SCHOOL ITEMS

What would you use to fill in those little circles? You’d use this extra-wide Scantek™ test-taking mechanical pencil? You passed! The lead in this beauty is the famous #2, and is .9 mm wide, like an italic pen nib. Comes with refill leads, a pocket clip and a large eraser. If our Tech Whiz Billy had had this pencil when he was younger, he'd have made double 800s on the SAT and wouldn't be working here today. Also great for doing calligraphy in pencil, which makes teachers swoon.

Our thinner picker-upper, but with a powerful 5-lb-pull, 9/16" dia magnet on the business end (for spilled nails, the screw that rolled under the stove, or the heavy wrench you dropped into the sump). The 5/16" dia x 5-1/4" long 4-draw barrel extends to a full two feet. Has a convenient pocket clip.

These light-up pens are one of the coolest things we’ve come across in a long time, but then again, look who’s saying that—a copywriter. But really, they’re hard not to love. Pull off the metal cap, put it on the other end and bam, the ballpoint is suddenly illuminated by tiny LEDs for all the midnight scribbling you can do! Pen measures 5” tip to tip, is all metallic, and feels nice in the hand and takes (4) AG4 batteries, included. Body is silver and cap, with a silver pocket clip, is either silver, black, white or red. Back end of the pen has a stylus, too. “It was a dark and stormy night…but really it wasn’t that dark because of this pen….”

Hang it all with this set of (10) magnetic hooks. The 1-3/16" long x 9/64" hooks screw into 1-3/8" dia magnetic bases with an approx 8-lb pull, which is heavier than most jackets and keys. Good for horizontal or vertical mounts, and dandy for adding hooks to gym or school lockers.

Donut magnet you can take to town!! 74mm dia. x 14mm thick with a 30mm hole. Very strong and well pedigreed - in fact, its kin are activating pacemakers. They are of a high permeability ferrite material with a lovely light blue or white epoxy coating. Okay, we have them because there is the odd bubble, slight scratches or the word MAGNET painted in the coating which ruled them out of the medical ball, but they're fine company nonetheless. Good display bases, paper clip traps, and super for classroom demos.

Nice rare-earth neodymium disk magnet, 1" dia, about the same as a quarter but over twice as thick at 4mm. Rare-earth magnets are permanent and powerful, and this one has approx 7 lbs pull, and always will. Comes with a galvanized metal keeper approx 2" dia so you don't lose it.

Now you can have a good, strong hook without drilling any holes. This plated magnetic hook sticks to any ferrous metal surface via a 2" dia alnico magnet with a 10-12 pound pull. Handy gadget to hold a tool, towel, broom or key ring (and if the ring is too heavy, consider throwing away the keys to your 1983 Chevy, and maybe a few more). The 3/4" long J-hooks have threaded ends and are removable. Our each is a package of (2).

Can't beat a classic. These uncoated ceramic donut magnets have a 1-lb pull, which makes them dandy for classroom or refrigerator use. They measure 1-1/4" dia x 3/8" ID x 3/16" thick and are polarized on the faces. You get a wrapped roll of 29 donuts.

This is the kind of journal Fitzgerald started writing The Great Gatsby in. Well, we can’t actually vouch for that, but this classic faux leather journal, perfect for a coat pocket, has that vintage jazzy feel. Measures 4" x 6" with soft brown leather covers, and has a string-spine that holds (50) blank cream-colored pages. A small, elegant pen is included, with built-in holder, of course. Go on, Nick—tell us all about Daisy and Klipspringer.

Remember those slap bracelets that swept the nation a few years back? This 18" long x 3/4” wide easy-to-read ruler is sort of like those in that it stays bent and then snaps open again, but nothing like those in that this is a tool, not a fashion accessory. Or is it? Until you decide on that, consider that, tool-wise, it has magnets on the end to keep itself shut, but also to attach it to dry-erase boards or anything metal. Has standard 1/16" markings with clear lines and large digits.

Getting-on-the-grid is the new going-off-the-grid, according to our mascot, Jarvis, who has a bird’s-eye view of such cultural trends. What better way to do it than with this Mead® graph paper notebook, which measures 8-1/2” x 11” and has (20) sheets of squared, aka grid, paper? Each sheet has (5) squares per inch, which Jarvis says is perfect for working your way back into society. Made in USA.

You can do both with this book—no writin’ required! It’s The Little Book of Mathematical Principles, Theories, & Things, which is a title we love, despite the Oxford comma. By math whiz, author and professor Robert Solomon, the paperback volume has (224) pages. Measures an easily totable 5-1/2" X 7", letting you peruse a lesson on Binary Numbers, The Golden Ratio, Logarithms, Chaos Theory, Russell’s Paradox, Fermat’s Last Theorem, or about 115 others, each (1) to (2) pages long, whenever you have a spare minute to learn.

To boldly write notes where no man (or not that many) have written notes before. Yes, Trekkie- Surpies, we have Star Trek notebooks! These really nice, (48)-page, cardboard-bound notebooks might not help you live long, or prosper, but they’re perfect for jotting down thoughts and to-do lists in the company of Trek images and ideas. You pick: the 3-1/2” x 5” Starfleet Medical Notebook in blue with spots for personal data including Serial No., Starship Posting and Commissioned Stardate, quotes from famous Trek doctors, and a fold-out back cover detailing diseases with drawings, and Starfleet medical milestones; the 5” x 7” Star Trek United Federation Captain’s Log with a date/location entry on each lined page and fold-out info on the back cover, including a warp-speed conversion table; or the 3-1/2” x 5” Star Trek Engineering notebook with a red cover, diagrams of a communicator, phaser and tricorder, grid pages, famous engineering quotes and room for your name, rank and serial number.

This plated N52 14,200 gauss neodymium magnet is shaped like a miniature silver ingot, measuring 1-1/2" long x 1/2" wide x 1/8" thick. Has a big hangonability quotient, which the manufacturer claims is 15 lbs of pull, meaning it's probably closer to 13 lbs. Impressive either way for such a cute little magnet. 

Our each is a package of (2) steel tech rulers. One is 6” x 1/32” for the first 2-1/2” then 1/64” for the next 1/2” then 1/16” for the last 3”. The other is 150mm x 0.5mm. Both have sliding markers/pocket clips, and both have mm:inch tables on the reverse side. You’ll need excellent eyesight.

It’s a cornucopia of stencils. All shapes, no alphabets. You’ll get a profusion of (8) clear acrylic stencil sheets, including: a raft of ovals; a preponderance of squares; a farrago of circles, hexagons, pentagons and triangles; a collection of a bunch of shapes, including trapezoids; a roomful of interior design shapes; a melange of electronic symbols; and an assortment we can’t altogether identify, but might be for printed circuit design. All have mm rules along at least one edge.

Rare earth magnets are usually killers for their size, and these thick nickel neodymium discs are no exception. The price, on the other hand, for (3) 7/16" dia x 1/4" 5-lb lift or (2) 15/32” dia x 3/16” 8-lb lift magnets each stored on a 2" dia steel disc, is a rare exception.

Gel pens and mascara—the two causes of smear fear. Cure the first one with this pack of (20) gel highlighter markers. They’re not felt-tip highlighters, but a waxy, crayon-ish filler that lays down a day-glo translucent stripe. You advance it by twisting the top. Manufacturer says it won't dry out, smear or bleed through. You’ll get (10) neon yellow-chartreuse plus (2) each in pink, purple, blue, green and orange.