myrddin
06-10-2005, 01:45 PM
> >>> A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote New Zealand pasture
> >>> when suddenly a brand-new BMW X5 four wheel drive advanced out of a
> >>> dust cloud towards him.
> >>> The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban
> >>> sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window as he slid to a halt
> >>> by the shepherd.
> >>> "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your
> >>> flock"
> >>> the young man asked, "will you give me one?"
> >>> The shepherd looked at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looked at
> >>> his peacefully grazing flock.
> >>> "Sure, why not?" he calmly answered The yuppie got out of
>
> >>> his vehicle, whipped out his Dell notebook computer and connected it
>
> >>> to his Vodafone mobile phone. He surfed to a NASA page on the
> >>> internet, where he called up a GPS satellite navigation system to
> >>> get an exact fix on his location which he then fed to another NASA
> >>> satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
> >>> The young man then opened the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and
> >>> exported it to an image processing facility in Hamburg in Germany.
> >>> Within seconds, he received an email on his Palm Pilot that the
> >>> image has been processed and the data stored.
> >>> He then accessed a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel
> >>> spreadsheet with hundreds of complex formulas. He uploaded all of
> >>> this data via an email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes,
> >>> received a response.
> >>> Finally, he printed out a full-colour, 150-page report on his
> >>> hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turned to the
>shepherd.
> >>> "You have exactly 1586 sheep," he proudly announced.
> >>> "That's right," said the shepherd. "Well, I'm a man of my
>
> >>> word, so you can take one of my sheep."
> >>> He watched the young man select one of the animals and looked on in
> >>> amusement as the young man stuffed it in through the rear hatch of
> >>> the X5.
> >>> "Before you go" the shepherd said. "If I can tell you
> >>> exactly what your business is, will you give me back my animal?"
> >>> The young man thought about it for a second.
> >>> "Okay, why not?" he replied
> >>> "You're a consultant." said the shepherd.
> >>> "Wow! That's correct," said the yuppie, "but how did you
> >>> guess that?"
> >>> "No guessing required." answered the shepherd. "You
> >>> showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid
> >>> for an answer I already knew; to a question I never asked; and you
> >>> don't know - about my business. Now give me back my dog!
> >>> when suddenly a brand-new BMW X5 four wheel drive advanced out of a
> >>> dust cloud towards him.
> >>> The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban
> >>> sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window as he slid to a halt
> >>> by the shepherd.
> >>> "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your
> >>> flock"
> >>> the young man asked, "will you give me one?"
> >>> The shepherd looked at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looked at
> >>> his peacefully grazing flock.
> >>> "Sure, why not?" he calmly answered The yuppie got out of
>
> >>> his vehicle, whipped out his Dell notebook computer and connected it
>
> >>> to his Vodafone mobile phone. He surfed to a NASA page on the
> >>> internet, where he called up a GPS satellite navigation system to
> >>> get an exact fix on his location which he then fed to another NASA
> >>> satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
> >>> The young man then opened the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and
> >>> exported it to an image processing facility in Hamburg in Germany.
> >>> Within seconds, he received an email on his Palm Pilot that the
> >>> image has been processed and the data stored.
> >>> He then accessed a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel
> >>> spreadsheet with hundreds of complex formulas. He uploaded all of
> >>> this data via an email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes,
> >>> received a response.
> >>> Finally, he printed out a full-colour, 150-page report on his
> >>> hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turned to the
>shepherd.
> >>> "You have exactly 1586 sheep," he proudly announced.
> >>> "That's right," said the shepherd. "Well, I'm a man of my
>
> >>> word, so you can take one of my sheep."
> >>> He watched the young man select one of the animals and looked on in
> >>> amusement as the young man stuffed it in through the rear hatch of
> >>> the X5.
> >>> "Before you go" the shepherd said. "If I can tell you
> >>> exactly what your business is, will you give me back my animal?"
> >>> The young man thought about it for a second.
> >>> "Okay, why not?" he replied
> >>> "You're a consultant." said the shepherd.
> >>> "Wow! That's correct," said the yuppie, "but how did you
> >>> guess that?"
> >>> "No guessing required." answered the shepherd. "You
> >>> showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid
> >>> for an answer I already knew; to a question I never asked; and you
> >>> don't know - about my business. Now give me back my dog!