An executive of a big international corporation was driving his sports car through the country side. At some point during his ride, something caught his attention: it was a shepherd, conducting his flock of sheep through a calm, unpaved road.
The executive then thought, "hey, I can easily fool this guy", and stopped his car. He stepped out, and went on to talk to the shepherd.
"Hello there, my good man. I see you have a beautiful herd here", said the guy. "I wanna make you a proposal. If I guess the right number of sheep you have, can I take one with me?" The shepherd thought about for a moment, and said, "alright, go ahead."
The executive then drew his laptop and his scientific calculator. He used data from a satellite to estimate the area occupied by the flock, then accessed a database to see the historic records of sheep proportions in that particular region. After minutes of frantic calculation and research, the man came up with a result: "you have 61 sheep, 23 males, 34 females and 10 lambs. 2 of the females are pregnant." The shepherd mumbled, "yeah, you are right...", and the man promptly grabbed an animal and headed for his car.
The shepherd then asked him, "hey pal, if I guess your profession right, would you give my sheep back?", to which the man replied, "why not, go ahead!", while thinking, "this redneck can not possibly get that right!"
The shepherd then said, "you are a statistical consultant, aren't you?"
The man was shocked. "How did you find out?"
The shepherd explained: "4 things, actually. First, you showed up without being requested. Second, you used the most complex and time consuming method possible. Third, you did all that to tell me something I already knew. And fourth, you don't understand a thing about the subject you are working with, please give me back my dog."