After ejecting a DVD from my computer, I accidentally dropped it in the 24 cm gap between my desk and the wall.  While this isn’t good, it’s surely a problem easily solved.

Were this an ordinary DVD, my solution to the problem might have been:

1. Reach underneath the back wall of the desk
2. Pick up the DVD

Unfortunately, this was a Mythbusters DVD I’d just finished watching.  In these circumstances, the first solution that actually came to mind was (I swear):

1. Get a measuring tape
2. Extend it down to the floor
3. Hook the metal piece through the hole in the DVD
4. Gently lift (not retract, but lift) the measuring tape, balancing the DVD precariously on its end
5. Drop it repeatedly, give up the approach, and then realize the simpler solution outlined above

This show seems to have influenced my desire to build elaborate and largely unnecessary contraptions.

Then matters got worse.  I began this post, and wanted to know the distance of my desk from the wall.  Simple!  I used my hand to bridge most of the gap, and based on Wikipedia’s assertion that an average adult male’s hand is about 19 cm long reasoned that the gap was probably 21 or 22 cm.

Once all that was worked out, it occurred to me I might just use the measuring tape.

I’m somehow reminded of the Simpsons episode Homer the Heretic, where the townspeople find themselves trapped in the church during a blizzard.  When Lisa starts to pray, Bart interrupts her: “Lisa, this is neither the time nor the place!”