I found my video camera before I found my digital camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-Z-_JVTSU
Where does that extra piece go? The best my roommate* could come up with is maybe you tighten it somewhere around the middle of the pole as a safeguard that the whole thing never drops completely through the base.
*if you listen closely, you can hear my roommate from the upstairs bathroom doing his Clay Davis impressions. I'm not kidding.
That's actually the only reason I decided to go ahead and put it up since my roommate did end up suggesting the answer. I just figured it needed to be immortalized so I can embarrass him with it later.