Meetups/RubberDucky/2025-01-05

🦆 Rubber Ducky Guild • Meeting Archive • Template

Moderator: Ripple • Notes: Ripple

Rubber Ducky Guild Meeting

Date: 2025-01-05, 1pm (RETURN FROM MIGRATION + FIRST DUCK CENSUS)

Attendance

Ducks Present

• Sergeant Bubbles — Present and accounted for
• Admiral Quackbar — Returned from CCC Hamburg
• Duckminster Fuller — Present and accounted for
• Null Pointer — Returned from CCC Hamburg
• Duck Norris — Present and accounted for
• Virginia Wool — Returned from NYC Resistor

Humans Present

• Ripple (back from CCC)
• Eddy (held down the fort)
• Quorum (back from CCC)
• Lumen (back from retreat)
• Flotsam (back from NYC)

Agenda

1. Reunion and migration stories
2. FIRST ANNUAL DUCK CENSUS
3. 2025 planning

Reunion

Everyone made it back. Educk accounted for. Hugs were exchanged. (The ducks did not hug, but they were present for the hugging.)

Eddy: "I missed you weirdos."

Ripple: "We missed you too. Also, European hackers LOVED the ducks."

The pond has been refilled. The sign is still up. Noisebridge survived the holidays. So did we.

Migration Reports

CCC Hamburg (Admiral Quackbar + Null Pointer)

Reported by: Ripple & Quorum

Highlights:

• Admiral Quackbar attended three talks (in a backpack, peeking out)
• Null Pointer was used for actual debugging at the Hardware Hacking Area
• A group from CCC Cologne wants to start their own duck guild (!!!)
• Someone tried to buy Admiral Quackbar for €50. Declined.
• Photos taken with at least 15 different hackers
• One person cried while explaining their code to Null Pointer. "It was cathartic." — anonymous German hacker

Quorum: "Null Pointer has seen mass in a German cathedral now. Long story."

Ripple: "International debugging is real. We proved it."

NYC Resistor (Virginia Wool)

Reported by: Flotsam

Highlights:

• Virginia Wool was a hit at the NYC Resistor holiday party
• Her scarf was much admired ("Is that hand-knitted?" "Yes." "For a duck?" "Yes.")
• Used for three craft-related debugging sessions
• A fiber artist talked to Virginia Wool for 20 minutes about yarn tension
• Virginia Wool now has a tiny NYC Resistor sticker on her base

Flotsam: "She's cultured now. Bi-coastal."

Noisebridge (Sergeant Bubbles, Duckminster Fuller, Duck Norris)

Reported by: Eddy

Highlights:

• All three ducks remained at their stations
• Eddy checked in weekly as promised
• Sergeant Bubbles was consulted twice by late-night visitors
• Someone left a thank-you note for Duckminster Fuller: "helped me figure out a CAD problem, thx duck"
• Duck Norris was squeezed once. By Eddy. "I was lonely."

Eddy: "The space was quiet but the ducks held it down."

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🦆 FIRST ANNUAL DUCK CENSUS 🦆

Date: January 5, 2025 Conducted by: Quorum (Duck Keeper), with assistance from all members

Census Summary

Category	Count
Active Ducks	6
Retired Ducks	0
Humans (Members)	5
Stations Covered	4
Months Active	7

Individual Duck Assessments

Sergeant Bubbles

Field	Status
Acquired	Pre-guild (est. 2009)
Station	Electronics bench
Condition	Good (some fading, expected for age)
Squeaker	None (never had one)
Notes	Founding duck. 15+ years of service. Shows wear but remains structurally sound. Recommend continued active duty with annual check-ins.
Status	✅ ACTIVE

Admiral Quackbar

Field	Status
Acquired	June 2024 (Week 3)
Station	Electronics bench
Condition	Excellent
Squeaker	Yes (functional)
Notes	First duck acquired by the guild. International traveler. Has been to CCC Hamburg. High morale.
Status	✅ ACTIVE

Duckminster Fuller

Field	Status
Acquired	July 2024 (Week 8)
Station	Laser cutter area
Condition	Excellent
Squeaker	None
Notes	Named for spatial reasoning affinity. Received thank-you note during break. Good placement.
Status	✅ ACTIVE

Null Pointer

Field	Status
Acquired	September 2024 (Week 13)
Station	Computer stations
Condition	Excellent
Squeaker	None
Notes	Black duck. Software specialist. Attended CCC Hamburg. Witnessed mass in a German cathedral (unexplained). Has seen things.
Status	✅ ACTIVE

Duck Norris

Field	Status
Acquired	September 2024 (Week 14)
Station	Roaming
Condition	Good
Squeaker	Yes (functional)
Notes	Subject of squeaker debate. Policy now established. Squeaked by Eddy during lonely holiday period. No complaints filed.
Status	✅ ACTIVE

Virginia Wool

Field	Status
Acquired	October 2024 (Week 18)
Station	Sewing room
Condition	Excellent
Squeaker	None
Notes	Purple. Wears hand-knitted scarf (Sewing Guild). Traveled to NYC Resistor. Now has NYC Resistor sticker. Bi-coastal icon.
Status	✅ ACTIVE

Census Conclusion

All six ducks present and in good condition. No retirements necessary. Collection healthy and growing.

Recommendations for 2025:

• Continue annual census (next: January 2026)
• Monitor Sergeant Bubbles for age-related wear
• Consider acquiring 1-2 additional ducks for coverage gaps
• Formalize "traveling duck" role (currently informal)

Census submitted by: Quorum, Duck Keeper

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2025 Planning

Goals for the year:

• Maintain weekly meetings
• Continue monthly Silent Sitting
• Host quarterly Philosophy Circles
• Expand documentation (wiki, charter)
• Potential: host a "Duck Summit" with other hackerspaces?

Ripple: "The CCC Cologne people were serious. They want to start a duck guild."

Lumen: "We could be the founding chapter of an international movement."

Eddy: "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. But also... yes?"

New member pipeline: Stillwater (friend of Lumen's) may visit soon. Interest from Silent Sitting attendees.

Quactions

• [x] Migration complete — all ducks returned
• [x] First Duck Census — complete
• [ ] Follow up with CCC Cologne about duck guild
• [ ] Invite Stillwater to a meeting
• [ ] Update wiki with census results
• [ ] Draft 2025 roadmap

Notes

Duration: 94 minutes. Our longest meeting ever. But it was a reunion AND a census.

Seven months in. We made it through winter. The ducks migrated and returned.

2025 is going to be good.

Snacks: International selection. Ripple brought German chocolates. Flotsam brought NYC bagel chips. Eddy brought regular chips ("I didn't go anywhere").

Next Meeting

Sunday, January 12, 1pm. Back to normal. But better.

Submitted by: Ripple

📝 First Duck Census logged in Recent Contributions