly my own fault, for not being as fanatical about masking in any public space lately.
Two dead in attack on synagogue in Manchester, UK
October 2, 2025, 12:42pm 1 From the Guardian, is this report. (I removed the bolding for readability.) What we know so far Police have shot a suspect after several people were stabbed and a car was driven at members of the public at the Heaton Park Hebrew congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, Greater Manchester Police said.
Fun With Sauerkraut
12 I take it I should drain the sauerkraut before tossing it in? Anyone have any suggestions for improvements? Onions! I do something similar with sauerkraut, only I carmelize some thin-sliced onions before I add the kraut. I chop up some sausage like bratwurst and add it to the mix, along with a chopped up baked potato (good way to use up leftover baked taters). It’s one of my simple go-to weekday meals for myself if no one else in the house is eating dinner with me.
Pithy observations
Summing up so much in so few words. Like this: “Is it normal for a cat to…” “Yes.” “But I didn’t even say what…” “You said cat.”
Who are these so-called "young men on Medicaid" that Republicans are obsessed with?
The second part of your question is easy. They took the number of “young” people on Medicaid, however they define young, and assumed that most if not all must be able-bodied men who choose not to work. How does he or anyone know that they are choosing not to work? To be on Medicaid don’t you have to have a doctor say you are unable to work? Are all the doctors in on this too?
Should I still feel somewhat conflicted about this past event?
Not gonna lie, I originally posted this on Reddit and got only a few replies, so I’m tossing it out here for the Dope to chew over. I’ll quote the original post, then a couple of comments I made in response to commenters.
We have a cat!
Actually, a ten week old kitten named “Spicy Tuna Roll”, picked while the ladies were visiting the Humane Society this afternoon after I went to work. Now all I have to do is convince them that she should be called “Macki” for short. I will of course teach her she shouldn’t do anything…she can’t get away with. Not yet. I haven’t even met her yet, although I have seen a photo of her from the Oregon Humane Society website. Aw, what about “Unagi” for a name?
When nature and geometry intersect
May 20, 2025, 12:10am 1 The built world offers all sorts of stark geometric compositions to explore. The natural world offers often softer organic compositions. Yin and yang, hard and soft, different photographic worlds, isn’t it? Oh, hell, no. Nature can produce powerfully geometric structures. The built world can flow organically. Let’s see some of your photos that illustrate this. I’ll go first: Deadwood geometry dancing against the sky:
What's it like to be a Chewy.com reviewer?
So, what’s involved in producing reviews for that merchant website, and how do you get the gig in the first place? Chewy.com asked me via email a while back, out of the blue, if I’d like to get pet goods and write reviews for them. I guess I order enough items from them to get spotted by some algorithm for finding reviewers. Did I do reviews for some items before being asked? Can’t recall. Anyway, there’s no pay involved other than the free stuff you get to try out.
A question on posting copy from Facebook
April 9, 2025, 2:24am 1 Some time ago I quoted the full text of a Facebook post by Jim Wright, with attribution and link to the olriginal, since his rants are generally long and really should be read in full.
Photo editing: Yes, it's appropriate and here's why
I have occasionally encountered someone who boasts that they use the images right out of their camera, never do any editing to it. I don’t bother to argue the point – you do you. But I definitely employ my editing software (ACDSee) to process the digital images I select to keep from every photography session, and here’s one perfect example of why. It’s an egret in flight captured (yes, a lucky shot) at a distance across a field. First, the original photo; second, what I did with it.
A Bomb Threat? HERE?
March 26, 2025, 3:04pm 1 This is ridiculous! Just tried to go to my local supermarket, a small store in a quiet exurban/suburban town, and discovered three police vehicles there and the store had just been shut down… Because of a bomb threat. A BOMB THREAT??? In my sleepy town? In a minor grocery store? Did the threat maker perhaps confuse the address with the high school a couple of lots down the street? If s/he did want to go after a supermarket, why this modest outlet?
Is anyone planning on sticking with Windows 10 and exercising prudence while taking their chances?
March 20, 2025, 9:15pm 1 I know, Prudence should take care of her own exercise program… When I worked, my laptop was my life, my brain, and indeed, my whole being. I had multiple clients for 35+ years, and all of their stuff was in my computer. Blahblahblah, you get the picture. This is a honking big and powerful computer because I did a lot of graphic design. I’m completely retired now and don’t do stuff for anyone else anymore.
1/31/2025: Small plane crashes in residential neighborhood in Philadelphia
February 1, 2025, 12:27am 1 There is very sketchy information, because it just happened, but there are already multiple known casualties. The first story I heard said it was near a shopping mall, and maybe it was but some houses are on fire. 6abc Philadelphia – 31 Jan 25 An investigation is underway after a small plane crashed in the area of Northeast Philadelphia.
Judge Cannon OKs release of special counsel’s report into Trump and election
January 13, 2025, 6:30pm 1 CNN – 13 Jan 25 Judge Aileen Cannon said on Monday that she would not block the release of the special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Donald Trump and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. This is my shocked face There’s going to be a hearing to see if Merrick “Sgt. Schultz: I see nothing” Garland can release it to a group of lawmakers. Not sure what she has approved releasing if that’s still in question. Maybe it’s just the classified parts.
Okay, I'm gonna tell this
January 11, 2025, 11:03pm 1 I think I’ve hinted around about this story before, but I’ve never told it on SDMB. I’ve hardly ever told it IRL. But something in another thread brought it to mind. Mainly it’s about a standoff between my parents when I was in middle school, that I got the brunt of. But I think some background is necessary: three things that happened when I was in the third grade. First, my dad gave me a task to do, that in retrospect he probably knew was beyond me.
Remembrance Day
November 11, 2024, 4:36pm 1 Watching the Remembrance Day ceremonies on CBC. The veterans just marched past.
Unambitious home cookery - confess, you do it too
All you folks with your inventive, delicious, creative cookery – what about the rest of us? The ones who haven’t progressed much beyond opening a can or popping something out of a package into the microwave? How about some “Meh, but at least it’s edible” cooking?
Care of tiny succulent
November 5, 2024, 4:36pm 1 I haven’t had a houseplant in 5.5 years and was just gifted a baby snake plant (mother in law’s tongue). it is ridiculously important to me that I do my best caring for it. the woman who gave it to me had planted it in some well-draining medium (cactus soil or something) in a red solo cup and she showed me it’s tiny roots. I poked holes in the bottom of the solo cup, then put it inside another container with a bit of gravel under the cup.
No, really, it's not just about the cat
Having messed up the formatting of my previous post on this topic, I’ve asked it to be cornfielded and am reposting, hopefully in a readable form. So here goes: The boyfriend who demands his girlfriend get rid of her cat, her dog, for whatever the given reason: This goes deeper than it at first looks (which to be sure is bad enough). I reproduce here an essay by Adam-Troy Castro, an author of sci-fi and horror novels and short stories, with whom I’m friends on Facebook.
Should you ever/never go back again?
September 29, 2024, 5:37pm 1 Is it better sometimes to stick with your memories?
Bee-nado? Really?
September 23, 2024, 11:06pm 1 I’ve never watched the TV show 9-1-1 So I have no idea if this is the sort of thing they do regularly, but Bee-nado? Seriously? Or are they running headlong into shark-jumping?
Historical murder mystery novels -- obscure places/time, with humor!
Murder mysteries set in historical eras are always a good read if well researched and written. There are multiple ones set in ancient Rome, for example, or Regency England. But what about times and places not usually mined for stories? And it’s especially delightful when the author can weave humor into the narrative. I’ve just downloaded the eighth book in the Master Mercurius mysteries series by Graham Brack.
Oh, come on! Stupid trends, anyone?
September 8, 2024, 7:42pm 1 Really? No, REALLY? “Airport tray aesthetic”? The “airport tray aesthetic” has taken off on TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest as people share artfully arranged shots of their sunglasses, shoes, toiletries and reading material inside the regulation polypropylene dishes. Don’t expect crumpled plastic bags stuffed with toothpaste and Pepto-Bismol.
The Dark Web has my SS number, dammit
GAH. Got notice my Social Security number’s shown up on the dark web, along with name, address (old and current) and telephone number (old, new, and what the hell?). Already have my credit on lockdown with all three reporting agencies, have for years, as well as a credit alert set up with one of my credit card accounts. Spent the last several hours going through all my online financial accounts to check for anything hinky (nothing) and change all my passwords. So far, so good.
Worst cinematographer gigs?
Thinking about what the camera crews go through in filming movies or TV shows, and wondering what’s the worst of those jobs? The “Dirty Jobs” camera crew had to deal with some awful places, smells, and so forth. The folks on “Deadliest Catch” must go through some truly harrowing times in heavy storm seas. Even the guys on “The Incredible Dr. Pol” had to contend with some mighty gruesome stuff while trying not to get run over by a massive bovine.
What's your special lunch treat?
Sweet potato fries with garlic aioli dipping sauce! I don’t often indulge in them but happened to be by the restaurant where I get them on another errand today, so why not! One to-go side order is enough for two lunches.
Glen Canyon's Double Arch has collapsed
Story here. A frequently visited arch collapsed in Rock Creek Bay in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah, the National Park Service reported Friday in a news release. The “Double Arch” geologic feature was also known by other names, including the “Toilet Bowl,” “Crescent Pool,” and “Hole in the Roof.” NPS said no injuries were reported from the collapse, which happened on Thursday. The Double Arch was formed from Navajo sandstone dating back about 190 million years, the news release said.
Washington Post: “With voting under attack, Arizona schools don’t want to be polling locations”
August 5, 2024, 7:53pm 1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/05/arizona-maricopa-county-schools-elections/ In the eight years since Donald Trump was first on the ballot, hundreds of schools throughout this fiercely contested battleground county are no longer willing to assume the risks associated with holding elections. In 2016, 37 percent of county polling locations were schools, according to a Washington Post analysis of data obtained through a public records request.
What is the origin of your SDMB screen name?
And if it’s a famous character, why that one? This is mine: it’s not from The Simpsons. It actually predates the Simpsons. When I was in High School a friend and I dressed as nerds for a Halloween concert my school would put on. I actually was a nerd for real but we dressed as like Revenge of the Nerds nerds with bad clashing colors, greasy hair, pocket protectors and thick glasses. The whole thing .
Finial, aglet and grommet conversation split from the Trolls R Us Thread
8 Did you know you can buy a device that makes aglets for you? And, did you further know, there’s not enough money in the world to buy the shoestrings you need to put through those aglets, you could possibly place? One bag of aglets contained 5000. The small bag. Cheap as dirt. I love that tool. Used it once for 2 aglets. 9 years ago. ( I also have a tool to make the ends of shoestrings, or is that the aglet, that goes on thru the eyelet? I always get that confused)
Do you remember learning to read?
July 14, 2024, 3:56pm 1 Do you remember when you learned to read? I do. It was in the John Greenleaf Whittier four-room elementary school, built in 1884 – first grade, I think – and our teacher had gathered us on our little chairs in a semicircle around the blackboard in the corner between the huge high windows looking out over our tiny playground out back. Along the top of the blackboard were white cardboard rectangles. Each one had a block of color and some letters.
Breaking: Possible shots fired at Trump rally; Trump injured?
July 13, 2024, 11:12pm 1 Live updates rolling in. Photos show Trump with what looks like blood on his right ear and side of his face.
The utterly dumbest idea for a present?
Many years ago I was doing photography of iron workers and became friendly enough with them to chat about this and that. One day one of them (not the brightest bulb on the tree) proudly announced he’d decided on a present for his wife’s birthday: He was going to buy her a roast beef to cook! Even his mates were aghast. As for me, “What?” I blurted, “why would you do that?” “But I like roast beef!” His mates and I tried to explain why that was a Very. Bad. Idea. I’m not sure if he ever got it.
Biden v Trump: June 27 debate (Live debate comment here)
June 25, 2024, 8:56pm 1 This thread is for discussion of the debate, speculation about the debate itself and reaction after the conclusion. If the debate does not actually happen this can die a natural death and Aeschines can say “I told you so.”
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with EddyTeddy
Contact EddyTeddy, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack