Richard's Poor Almanac by Richard Thompson for August 11, 2023

Transcript:

briefly, in 1906, they tried mooring zeppelins to the washington monument. the experi-ment was soon halted, as everybody hated climbing down the little ladder and the lightning rod kept poking teeny holes in the gasbag. allen's mink yard minks capitol mink works minks a-plenty in 1893-5 the area around 8th & c st. nw was known as the "mink ranching district." the smell was unbelievable. the old dept. of health & human services building had a 90-foot-tall statue on top called "the spirit of mercy succoring everybody." because of weight concerns it was made of grout, chalk & papier-mache. it lasted two weeks. hirshhorn's cyclor live french arty oolala the hirshhorn was originally a cyclorama entitled "bohemian paris" featuring live nude art models. after a few visits from the vice squad they were forced to put in some real art instead.