Rubes by Leigh Rubin for November 24, 2021

At least let the donkey use an abacus.

Should I have said Joe DiMaggio?

He is incredibly dexterous with those hooves.

He sure is a smart as…er… donkey.

I calculate that I’ve done this enough times that my bonus clause has kicked in.

He can always Google it.

Well Philbert I’m not sure this would bring back the Mister Ed show but keep trying anyway.

Roy Rogers to Trigger: “what’s two plus two?”

Trigger: clomp – clomp – clomp – clomp

Roy: “One more, boy!”

Roy Rogers. He’d always shoot the guns out of the bad guys’ hands while never hurting them and then he and Dale Evans would sing some corny song together. Then the picture would end and we kids would still come back the next week for more. What a guy!

He’s terrible at fractions. He can only do hooves.

Horse Apple

A smart (donkey) and two dumb (donkeys)

For an interesting read, look up the Clever Hans Effect. The human gives cues involuntarily so the horse can come up with the correct answer. The human doesn’t even realize they are doing it.

This can also be a factor with drug sniffing dogs, the handler involuntarily and unknowingly gives cues to the dog, leading to false positives.

Yeah, what a sharp shooter, riding Trigger too, what a hero, Roy was.