Some musings on last week's deal of the (still-young) century -- Orlando's snagging the Burnham Institute . . .

It's common knowledge how woefully underfinanced Florida is when it comes to venture capital and angel investing.

Burnham may change that.

Venture funding is the stuff that gets young companies going. With the Scripps Research Institute in Palm Beach County, and now Burnham going to Lake Nona, there's every reason to think that the state's share of biotech venture money will increase.

Michael Gerrity, a local entrepreneur and veteran of the venture-funding game, foresees a halo effect from Burnham that will attract investors.

What's more, Tavistock Group, Lake Nona's parent company, has made its own investments of $250 million in life-science companies over the years. Owner Joe Lewis has said he hopes one day to be putting dollars into Central Florida companies.

Certainly anything would be an improvement.

In the latest PriceWaterhouseCoopers venture survey, biotech was the second-largest area of funding nationally, accounting for nearly one-fifth of all investments, or $1.2 billion.

But the Southeast received less than 1 percent of that money. And Florida didn't get a nickel. . . .

The day of the Burnham announcement was a long one for all involved. It included two news conferences and plane flights back and forth between Tallahassee to Orlando.

Given that, I think the community should forgive Burnham chief John Reed for flubbing the name of Ray Gilley who, when Reed was thanking everyone, became Ray Gillis.

Gilley, of course, was a not-insignificant player in the deal, what with being the chief of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission. . . .

Are you buttoned up? If you were at Wednesday's big event, you know what I mean.

Tavistock had hundreds of "Orlando welcomes The Burnham" buttons made for the announcement.

The buttons first appeared earlier this summer when Burnham officials visited the area -- and Orlando was just hopeful. They reappeared when the deal actually got done.

Not sure what to tell you if you don't have one -- but maybe keep an eye on eBay?

LIGHTS, CAMERA, BP CHECK? Cape Canaveral radiologist Doug Gordon will start work on his movie, RoboDoc, in October in Orlando.

The small comedy -- well below the $5 million range -- is about an android doctor and an evil malpractice attorney.

Gordon's not saying, but word is that Alan Thicke, formerly of Growing Pains, and David Faustino from Married with Children will have roles. Gordon and partner Don Tynes own Gordon-Tynes Productions. How did he go from reading X-rays to comedy? Gordon says he's always written humor, dating back to high school.

BOTTOM LINE. You know that IKEA got the nod from the Orlando City Council recently to build a new store near Mall at Millenia. It opens next year. But here's something you may not realize: Although there's never been an IKEA here -- or even one close -- the company claims to have 30,000 customers in Orlando, based on the locations of its online shoppers and from people who have visited other stores. . . . Speaking of shopping, analyst Britt Beemer tells me we are in the summer doldrums. Beemer says no product, from fashion to electronics, is exciting consumers, and it hasn't helped that gas prices have generally depressed spending. Last week Chico's lowered its earnings forecast and even mighty Wal-Mart has seen slower sales growth. Upshot: We may be looking at a crummy Christmas season.