Please understand that I am a technoid and a biologist. And I earn my
living by making the living world accessible and comprehensible (I
hope) to non-professional nature  enthusiasts seeking a nature
experience that involves not only their minds but their senses.

Much as I love working with computers (almost as much as I love the
snakes I care for at work), they do have their limitations. While
they're well suited to engage and stimulate the intellect they are
inferior to the "real" experience when it comes to doing the same for
the senses. Smell, taste and touch are excluded from the virtual
world. At the nature center where I work we have exhibits which are
designed to engage *all* of the senses. And that is why I'm not
worried that the public is going to stop coming to visit us any time
soon.

Rhea Tannenbaum
Exhibits Coordinator
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
Boca Raton, FL
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RheaT