AWESOME FACTS ABOUT EVERYTHING LXXXIII

1. Trousers called bell-bottoms were first designed for sailors in the navy. The flared legs protected footwear and fit easily over boots. Bell-bottoms could be rolled up rapidly if a sailor had to wade through water. And if a sailor was thrown overboard, the trousers could be removed and turned into a flotation device.

2. TMI stands for Too Much Information and for Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant, located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On March 28, 1979, one of its nuclear reactors had a partial meltdown, releasing radioactive gases and radioactive iodine into the environment. The meltdown was the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. It crystallized anti-nuclear safety concerns among activists and the general public, and resulted in new regulations for the nuclear power industry.

3. British music-hall entertainer Tessie O'Shea was one of Ed Sullivan's guests on his February 9, 1964 show. Also on the show - the Beatles - making their U.S. debut.

4. John Tyler, 10th President of the United States (1841-1845) was the father of 15 children, more than any other U.S. president. His youngest child, Pearl, died in 1947, 100 years after the death of his eldest child, Mary.

5. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy houses one of the world's richest art collections. It's located in a palace that contained the Medici's administrative offices, hence the name uffizi, which means "offices."

6. Chincoteague Island, off the coast of Virginia, is famous for its wild ponies, believed to be descended from Moorish ponies shipwrecked there in the 16th century. Misty of Chincoteague is a 1947 children's novel by Marguerite Henry set in the island town.

7. Burkina Faso is a land-locked country in west Africa. Its biggest city and capital is Ouagadougou

(pronounced WAA GUH DOO GOO).