Washington, DC - Smithsonian - intentionally dull?

I visited the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum recently and was really irritated. All the fun things I remembered from my childhood are gone. As you have pointed out, the Soap Man is in storage (I LOVED THIS) AND they recently removed the mummies. Instead they have a movie about them (Big deal--I've got the Discovery Channel, so why do I have to go to the museum?). About the only COOL thing they still have are the shrunken heads, but they are hard to find.

I asked some employees about this and they said these things were removed because they were disgusting and "didn't fit the image of the museum". Boy, I know of a few bureaucrats who could use a pink slip. I'm telling everyone I know to skip this place, as it's become so sophisticated it's downright dull. [Martin Hafer, 10/26/2001]