Things I learned lately 23 July

• According to the High Speed Rail Alliance, the record for the world's fastest operational train is held by the French TGV at 357.2 mph (574.8 km/h).
  
  
  
• The cardboard beds in the Olympic athlete's village in Japan are designed not to be able to withstand the weight of 2 people, especially 2 people in motion. No jumping either...
• The same woman (Perri Lister) who sang backup vocals on Billy Idol's 'Eyes without a face' (1984) also sang the French backing vocals on 'Fade to Grey' from Visage (1981).
• The "X" in "Xmas" has nothing to do with "taking the Christ out of Christmas." In fact, it literally means "Christ." In Greek, "the word Christos (Christ) begins with the letter 'X,' or chi." The abbreviation isn't a modern or secular invention; it's been around since 1021 as "XPmas," later further shortened to "Xmas."
• Google is opening its first physical retail store in NYC.
• Kraft has partnered with ice-cream maker Van Leeuwen and the partnership has produced a rather interesting ice cream flavor: macaroni and cheese.
• Although Wayne's World (1992) was released after Freddie Mercury died, he got to see the car headbanging scene featuring Bohemian Rhapsody shortly before he passed away on November 24, 1991. He loved it and foresaw how the use of the song would ignite a comeback for Queen in the United States.
• In 2009 Icelandic engineers accidentally drilled into a magma chamber with temperatures up to 1000C (1832F). Instead of abandoning the well like a previous project in Hawaii, they decided to pump water down and became the most powerful geothermal well ever created.
• Microsoft is bidding farewell to the Internet Explorer web browser. In 2022.
• The greater Tokyo area has a population of 37,468,000 (2018). Canada's population is 38,048,738 (2021).