For those in the United States celebrating Independence Day and looking to have something interesting to talk to your friends and relatives about at your respective barbeques, here is some conversation fodder to both make yourself look smarter and avoid having to discuss once again how your cousin’s three year old daughter is already showing every sign of being the next Beyoncé:

The Founding Fathers:

• The Large Number of Human Remains Found In Ben Franklin’s Basement
• Did George Washington Really Have Wooden Teeth?
• Fascinating Facts About Every U.S. President [Infographic]
• Ben Franklin’s Proposal of Something Like Daylight Saving Time was Written as a Joke
• 10 Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Ben Franklin

The Food:

• The Origin of Competitive Eating Contests
• The Origin of the Word Barbecue
• Why a Hamburger is Called a Hamburger
• Apple Pie Isn’t Really “American”
• Why Spicy Foods Can Cause Your Nose to Run
• Why Don’t Hot Dogs and Hot Dog Buns Come in Packs of Equal Number?

The Fun:

• The Explosive History of Fireworks
• How Urine Can Be Used to Make Gunpowder
• How Baseball Groundskeepers Achieve Checkerboard Patterns in the Ballpark Grass
• There Once was a Major League Baseball Player Who Stole First From Second
• 10 Fascinating Baseball Facts
• 10 More Fascinating Baseball Facts

A Little History:

• How All 50 U.S. States Got Their Names
• The Signers of The Declaration of Independence Did So On August 2nd, 1776 Not July 4th
• The Articles of Confederation: The Constitution Before the Constitution
• Why America is Called America

Bonus Fact:

Rum helped spur the American Revolution as well as the Australian Rum Rebellion. It is estimated that around 3 gallons of rum were consumed per person per year in the American colonies shortly before the American Revolution. Rum production was also colonial New England’s largest industry.

The passing of the Sugar Act in 1764, also known as the American Revenue Act, drastically disrupted the economy of many of the American colonies, particularly hitting the rum industry hard. Among other things, this act resulted in the colonies having to increase the price on their rum, which allowed the British West Indies to increase their market share of the sale of rum. This act, along with the later Stamp Act, enraged some of the colonists and helped establish the, “No taxation without representation” slogan that eventually became a rallying cry for the revolutionists.

As for the Australian Rum Rebellion, it took place after the governor of New South Wales, William Bligh, in 1806 decided to outlaw rum as a medium of economic exchange. This resulted in the New South Wales Corps turning on him and holding him under arrest. The Corps then ran the island for four years until Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived.