It would be helpful if the Old man had the talents of Nexus 6.

Picture: two ‘white-coats’, ( Dick and Bob) a lab, a computer, a duck.

Dick: All the prelims are finished?

Bob:  Check.

Dick: It has a beak?

Bob:  Confirm.

Dick: It quacks?

Bob:  Yup.

Dick: Okay, run it all through the computer.

Bob:  consider it done…

Dick: Well?

Bob:  There’s a better than 50% chance it’s a duck.

Dick: What’s the bad news?

Bob:  There’s a small statistical probability that it could be a flying pig, disguised as a duck, if you add the assumption that the possibility must be considered.

Dick: Excellent!  ‘Dick and Bob’s flying pig hypothesis’; we’ll be famous!

Bob:  But it’s probably wrong…

Dick:  Get real, Bob; nobody will care if we come up with another ‘it’s a duck’ paper. Going with the ‘flying pig’ will guarantee us five years of funding from an anti-duck think-tank.

Bob:  Sure looks a hell of a lot like a duck to me…