Rubber ducky, I love you

I was on the digg swarm today and I found this story about bath toys which has 943 diggs and counting. It’s been floating around in the news ever since it happened, and it’s just bobbed up again. It’s basically the latest installment in a delightful saga that began on a dark and stormy night in 1992.

A container ship en route to Hong Kong got caught in a storm, and shed some of its cargo into the Pacific Ocean. Amongst other things (including Nike trainers and green plastic frogs) 24,000+ yellow plastic duckies were tipped out into the sea, and have been drifting ever since. But not aimlessly, oh no. They have been closely monitored by Curtis Ebbesmeyer and his team of oceanographers, who have been learning masses about ocean currents by watching the ducks. We don’t know much about what happens out there in the wild and watery oceans of our globe, and this is a good a method as any. He has faithfully recorded every sighting, and is now convinced they are about to arrive on our shores, via the North Pole, the Bering Strait, and more.

No ducks have yet been reported, but Ebbesmeyer just wants to make sure that the British beachcombing public is ready for the invasion. Apparently, the ducks are no longer yellow, having been bleached by the sun. If you find one, you could even be eligable for a reward of $100 per duck. So eyes peeled, people.

(PHOTO:5STAREMPTY)