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Library of Congress
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Rank: Tom Olav Rokne
Nominated by Olav Rokne
4th Place June 09

Olav wrote us this letter about the library of congress, as a recent visitor, and a Canadian, we think he makes as good a case for it as any text we could write about it:

The Library of Congress is the world's largest library. More than 32 million books, 15 million periodicals, movies and 100 million other items add up to hundreds of miles of shelf space and several terabytes of information. What's awesome about that? It is an institution that is open to public use. That's right, not just the use of Congress, not just the use of Americans, but the use of anyone from any part of the globe.

The world's largest repository of information is accessible to everyone. Considering the size of the collection, the labrynthine warren of tunnels in which the books are stored and the demands of the public, one would understand if it took the librarians several days to find any particular book. However, just about any book in the collection can be retrieved within an hour. Seriously! One hour!

I was there last weekend doing some research and I requested New Computer Methods for Global Optimization  an obscure book from 1988 that had a print run of less than 500 copies. They had it in my hands in 15 minutes! That's incredible. I'm going to go so far as to say that The Library of Congress isn't just awesome, it's one of the Wonders of the World. There are many great things about America, but I would list the Library of Congress as the single best. It is all of the greatest achievements of Western Civilization under one roof, at the fingertips of all those who seek knowledge.

Seriously. I was awe-struck. I am awe-struck. I'm well-known as someone who is loquacious, and I can't even find the words to express how impressed I was with the Library of Congress.

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Library of Congress was voted MORE AWESOME than:

Teddy Roosevelt


Moustache Balaclava


Shaved Ball Cap


Giant Nintendo Controller


Little Superstar


Meat Suitcase


Venus Fly Traps


Unibrow


Theo Jansen's Art


General Lee 01


Crop Circles


BigDog Robot


Roller Derby


Freerunning


Dwight K. Schrute


President Obama


The Hamburger Bed


Wingsuit Base Jumping


Bob Ross


Flying Spaghetti Monster


Badass Mountain Men


Beer Maids


Rollerman


Space Invader Invasion


The Brick Testament


Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton


The Man with No Name


The Stig


Queen of the Mist


Deja Vu


Ultra Slow Motion


Troy Hurtubise's Inventions


Gong


Keith Loutit's Little Sydney


Soccer* Hooligans


Reliant Robin


Teddy Roosevelt


Choose Your Own Adventure Books


Tiesto


Rasputin


The Disintegrator: Rubber Band Minigun


Death Star


Mermaids


Male Emperor Penguins


Indy's Whip


Literal Video Versions


Chuck Norris vs. Bruce Lee


Hunter S. Thompson


Extent of the Universe


Mark Twain


Library of Congress was voted LESS AWESOME than:

Nikola Tesla


Robocop on a Unicorn


Miracle On Ice


Aurora Borealis


Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator


Captain James T. Kirk


Captain James T. Kirk


Johnny Cash


Teddy Roosevelt


Death Star


James Earl Jones Counts to 10


James Earl Jones Counts to 10


Jesus Riding A Dinosaur


Walking on the Moon

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Reliant Robin
RELIANT ROBIN
Rank: Blade TinManCometh
Nominated by TinManCometh

The Reliant Robin is a three wheeled car made by the Reliant Auto company in the UK. What makes it awesome is the fact that it only has three wheels. You are allowed to drive it if you have a motorcycle license. The car was made for 30 years and 29 of those it was just a joke until the TV show Top Gear converted it into a rocket shuttle, but even as a shuttle it failed. All you have to do to understand its awesomeness is look at some pictures of it.

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Reliant Robin was voted MORE AWESOME than:

The Stig


Peekaru


Troy Hurtubise's Inventions


Gong


Keith Loutit's Little Sydney


Soccer* Hooligans


Chindogu


Che Guevara


The Disintegrator: Rubber Band Minigun


Reliant Robin was voted LESS AWESOME than:

Queen of the Mist


Deja Vu


The Viking Helmet


Johnny Cash


Choose Your Own Adventure Books


Library of Congress


Rasputin


James Earl Jones Counts to 10


Death Star


Rockin' Steady


Indy's Whip

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Rank: Tom Olav Rokne
Olav Rokne commented ( about Library of Congress ) on 9/14/2009
A) Books are awesome.
B) Large quantities of books are more awesome than lesser quantities.
C) Democracy is awesome.
D) Freedom of speech is awesome.
E) Freedom of information is awesome.
F) Thomas Jefferson is awesome.

The Library of Congress combines the net awesomeness of that entire list, in an awesome building, with awesome organization, awesome people running it and awesome art on the walls.

This should be in the Top 8. I am more in awe of this than the sum of all other nominees, even though all nominees this month are awesome in their own right. reply

Rank: Blade Godbot
Godbot replied to Olav Rokne on 9/14/2009
Agreed. reply

Rank: Colonel The Dude
The Dude commented ( about Reliant Robin ) on 6/6/2009
Top Gear GTW! The Stig and the Robin need all the love they can get. Although, The Stig would never be caught dead behind the wheel of a Robin. reply

Rank: Colonel The Dude
The Dude replied to The Dude on 6/6/2009
I meant FTW. I think my Mac's keyboard is out to get me! reply

ApertureScienceLabratories
ApertureScienceLabratories replied to The Dude on 6/9/2009
Lol. Macs suck. reply

Rank: Tom Olav Rokne
Olav Rokne replied to ApertureScienceLabratories on 6/14/2009
Macs are awesome. Not to be snarky about Windows machines, because they're good for some applications (I.E. databases, spreadsheets, World of Warcraft...), but MacIntoshes are better for Mathematica, Quark, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, which are the programs I use. reply

Rank: Blade the_mad_nader
the_mad_nader commented ( about Library of Congress ) on 6/5/2009
The Great Library of Alexandria was one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World...perhaps the Library of Congress should be considered one of the Wonders of the Modern World? THAT would be awesome! reply

Rank: Tom Olav Rokne
Olav Rokne replied to the_mad_nader on 6/5/2009
IMHO, the LoC is all seven wonders of the Modern World. reply


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