Tea at Trianon: Being a Cat Lady Is Good for Your Health

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, January 24, 2020

Being a Cat Lady Is Good for Your Health

From Martha Stewart:

Sorry dog people, but not only do most of us know plenty of decidedly normal cat lovers, but years of scientific research suggest that cohabitating with cats has zero effect on developing psychosis later in life. (Take that haters!)

If that's not enough to get feline fans purring, a 2009 study published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Neurology certainly will. In it, scientists found that cat ownership can be beneficial to our health in a number of ways. Most significantly, researchers observed a decreased risk for death due to heart attack and all cardiovascular diseases (including stroke) among persons with cats.

"Acquisition of cats as domestic pets may represent a novel strategy for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in high-risk individuals," the study's authors mused. A kitty cuddle session can also ease symptoms of anxiety. As Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D., licensed clinical psychologist and author of The Stress-Proof Brain explained to NBC News, the act of petting your cat releases oxytocin, the bonding hormone or "cuddle chemical," which can make you feel less stressed. (Read more.)

julygirl said...: May be good for the heart but bad for the sinuses. Tackling the fur problem is ongoing and on everything.; January 24, 2020 at 9:48:00 PM EST