14 Facts That Don't Make Sense

Most of the time, the world is a pretty predictable: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and most days are like any other day. But when you factor in an infinite number of possibilities, the world can make for quite a few surprises. Let's look at some stuff that, while totally true, makes no freakin' sense at all.

#1 A statue of the Virgin Mary was tried for being a witch.

In 1524 it was placed in water. When the statue floated, it was declared to be a witch and burned at the stake.

#2 The first ever drug ban at the Olympics was due to beer.

Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall got his team disqualified from the 1968 Olympics for drinking two beers to calm himself.

#3 Google Maps caused an international incident.

Nicaragua invaded Costa Rica because of an error in Google's mapping service. Google was forced to issue a statement saying that their Maps service shouldn't be used as a guideline for international conflict.

#4 The "Prince of Wales" is a fake.

The title came about because Edward I promised the newly-annexed territory of Wales that his son, and every heir after, would be Welsh. That's why we've had a string of princes of Wales who have nothing to do with the country.

#5 Borat's parody Kazakh national anthem was actually used in real life.

The fake song was somehow mistaken for the real one and played during the medal ceremony for an Olympian from Kazakhstan.

#6 Hershey bars are barely chocolate.

They contain only 11 percent cacao which is just above the minimum that is allowed for something to be called chocolate.

#7 Russian cosmonauts packed guns because... bears

The spacemen needed firearms at hand in case they needed to scare off bears after landing in the remote Russian tundra.

#8 Benjamin Franklin paid for a school to be built in 1990.

When Franklin died in 1790, he left Boston $4,000 in a 200-year trust fund. After two centuries had passed, the fund was worth more than $5 million dollars. It was used to construct a trade school, the Franklin Institute of Boston.

#9 An Olympian took more than 50 years to complete his marathon.

Shizo Kanaguri bailed mid-marathon during the 1912 Olympics and didn't bother to tell anybody. He returned in 1966 to complete the marathon. His official finish time was 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.379 seconds.

#10 Tic Tacs are basically pure sugar, but can legally label themselves "sugar-free".

This is because U.S. federal regulations state that if a single serving contains less than half a gram of sugar, it can call itself "sugar-free." A single Tic Tac has less than half a gram of sugar, so manufacturers can legally say it contains zero sugar.

#11 Cops in Wisconsin busted a teen kegger...that was serving nothing but root beer.

Police thought they'd have some arrests to make when they found a big party with lots of kids and lots of kegs. But breath tests came up negative, as the hosts had filled the kegs with root beer.

#12 The peregrine falcon kills its prey with an epic falcon punch.

Rather than using their beaks or claws to rip prey apart, peregrine falcons dive-bomb their victims at 230 miles per hour, striking their hapless victim on impact with a balled-up foot. I was never terrified of peregrine falcons until now.

#13 A man adopted two "puppies" and raised them for two years...before finding out they were actually black bears.

He was tipped off that something was amiss when he noticed his dogs were looking awfully big and bearlike.

#14 Russia is bigger than Pluto

Maybe that's why Pluto is no longer a planet.

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