h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Other notable objects tracked are shipments of Lego and Rubber Ducks.

http://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140722-odd-objects-reveal-ocean-secrets

I had heard about the Garfield telephone problem, but at the time I hoped it was an urban legend.

We do sometimes have rubber duck races, but we collect all the losers afterwards.

Do you send them to Sesame Street?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=punrsuK62fM

No, we keep them for the next race.

You said that you collect the losers. What happens to the winners?

There is only one winner. That one will be collected as well. Last time, the prize was a 30 cm rubber duck. (Won by my then three year old son)

How heavy? If someone threw it at me, I'd have to duck, indeed.

Not that heavy. I guess less than half a kilogram.

I must admit that I have a slight rubber duck bias, having used them to propose my wife in marriage.

I'm not going to ask you how you used the duck?

I'll tell you anyway.

We just bought our house, so imagine concrete floors and peeling wallpaper with it.

From the front door, I laid out a trail of rubber ducks with the words "Do you want to marry me?" written on them and at the end a bunch of roses, a pen and a final duck with dots that could be filled in by my then wife to be. (I must admit that the number of dots corresponded with yes rather than no)

Do your rubber ducks migrate south for the winter?

The presence of a big bathtub prevents that.

So, they are indoor ducks, then. Fair enough.

Thanks for that link, Baron Grim - very informative, and the interactive map is worth studying...

Indoor ducks should be safe from washing up on shore 10,000 miles away.

Unless you live in a house boat.

But even though, only if the boat sinks or capsizes. Don't worry about the duck, though, as hey can float. In fact, maybe they would rather get out of the house and travel.

Once met a purple rubber duck in a geocache, with a travel bug attached. His last known whereabouts were in Nevada, after travelling over 37000 kilometers from cache to cache, from the Middle East, to Central Europe, to Hawaii, to Central and North America.