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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (23498)	2/15/1999 3:14:00 PM
From: studdog	Respond to of 50167

Off topic, but interesting information on the power of technology: Posted to the Trimble Inc. message board. <<<<<<Reason to own Trimble: I have a great story for all interested in Trimble. I am going to become a Trimble shareholder (again)because of what I heard this weekend when I attended a conference concerning eagles in Klamath Falls, Oregon. During this conference, an old classmate of mine, Eduardo Alverez, Phd,presented the results of work he has been doing on the endangered Harpy Eagle, the largest eagle in the world. The Harpy lives in the rainforests of Central and South America. Eduardo is from Venezuela and has been studying Harpies in a vast tract of the Orinoco Delta there. Harpies are very elusive and the rainforest fairly impenetrable thus very little is known about this awesome bird. Eduardo has, however, been able to obtain some incredible information with the help of the latest high tech gear, provided largely by Trimble. He has been able to capture several eagles using decidedly low tech techniques suited to working in isolated rainforest, but then has equipped them with state of the art satellite transmitters so that they can be tracked. This has led to a tremendous amount of information about their habitat requirements and nesting habits and will go a very long way in helping to protect these magnificent birds as well as the rainforest they live in. Much of the technology and equipment has come gratis from Trimble. It appears that some in the company have taken a strong interest in the project and have given valuable technical assistance. Eduardo spoke very highly of the company as well as the quality of their technology and equipment. I am going to buy Trimble at the open tomorrow for two reasons: 1. I want to support companies that are contributing to the protection of our natural world. Trimble technology holds great promise from everything from tracking Harpy Eagles to decreasing pesticide use on farmland, and they have demonstrated a willingness to contribute to such things. 2. I want to make money. Eduardo blew the audience away with the type of information he was able to get using these technologies. It was a demonstration of what is possible. For instance, he has all the known nest sites mapped with GPS. He has been able to finagle airtime on some oil company helicopters to check the nests. These helicopters are equipped with Trimble equipment. He just plugs in the numbers and they can find the nest sites in the vast expanse of the Orinoco Delta with no waste of time and fuel. While there is no directly obvious fiduciary benefit from tracking Harpy Eagles and their nests, it is not hard to think of lots of things that can be done with this technology that will go to someone's bottomline. I hope this helps those holding Trimble stock feel a little better about their company and will induce others to think about buying it. Here's Eduardo's website (send him some dough!!) earthmatters.org Karl C. Wenner, MD>>>>