You get (3) of these stainless steel surgical scissors, which have a shorter working length (with the hinge closer to the jaws) than regular snippers, but you still shouldn't try to remove your own appendix. Measure 4-3/8" long and are quite sharp.

This small stainless steel fine-mesh filter is 2" dia x 1-1/2" tall. It has fine mesh sides, a solid plastic bottom and slight lip around the top. Nice for small filtering jobs, but would also make a passable basket for a gerbil hoops game.

C'mon baby, light someone's fire with this magnesium and flint fire-starter kit. The 3" steel hack-saw-type blade and a 3-1/8" x 3/8" x 1-1/8" hunk of magnesium, with a rod of flint embedded in one long side, are on a keychain for carrying but are easily removed from it. With the serrated edge of the blade, shave some Mg into a small pile of tinder. Strike the flint with the opposite edge to spark the tinder-Mg's interest, and you're Prometheus.

Five guys playing the electric brobdingnag? No, just gigantic red rubber bands, made to hold stuff on pallets together. Striated along their lengths, they measure 48" long x 3/4" wide x 3/32" thick and will stretch to a 7- or 8-foot circle, or more, depending on your nerve.

We wouldn't try to capture 'gators with it, but this 4-ft x 6-ft black nylon, elastic (not-un-bungie-like) cargo net should trap anything else in the back of the pickup, van or kids' bedrooms. Stretches to about 6' x 9', with openings that are 7" square, stretching to maybe a foot, and 16 carabiner-style plastic hooks. Or just hang a couple on a wall for a nice Spiderman effect.

Veterans will know this as an entrenching tool, but to everyone else it's a folding camp shovel. Our hardened steel version is 22-1/2" long when open, folds to a measly 9-1/2", and weighs just over 2-1/2 lbs. Blade is 8-1/4" long x 6" wide, serrated on one side. Fits into the light canvas pouch, which you can carry on your belt because you never know when you'll need to dig a hole.

The correct answer is "I don't know; I've never toggled." If, however, you just want to turn something on and off, here's a choice of toggles for your switching delectation. The DPDT toggle is rated for up to 20A at 125VAC and has screw terminals below. Measures 1-1/4" x 1-3/4". No center-off position. The first DPST toggle is rated for 20A at 125VAC or 15A at 250VAC. Screw terminals on the bottom. Measures 1-5/16" x 3/4". The smaller DPST toggle is rated for up to 4A at 125VAC or 2A at 250VAC. Has 3/16" spade terminals on the bottom and measures 1" X 9/16". All the toggles come with switch-plates and mounting nuts.

Attention robotics boffins: Here's a nice, powerful 12-24VDC Mabuchi brush motor with a gearbox and pulley attached. At its nominal 24DC, it spins 45rpm, draws 280mA no load, and stalls a 750mA. 7.5 in-lbs of torque and is rated for continuous duty. Has a 3/4" long x 5/16" flattened shaft with a 4-5/8" dia x 5/16" wide (3/16" ID) single-sheave pulley attached, with a matching O-ring. The gearbox measures 2-3/4" x 3" x 9-1/16". The motor measures 1-1/16"dia x 1-5/8" long and comes with 7" leads and a 2-pin Molex connector.

Geology for those with short attention spans? The original Magic Rocks®, of course! Mix the solution in a jar of water, drop in the pebbles, and watch them grow into a forest of multi-color stalagmites. Growth starts in 10 minutes, is impressive in 30 minutes, and complete (up to 4" tall) in 2 hours. Extra credit if you can make it grow stalactites by gluing the pebbles to the bottom of a jar, then pouring the solution in and turning it upside down. Who knows? Maybe it will work. Comes with a set of marine decals to decorate the jar. Definitely not for use with living fish. For ages 10 and up.

How to shoot an azimuth for fun and profit: Get the ultimate direction finder, a lensatic compass. It has a 2-1/8" dia face marked in 5-degree increments, a 1/4" dia sight lens, 9/16" dia bubble level, and a 1-1/2" sight with crosshairs. Measures 3-1/4" x 2-1/2" x 1-1/8" when folded and comes with an 18" long cord and an olive drab belt pouch. For instructions, go to www.armystudyguide.com, click on "prep for basic" then "land navigation," then click on "determine a magnetic azimuth using a lensatic compass." Piece o' cake.

From the world of gag gift boxes, this Hot Dog Homestead box has illustrations for a DIY house kit made out of (9) kinds of meat, including pate for plaster. Measures 11-1/2” x 9-3/4” x 3” deep and is meant to amuse folks before they open it to find their real gift inside. We here at the home office think you should pack it with, yes, (9) kinds of meat--for even more laughs.

Hold the bottom onion-shaped bulb of this 4" glass toy in your hand and watch the liquid (green, red, blue or purple, we'll pick) magically bubble up into the top chamber and keep on bubbling like the dickens, as your grandmother used to say. The magic is ethyl alcohol and physics. WARNING! The glass if fragile and the liquid is nasty. If you drop the thing in the kitchen it will eat the finish off the tile and permanently stain the floor, so don't let the kids handle this item unsupervised.

Why does Roger always get the credit for the skull and crossbones pirate flag? We feel it is time to share and have elected Barry to the post because he just walked by the vast editorial department here at A.S.&S. (AKA "my desk") Our Jolly Barry flag is 3ft x 5 ft., black polyester with a reinforced edge containing grommets for flying. It has the traditional skull and crossbones in white with the added fillip that the skull is wearing an eye patch! Sail Away!!

For keeping your special itsy bitsy stuff in. The bottoms are sky blue; the tops are clear plastic. They measure 2-1/16” long x 1-3/16" wide x 5/8" deep, with snap-top lids and they’re just as cute as the dickens.

Nifty device that takes maxi air and squeezes it down into a mini condition. The device is roughly 6-1/2"" long x 6" tall x 4" wide. It has a 10 ft. cord that plugs into an auto lighter socket: i.e. it runs on 12VDC @ 10 amps. Air output is via a 12" hose with a variety of valve adapters for tires, soccer balls, rubber rafts, and just dusting off the environment. Complete with a 0-250 psi gauge. Which should be plenty of pressure to explode a weak bike tire or flimsy beach ball, so please be careful!

Pair of alnico bar magnets, each 7/16" x 1/4" x 3". Magnetized end to end with the North pole marked, the North end painted red and the South pole painted blue. Come with a pair of keepers and a wood separator bar.

Nice little pulley unit kit includes (1) pulley each at 50, 30, 25 and 20mm and (3) pulleys at 11mm, plus myriad bushings, a 3VDC motor, (2) belts and a belt guide, base, mounts and assorted hardware. Includes graphic assembly instructions, plus a couple of rudimentary drawings with suggested projects. It's a mechanical science project waiting for a home.

These clear glass octagon 10 oz bottles are nice enough to leave out on the counter. Measure 4-1/4" tall x 2-11/16" from flat side to flat side with white plastic non-gasketed screw caps.