Prominence seismology using small amplitude oscillations

Quiescent prominences are thin slabs of cold, dense plasma embedded in the much hotter and rarer solar corona. Although their global shape is rather irregular, they are often characterised by an internal structure consisting of a large number of thin, parallel threads piled together. Prominences often display periodic disturbances mostly observed in the Doppler displacement of spectral lines and with an amplitude typically of the order of or smaller than 2--3 km s$^{-1}$, a value which seems to be much smaller than the characteristic speeds of the prominence plasma (namely the Alfv\'en and sound velocities). Two particular features of these small amplitude prominence oscillations is that they seem to damp in a few periods and that they seem not to affect the whole prominence structure. In addition, in high spatial resolution observations, in which threads can be discerned, small amplitude oscillations appear to be clearly associated to these fine structure constituents. Prominence seismology tries to bring together the results from these observations (e.g. periods, wavelengths, damping times) and their theoretical modeling (by means of the magnetohydrodynamic theory) to gain insight into physical properties of prominences that cannot be derived from direct observation. In this paper we discuss works that have not been described in previous reviews, namely the first seismological application to solar prominences and theoretical advances on the attenuation of prominence oscillations

Gluttony, excess, and the fall of the planter class in the British Caribbean

Food and rituals around eating are a fundamental part of human existence. They can also be heavily politicized and socially significant. In the British Caribbean, white slaveholders were renowned for their hospitality towards one another and towards white visitors. This was no simple quirk of local character. Hospitality and sociability played a crucial role in binding the white minority together. This solidarity helped a small number of whites to dominate and control the enslaved majority. By the end of the eighteenth century, British metropolitan observers had an entrenched opinion of Caribbean whites as gluttons. Travelers reported on the sumptuous meals and excessive drinking of the planter class. Abolitionists associated these features of local society with the corrupting influences of slavery. Excessive consumption and lack of self-control were seen as symptoms of white creole failure. This article explores how local cuisine and white creole eating rituals developed as part of slave societies and examines the ways in which ideas about hospitality and gluttony fed into the debates over slavery that led to the dismantling of slavery and the fall of the planter class