Rubber duckies vs. Nikes

[j minnich]

>
>
>Never heard of the ducky flotilla, but can almost swear to the
>authenticity of this report (would swear, since I read it 
>somewhere "reliable", such as Scientific American, but have lost
>the source):  A cargoload of Nike sneakers, in transit from slave-
>labor territories to our humble shores went overboard and served
>same scientific function as duckies:  reports of sneakers coming
>ashore around PacRim let scientists analyze currents.
>

I think both are true.  At least I recall seeing both incidents in the
newspapers and on NPR.  Containerships do loose containers sometimes.
What'll be next?  A container of Wonderbras doing the grand tour?  I'm not
sure what's the Pynchon tie-in of all this, but today's SF Examiner (Sunday,
Nov 24) had a long article about plutonium loose in the Atlantic, from the
20 warheads that were aboard a Russian submarine that went down in 1986, in
18,000 feet of water. About 200 pounds of plutonium may have gotten loose to
maybe go into the food chain and travel about the old globe, keeping company
wiv the duckies and nikes. 
                                       -j minnich