It’s really bassackward of me, but I’ve never read Neil Gaiman’s fiction. I’ve only read his blog. I keep thinking that I need to rectify this sad lapse on my part, based on how he writes about his activities and the little things that make modern life bearable.

Such as glow-in-the-dark 256MB rubber ducky USB storage devices. They exist; they are described as “somewhat less sinister ducks” in Mr. Gaiman’s blog entry. Somewhat less sinister than what? Mergansers? Canada geese? Hawaiian nene? There are always Canada geese lurking on the corporate parklands that dot my part of the Chicago suburbs. Occasionally, they move from one side of the roadway to another, very slowly. Some of the geese seem to act as crossing guards for the rest. Apparently, the reason they cross the road is because the grass is always greener on the other side. This may explain the previously inexplicable behavior of chickens.

As for these somewhat less sinister ducks of prodigious memory, they come in 6 colors, and glow only when plugged in to a USB port. The “Army” color scheme will probably never catch on with the real military, but wannabe soldiers of fortune, pro-warbloggers and neoconpundits might be all over it like ducks on worms. They can store their swaggering tales of political derring-do on them, unplug, then take a nice hot bath!

Ooopsie, probably not safe for data storage AND bathtime fun. Pity.