[sunrico90]

Interesting reading about our state:

Weird is just part of Florida, and strange stuff seemingly happens every day in just about any part of the state: an elderly woman fighting off an alligator, a drug dealer making his pitch to uniformed officers, a state senator convicted of a felony and then filing a bill to restore felons' voting rights.

There was the Port St. Lucie man who was sentenced to 25 months in prison for selling a gorilla skull, among other things, on his Web site.

And it seems like in nowhere else but Florida could customs agents find a human skull, complete with skin and hair attached, in the suitcase of a woman returning home from Haiti. She told the agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport that it was to ward off evil spirits.

A bit farther south at Miami International Airport, there was a different problem. A pirate radio station called Da Streetz was sending rap music into cockpit radios, while a radio station directing broadcasts toward Cuba disrupted airport communication with Latin music, Christian programs and programming opposing Castro.

Then there was the man who bucked the popular trend of sneaking into Florida from Cuba. He stole a small plane from a Florida Keys airport and flew his son to the communist island, where they were detained and sent back to the United States.

Reform Party gubernatorial candidate Max Linn made an emergency landing in his small plane on Interstate 4 near downtown Orlando, tying up traffic. It was the most publicity he had received to that point in his struggling campaign.

A 15-year-old boy stole a transit bus in Orlando and drove it about 12 miles, picking up passengers, collecting fares, driving the speed limit and making all the right stops before police arrested him.

Go to the link is long: http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb...=2006612280356

[sunrico90]

# The names of two of the approach procedures that all aircraft follow into their arrival at Orlando International Airport are named GOOFY TWO and MINEE TWO. Any pilot that flies into there can confirm this.
# Gatorade was named for the University of Florida Gators where it was first developed.
# Flamingos get their pink color from the shrimp they eat. The more shrimp they eat the deeper pink they become.
# There are 13,983,816 ways to combine six of those bouncing Florida lottery balls.
# More than 100 episodes of Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges were filmed at Silver Springs between 1958 and 1961.
# A crypt in Key West is inscribed "I told you I was sick."
# The Everglades National Park encompasses 2,100 square miles and contains the largest mangrove forest and the slowest moving river in the world.
# Florida is not the southernmost state in the United States. Hawaii is farther south.
# Florida is the only state that has two rivers with the same name. There is a Withlacoochee in north central Florida (Madison County) and a Withlacoochee in central Florida. They have nothing in common except the name.
# The actress, Delta Burke, represented Orlando and became Miss Florida in 1974.
# Dick Pope, founder of Cypress Gardens, is known as the "Father of Florida Tourism".
# Stephen Foster, who wrote "Old Folks at Home," Florida's state song, never even saw the Suwannee River, nor did he ever step foot in Florida.
# An average annual commercial harvest of Apalachicola Bay oysters produces enough meat to cover a football field three deep.
# Tampa's Bayshore Boulevard is touted as the world's longest countinuous sidewalk. It is a popular waterfront gathering place for joggers and in-line skate enthusiasts.
# Once a year, thousands of Floridians stand at the state line and toss dead fish into Alabama. It's the annual Mullet Toss hosted by Flora-Bama Beach Bar in Pensacola. It's just "a silly excuse for a huge beach party."
# The Seven Mile Bridge, that crosses between Marathon and the Lower Keys, was built in 1982 – in pieces – then shipped to the Keys to be assembled.
# There is a bed & breakfast, WildLife on Easy Street, on the outskirts of Tampa that allows you to cuddle with an endangered cat of your choice for just a $100 donation to the refuge. You can choose baby bobcats, cougars, and leopards.

[Karla with a K]

"# There is a bed & breakfast, WildLife on Easy Street, on the outskirts of Tampa that allows you to cuddle with an endangered cat of your choice for just a $100 donation to the refuge. You can choose baby bobcats, cougars, and leopards."

thanks sunrico you have just given me an idea for for a birthday present for a family member who lives near tampa

karla

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by myfask

"# There is a bed & breakfast, WildLife on Easy Street, on the outskirts of Tampa that allows you to cuddle with an endangered cat of your choice for just a $100 donation to the refuge. You can choose baby bobcats, cougars, and leopards."

thanks sunrico you have just given me an idea for for a birthday present for a family member who lives near tampa

karla

MyFask,

Take pictures and share the experience....

[lulu]

Ha, ha, ha...yeah, never a dull moment around here. Thought I'd flip out when I read about the Haitian woman that brought the Human skull, plus they let her go cause it was part of her religion...gee whiz, I wonder what would happen to me if I pack my dear beloved grandma in my suitcase to travel with me this summer to Europe I'm sure I'll end up in the slammer...sigh...

Anyhow, What about the old Flipper series and Tarzan movies...??
Gillligan's island??? Not sure thought I heard someone say they were filmed here.

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by lulu

Ha, ha, ha...yeah, never a dull moment around here. Thought I'd flip out when I read about the Haitian woman that brought the Human skull, plus they let her go cause it was part of her religion...gee whiz, I wonder what would happen to me if I pack my dear beloved grandma in my suitcase to travel with me this summer to Europe I'm sure I'll end up in the slammer...sigh...

Anyhow, What about the old Flipper series and Tarzan movies...??
Gillligan's island??? Not sure thought I heard someone say they were filmed here.

# More than 100 episodes of Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges were filmed at Silver Springs between 1958 and 1961.

South of Miami on US 1 is Grassy Key, one of the islands of the Florida Keys, At mile marker 59, on the Gulf side, stands a 30-foot concrete statue of a mother and baby dolphin. This marks the entrance to the Dolphin Research Center (DRC) http://www.dolphins.org, a facility devoted to education and public awareness. It is also the final resting place of the most famous dolphin ever -- Mitzi, better known to the world by her stage name, Flipper.



Died 1972 Grassy Key, Florida

You will probably been surprised to learn that Flipper was a female. A male stunt dolphin, Mr. Gipper, did all of Flipper's tail-walking. But the dolphin who nudged wayward boats to safety, knocked guns out of poachers' hands with well-timed leaps, and warned Bud and Sandy whenever danger lurked, was a lady.



Back in the early sixties, the DRC was known as Santini's Porpoise School. Milton Santini, a pioneer in dolphin husbandry and training, ran it. Mitzi, who was Santini's first pupil, was picked to star as Flipper in the original movie (with "Branded star" Chuck Connors), which was filmed at the School.

Mitzi made the film and the TV series a hit, and she became a big celebrity at Grassy Key. When she died of a heart attack, she was buried beneath a dolphin statue in the School's courtyard. The DRC maintains the grave, and in her honor they always make it the first stop on the tour. A small plaque reads:

Dedicated to the memory of Mitzi
The original Flipper
1958 -1972

Tarzan's Secret Treasure

Tarzan's Secret Treasure
Filmed in 1941 at Silver Springs



Tarzan's Secret Treasure was filmed in Florida and although Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan appeared together again, this was their last together in the jungle.

[Jammie]

Oh I love this trivia. I'm still thinking about the part about those pink flamingos.

[whereisthegoodstuff]

"Reform Party gubernatorial candidate Max Linn made an emergency landing in his small plane on Interstate 4 near downtown Orlando, tying up traffic. It was the most publicity he had received to that point in his struggling campaign." lol I am rolling.
lol lulu I agree.

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Oh I love this trivia. I'm still thinking about the part about those pink flamingos.

Think pink—and orange?

Moderator cut: All contents of these Web sites are: Copyright © 2004 Zoological Society of San Diego

[FL_TN_Nana]

# More than 100 episodes of Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges were filmed at Silver Springs between 1958 and 1961.

And there are Rhesus monkeys in the forests all along the Silver River. Folk lore says they are escapees from a Tarzan movie filmed at Silver Springs, but the website says they are descended from a concessionaire's Jungle Cruise boat ride in the 1930's. The monkeys had been placed on an island in the river and they simply swam off and took up residence in the neighboring areas. (And if you ever go up the river in your boat, you really have to watch out or they'll jump in with you and take your sandwich!)