[ODE] block stacking

[Bob Cohen]

Hello all -

Looking for some references or a bit of advice.  I'm writing some code 
that creates stacks of blocks (cubes, all the same size and mass) that I 
need to insure are stable (ie - will support each other without falling 
down).  I tried using ode to do this but ran into previously cited issues 
with large stacks of objects creating instability in the solver.  
Obviously, I could do this with a static analysis of the blocks' 
configuration, but after a bit of thought, this seems to be a non-trivial 
problem, and I was hoping for a quick and dirty solution.  Could anyone 
supply references to a any geometrical/physics text or code that might 
address this problem, or have any ideas for a quick and dirty solution?

Thanks!

Bob Cohen
bob at freshferret.com