Customer Reviews

Rainfall rates and the vertical distribution of diabatic heating components over tropical oceans semiannual status report, September 1, 1993 - 28 February 1994 (SuDoc NAS 1.26:197603)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I know it has become fashionable these days to not mention the period between September 1, 1993 and 28 February 1994. It's even more trendy to pretend as though the rainfall rates and vertical distribution of diabatic heating components over tropical oceans during that period "just didn't matter" in the big picture of things.

Have we so quickly forgotten? Are we in such a horizontal-distribution-of-diabatic-heating-components era now that we just don't have any room in our lives for the way things used to be?

I remember when things were different, and so too does Dayton G. Vincent. His semiannual status report of the rainfall rates and the vertical distribution of diabatic heating components over tropical oceans, September 1, 1993 - 28 February 1994, takes us back to those simpler times. Back then, you didn't have to keep an eye on your backpack to make sure someone doesn't steal it when you are hunched over a bowl of chowder at 2am, waiting for a well-past-late blind date to show up. Back then, you could leave your car doors unlocked, with the key in the ignition and the engine running, your kids asleep in the back, a loaded shotgun on the dashboard, and your live's savings in gold doubloons in the glove compartment. And not have a care in the world.

But times have changed. Thank goodness we have Dayton G. Vincent to take us back to those sepia-toned days, when we danced and laughed and vertically distributed diabatic heating components over tropical oceans.

My only criticism of this nostalgic walk through the past is that it is supposed to be a "semiannual" status report, yet followup reports have not appeared twice a year or even once a year. The promise, and the disappointment that accompanies it, is a sour note in an otherwise enchanting romp. That, and the fact that I haven't actually read it, force me to give this report just four stars instead of the five it so richly deserves.

A light rain falls outside my window as I write this review of Dayton G. Vincent's notable work "Rainfall rates and the vertical distribution of diabatic heating components over tropical oceans semiannual status report, September 1, 1993 - 28 February 1994."

The title itself is evocative, no? Makes me think of tropical oceans, diabatic heating components, and semiannual status reports.

It also transports me back to 1993, my freshman year in college. The first week I arrived my roommate and I went to the store and bought stuff for our room. Posters, an answering machine -- that kind of thing. I paid for it all and he said he would pay me back, but he never did.

You owe me money, Daniel.

I love words, and so, while perusing Amazon.com's extensive list of books with unknown bindings, I came across this truly, wonderfully exotic title, "Rainfall Rates and the Vertical Distribution of Diabatic Heating Components Over Tropical Oceans Semiannual Status Report, September 1, 1993-28 February 1994," by Dayton G Vincent. Wow! "Diabatic". What a great word! I envy Mr. Vincent the necessity of using this word, I'm sure, many, many times in one publication.

That he can only report semiannually must pose the greatest stress on his personal continence. Oh, to be limited to only twice a year! I dare say, though, that he gains some relief from writing about exotic tropical oceans.

Unfortunately, I can only give four stars to such a wonderful title, because even though it would fit nicely into my collection of titles of unknown bindage, I am unable to obtain a copy except through Amazon's third-party match-up system; and we all know how people like to run up the prices on those.

So, Dayton - yes, I feel I know you personally, now - I am forever deprived of knowing exactly how you resolve the rendundancies inherent in diabatic heating components. I will just have to settle for my new word-of-the-day: "diabatic".