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Daily Download: Mustangs and Time Traveling Party Playlists

We spanned the web to arm you with a few interesting tidbits to help you win your next dinner party. Take a trip to a tiny beach with our icebreaker and find out about a trippy pre-Siri talking machine.

Icebreaker: What washes up on tiny beaches? Microwaves! – Author Tiphanie Yanique.

Small talk: People in the small New Zealand town of Blackball are being terrorized by a gang of wild… goats.

History & Cocktail: Muscle car enthusiasts everywhere have a reason to celebrate today:

Toast to this automotive achievement with The Porter Flip, a bourbon-infused cocktail inspired by the story behind the series “My Mother the Car.”

Soundtrack: If you brought your iPod of today back with you to 2006 and had to DJ a party, what songs would you play? It’s a question that The Nerdwriter YouTuber Evan Puschak asked on Twitter. People answered, and so he created this Spotify playlist. [h/t: kottke.org]

Etiquette: The folks over at Apartment Therapy offer up a few must-know rules for thank-you note etiquette. Oh, and they’re not talking about email, but an actual physical note sent through snail mail. One major tip: you have about a week to send a thank you note for things like gifts or interviews, but with weddings you have a little more time.

Guest of Honor: Whether you’re pre, post, or in the midst of a “House of Cards” binge-watch, you should take a listen to Rico’s interview with Kevin Spacey from a few years ago. The actor essentially calls Judi Dench “the most notorious corpser in all of British theatre” and impersonates former President Bill Clinton, who (he notes) is a “House of Cards” fan.

Main Course: Bon Appetit highlights the fluffy waffle ice cream cone resurgence that’s getting a lot of love on Instagram and how it’s been a blessing and a curse for one shop in New York whose photogenic cone has led to long lines and limited supply.

Chat Class: Our friends at Atlas Obscura tell the tale of a proto-Siri machine that could mimic human speech called the Euphonia. You need to see it to believe it, trust us.

One for the Road: Sofi Tukker – “Hey Lion”

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