I received a conference announcement and call for papers this afternoon. The announcement included the following memorable description of the Yucutan Peninsula:

Cancun is situated in the state of Quintana Roo on the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, a seal-head shaped land mass that stares longingly towards Cuba from Guatemala and Belize.

The text I just finished writing for the Internet measurement paper does not include this phrase:

We construct a virtual network, a tree-shaped mess of links that stares longingly toward the real network from realms of ethereal abstraction.

If the objects in my paper stared longingly at each other, the paper would probably be more memorable than it is now. Then again, characters staring longingly at each other doesn't make a bad work of fiction any more memorable, or any better. If anything, it makes it worse.

• Currently drinking: Cocoa