Trivia Bits 23 January

 

• A formicarium or ant farm is a vivarium which is designed primarily for the study of ant colonies and how ants behave and those who study ant behaviour are known as myrmecologists.
• The song Travelin’ Soldier was 2003 hit for The Dixie Chicks from their album Home and was written and originally recorded by American country music artist Bruce Robison in 1996.
• Australian former World No. 1 tennis player Pat Rafter won the US Open twice in 1997 and 1998.
• On 21 October 1978, the unexplained disappearance of 20-year-old Frederick Valentich while piloting a Cessna 182L light aircraft occurred over Bass Strait between the Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania.
• The Haugh unit is related to protein in an egg and introduced by Raymond Haugh in 1937 and is an important industry measure of egg quality next to other measures such as shell thickness and strength.
• The 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson was written by Johan David Wyss.
• The statue of Sherlock Holmes sculpted by John Doubleday, stands near the site of the fictional detective's home at 221B Baker Street in London and was unveiled on 23 September 1999 being funded by the Abbey National building society.
• Yaounde is the capital of the country in the west Central Africa region of Cameroon of which French and English are the official languages.
• Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman is a line from the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk with the earliest known appearance in print is Benjamin Tabart's moralised version of 1807.
• In 2007, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner became the first elected female President of the South American country of Argentina.