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The June 2009 edition of my IEEE magazine arrived, and it had interviews with the candidates running for election for president of the organization. The interview contained various questions. About half were related to engineering, and the other half were get-to-know-the-person questions, such as “What is your favorite movie?” The one that piqued my interest was “If you were stranded on an island, what one thing you would want to have with you?”

The answers that the three candidates gave were these:

• A solar-powered iPhone with lots of books stored in memory
• A solar-powered laptop with Internet access
• A Crocodile Dundee-size knife

(Note: I assume he meant a knife that is the same size as the knife that Crocodile Dundee had, not a knife that is the same size as Crocodile Dundee himself.)

After reading the third answer, I thought the first two sounded like cheating. How many qualifiers can you add to an item and still have it count as only one item?

I pondered for a little while and decided on my answer, should I ever be asked what is the one item I would want with me on a deserted island.

• A fully-furnished house

I suppose I could embellish it a little: a fully-furnished, solar-powered house with working water and sewer. But I like the simplicity of my original answer.