Legoland in Carlsbad, California has a new display in honor of the presidential inauguration Tuesday. The park has modified its US Capitol model to portray Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, president Bush, Dick Cheney, Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and the other dignitaries who will be present as Obama takes the oath of office, as well as the crowd! In addition to the swearing-in ceremony, see Aretha Franklin ready to entertain and the presidential motorcade waiting to join the inaugural parade. The display opens to the public today. Pictured is a detail showing George H.W. Bush nodding off. SF Weekly has a slide show featuring many other details. Link -Thanks, Janine Kahn!

Also: Click on the images in this post from one of the creators to get a sense of the scale and intricacy of the display.

Gregory Warner took his accordion to Afghanistan hoping to make friends. The reception he received was not at all as he expected. He found himself compared to an Afghan pop star from 30 years ago! Link -Thanks, Jessica Frank!

To paraphrase Animal Farm, "some fats are more equal than others".

While putting on weight in general can have negative effects on your health, abdominal weight gain (visceral fat) is particularly unhealthy. Since visceral fat is buried deep in your abdomen, it may seem like a difficult target for spot reduction. But this fat is actually quite sensitive to exercise and calorie reduction.

In addition to diet and exercise for reducing overall fat, eMedExpert Blog has five tips for reducing belly fat in particular. Link -Thanks, Karen!

(Vimeo link)

My friend Amanda had never seen a whole Star Wars film. When I asked her if she wanted to watch the original trilogy she said that she would, but that she already knew what happens. So I took out my voice recorder and asked her to start from the top.

Created by Joe Nicolosi. -via Boing Boing

A UK study finds that people who drink seven or more cups of instant coffee a day are three times more likely to experience hallucinations than people who drank just one cup.

A Durham University team questioned 200 students about their caffeine intake, the journal Personality and Individual Differences reported.

However, academics say the findings do not prove a "causal link".

They also stress that experiencing hallucinations is not a definite sign of mental illness and that about 3% of people regularly hear voices.

"This is the first step toward looking at the wider factors associated with hallucinations," said psychology PhD student Simon Jones, who led the study.

Could it be that anyone who drinks seven cups of instant coffee is already a little crazy? If you like coffee that much, invest in a real brewing machine! Link -Thanks, Jee!

The new presidential limousine is officially called Cadillac One, but everyone already knows it as the Obamamobile. It was built by General Motors.

The company refuses to give precise details of how it will perform its primary purpose - protecting the president.

But bulletproof glass and armourplatingare standard throughout and the car is hermetically-sealed to withstand chemical weapons.

As with previous presidential limos it is packed with electronic communication systems to allow Mr Obama to keep in contact with the outside world.

Cadillac One will debut at the inaugural parade on Tuesday. Link -via the Presurfer

The History Bluff has a clue in the title of the site: it's all made up! The tagline is "Making a mess of history." Here's a sample story:

Few heroes are as legendary as crossbowman William Tell of Switzerland who is said to have shot an apple off of his son’s head. The History Bluff tells the forgotten tale of William Tell and his other son on that fateful day.

In 1307 William Tell disrespected Hermann Gessler, the ruler of Tell’s province, by refusing to bow to him. As punishment Gessler arrested Tell and his two boys, Walter and Adam, and placed an apple on each of the boys’ heads; Gessler then told William Tell to shoot the apples.

Tell first took aim at the apple on Walter’s head, released, and breathed a sigh of relief when the bolt from his crossbow sliced the apple right through the middle. Confidently, the crossbowman took aim and shot at the apple on Adam’s head, but watched in horror as the bolt fatally struck his son in the larynx, which as a tribute, is now known as Adam’s Apple.

Adam was fatally struck in the larynx, ending all hope of a music career and/or life.

William Tell and his son Walter were later released from custody, but William could not get over the death of Adam. Many years later in 1354 a villager saw Tell jump into a lake with two large stones tied to his left ankle. Tell’s body was found two days later.

Read more preposterous stories you can easily pass along to unwitting friends. Link -Thanks, Dave Newell!

Can you believe people climb this rock? Spider Rock stands 800 feet tall in the Canyon de Chelly National Park in Arizona. This is just one of 15 rock climbing sites detailed in this article, which also features a tribute to the late extreme rock climber Dan Ozman. http://www.hottnez.com/the-15-most-spectacular-rock-climbs/ -Thanks, Grzegorz Paslawski!

Inspired by the collection posted last year on Best Week Ever (previously at Neatorama), the folks at Torontoist decided to scour Toronto and find local pun business names. They found (and photographed) more than 60! Link -Thanks, David Topping!

Police say that 36-year-old Marcelino de Jesus Martinez sold his 14-year-old daughter for marriage to 18-year-old Margarito de Jesus Galindo for $16,000 plus 100 cases of beer, among other items. After the girl was handed over, Martinez called police to complain that he hadn't been paid! He requested that police help him bring his daughter home.

Martinez's daughter did return home, but he was arrested and booked on suspicion of bartering her –– "receiving money for causing person to cohabitate."

Galindo, the intended buyer/groom, was booked on suspicion of statutory rape, police said.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/weird/Dad-Sells-Girl-Calls-Cops-to-Complain-He-Wasnt-Paid.html -Thanks, Mrsfosoty!

"There's only three things I've ever been afraid of: electricity, heights, and women." - Thanks özi!

It's a fascinating excerpt from the IMAX movie Straight Up: Helicopters in Action

Make your own poster in the style of the iconic "Hope" artwork by Shepard Fairey (previously at Neatorama). Use a webcam or upload an existing photo, then add a word or two to make a custom poster. http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/ -via the Presurfer

The Remnants is a proposed series from screenwriter John August starring Justine Bateman, Michael Cassidy, Ben Falcone, Ze Frank, Ernie Hudson, and Amanda Walsh. The pilot episode was shot during the writer's strike a year ago, and is now in development with 60frames.

For the past few months, the pilot has been shopped around to advertisers and other possible sponsors, but given the economy and my schedule, it’s looking unlikely that a confluence of money and time will lead us to shoot more. So I wanted to let people see it, particularly because it features some actors who should be on more lists. Including Ze Frank, who is now an Angeleno.

See the 11-minute pilot at August's website. Link -Thanks, Ben!

Update: There is a drive to gather support for making The Remnants into a continuing series. http://drafttheremnants.com/ -Thanks, Periodical Boy!

In today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, see if you can match ten former US presidents to their official portrait. Don't expect to see the presidents you remember from the news or the ones on the money. This is hard! I scored 40%. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/21696

A snowplow operator in Colorado City didn't realize he'd been in a traffic accident. He also didn't realize that the car that hit him was still attached until other drivers flagged him down! 70-year-old John Archuleta rear-ended the snowplow Monday morning and his car became entangled in the snowplow's sanding mechanism. Snowplow operator Fredrick Parrent, Jr didn't feel the impact and continued driving for about half a mile. No one was injured in the incident, but Archuleta was cited for careless driving. Link -via Unique Daily

(image credit: Colorado Department of Transportation)