11.10.2011, 05:23
In the open countryside, an old shepherd sits peacefully by his broad herd, which is spread across the wide grass fields.
Then he sees a car, a brand new SUV, approaching on the bumpy dirt track, raising a cloud of dust.
The car stops by the shepherd and the driver, a young man in an elegant suit, gets off while keeping talking in his earphone. In a pause, he asks the sheperd: - Excuse me, gentleman, is this the shortcut to the town?
The old shepherd replies: - Yes, mister, but the bridge ahead is closed for maintenance today. You'll have to go all the way back and take the other road.
The young man swears and curses at his SATNAV, still barking at the phone, and delays his appointment to the following day. Then, while walking around to cool down, he looks at the pasturing sheeps.
Young Man: - What a huge amount of sheeps you have!
Shepherd: - Indeed, mister.
YM - Are they worthy?
S - Fine wool sheeps mister, 'bout 1000 € each.
The young man whistles. - Do you want to have a bet? If I guess the exact number of your sheeps, I'll take one. If i miss, I'll give you 1000 €.
The shepherd mumbles. His sheeps are really numerous, scattered throughout the fields, and constantly moving and mixing. He himself barely knows their exact number. - OK mister, i'm in. Make your guess!
The young man tells the shepherd to wait and gets back to the car. Time passes... only three hours later, the man comes back to the shepherd and states: - You have exactly 412 head of cuttle!
The shepherd is impressed: - That's right, mister! How did you guess that?
YM - I connected my laptop wireless to the internet via my mobile phone, so i could get a real-time satellite picture of this area, furtherly improve its resolution with a photo editing program and compare it with the plans of this field that I found in the public registries, then I made a cross-calculation by using an application to extract the total of the white spots in the picture, and another one to calculate the amount of sheeps from the total white area, given the average size of a single sheep. With those data, a statistic program gave me the answer with a 0,03% margin for error!
S - OK, mister, you got that, you can pick up a sheep.
The young man walks among the animals, chooses the one he likes the most, and proudly leads it towards the SUV.
As he's trying to load it into the car, the shepherd says: - Hey mister, what about another bet? If I guess your exact job, I'll take my sheep back; otherwise I'll give you another one.
The young man reflects. He hasn't spoken about his job while at the phone, his clothes and his car have no logos nor ADs on them, and laptops and mobiles are very common nowadays. There's no way he might have revealed his job, he just looks like a well dressed man with a SUV. So he accepts.
The shepherd immediately states: - You are a management consultant!
The young man is astonished: - That's true! How did you guess that?
The shepherd quietly replies: - That was quite obvious, mister: you came here unrequired making a big show, you took a lot of time and resources to tell me something I already knew, and wanted a high fee for that, while it's evident that you don't know anything about what I do. Now, give me back my dog!
Then he sees a car, a brand new SUV, approaching on the bumpy dirt track, raising a cloud of dust.
The car stops by the shepherd and the driver, a young man in an elegant suit, gets off while keeping talking in his earphone. In a pause, he asks the sheperd: - Excuse me, gentleman, is this the shortcut to the town?
The old shepherd replies: - Yes, mister, but the bridge ahead is closed for maintenance today. You'll have to go all the way back and take the other road.
The young man swears and curses at his SATNAV, still barking at the phone, and delays his appointment to the following day. Then, while walking around to cool down, he looks at the pasturing sheeps.
Young Man: - What a huge amount of sheeps you have!
Shepherd: - Indeed, mister.
YM - Are they worthy?
S - Fine wool sheeps mister, 'bout 1000 € each.
The young man whistles. - Do you want to have a bet? If I guess the exact number of your sheeps, I'll take one. If i miss, I'll give you 1000 €.
The shepherd mumbles. His sheeps are really numerous, scattered throughout the fields, and constantly moving and mixing. He himself barely knows their exact number. - OK mister, i'm in. Make your guess!
The young man tells the shepherd to wait and gets back to the car. Time passes... only three hours later, the man comes back to the shepherd and states: - You have exactly 412 head of cuttle!
The shepherd is impressed: - That's right, mister! How did you guess that?
YM - I connected my laptop wireless to the internet via my mobile phone, so i could get a real-time satellite picture of this area, furtherly improve its resolution with a photo editing program and compare it with the plans of this field that I found in the public registries, then I made a cross-calculation by using an application to extract the total of the white spots in the picture, and another one to calculate the amount of sheeps from the total white area, given the average size of a single sheep. With those data, a statistic program gave me the answer with a 0,03% margin for error!
S - OK, mister, you got that, you can pick up a sheep.
The young man walks among the animals, chooses the one he likes the most, and proudly leads it towards the SUV.
As he's trying to load it into the car, the shepherd says: - Hey mister, what about another bet? If I guess your exact job, I'll take my sheep back; otherwise I'll give you another one.
The young man reflects. He hasn't spoken about his job while at the phone, his clothes and his car have no logos nor ADs on them, and laptops and mobiles are very common nowadays. There's no way he might have revealed his job, he just looks like a well dressed man with a SUV. So he accepts.
The shepherd immediately states: - You are a management consultant!
The young man is astonished: - That's true! How did you guess that?
The shepherd quietly replies: - That was quite obvious, mister: you came here unrequired making a big show, you took a lot of time and resources to tell me something I already knew, and wanted a high fee for that, while it's evident that you don't know anything about what I do. Now, give me back my dog!