On Wednesday two giant pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, arrived at Washington D.C.'s National Zoo. They are on loan from China for 10 years at $1 million a year. Next month they will go on public display in an outdoor exhibit area that recently received a $1.8 million renovation. In 1999 Slate's David Plotz ridiculed Washington's obsession with its last two giant pandas, Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling, who "drove otherwise reasonable people barking mad." Click here to read the article.