While at Home Depot the other day I ran across a nifty little all-in-one measurement tool called Gage-It. It allows you to measure screws and bolts; nuts; steel, brass & PVC pipe; wire size; and nails. It also has a couple of rulers (metric and standard) and a conversions table for weights and measurements. I feel like I'm always going to the hardware store trying to find a screw that's the right size for this or that thing around my house, plus it seemed like a useful thing to have with you on a film set, so I picked one up. The thing cost something like $1.99.
I can't even seem to find the manufacturer ("Armour Technologies, Inc.") online, much less the item itself. The only other mention I could find was at Toolmonger, from whom I grabbed the pic above. But if you're looking for one, try Home Depot. I ran across mine in the screws/nails aisle.
Finally, as an aside, writing this post made me realize that I've become so conditioned to finding products on the internet (and the internet has become so synonymous with shopping) that, when I run across something that can't be found for sale anywhere online, it seems... well, it seems weird. And by "weird" I mean conspiratorially weird, even creepy. It's like the thing doesn't exist, even though I have one right in my hands. Am I alone on this one?