Telegraph UK reports:

Barack Obama will ride in an all-new Cadillac Presidential Limousine after his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States today.

He will use the vehicle, nicknamed the Beast, on the 1.7-mile journey from the Capitol along the parade route to the White House. It reportedly has armour eight inches thick, tear-gas cannons and Kevlar-reinforced tyres that resist attack. For security reasons, most of the details remain confidential.

Leftlane News adds some technical details about the president’s new ride noting that its “curb weight certainly exceeds 10,000 pounds thanks to all the armoring.”

The second Prius hack (below) to disable the seatbelt beeping is meant to serve as a convenience feature only. I often put something heavy (non-human) on the passenger seat and the Prius will beep annoyingly to remind (my computer bag mostly) that it needs to wear its seatbelt. Obviously, you should always wear you seatbelt for safety reasons. As the sticker I recently saw on a UHaul said “Don’t get caught dead sitting on your seatbelt.”

To disable the reverse beeping on your Prius (tested on the 2008 model):

1. Without your foot on the brake, turn on your Prius and make sure you are in ODO mode (not Trip A or B). Power off the Prius
2. With your foot on the brake, turn on the Prius. As soon as the ‘Ready’ light is lit, press and hold the ODO button for at least 10 seconds.
3. Keeping the ODO button pressed, move the shifter to Reverse and release, then press the Park button again. At this point, ‘b- on’ should appear on your dashboard display.
4. You can now let go of the ODO button, and each press of the ODO button toggles between ‘b-on’ and ‘b-off’. To disable the reverse beep, simply set it to ‘b-off’, the power off the Prius.

And to disable each of the front seatbelt warning beeps, follow these instructions:

1. Be sure someone is sitting in the seat which seatbelt beep you wish to disable.
2. Without your foot on the brake, turn on your Prius and make sure you are in ODO mode (not Trip A or B). Power off the Prius
3. With your foot on the brake, turn on the Prius. As soon as the ‘Ready’ light is lit, press and hold the ODO button for at least 10 seconds.
4. Keeping the ODO button pressed, insert the seatbelt that you wish to disable the beep for. At this point, ‘b- on’ should appear on your dashboard display.
5. You can now let go of the ODO button, and each press of the ODO button toggles between ‘b- on’ and ‘b-off’. To disable the reverse beep, simply set it to ‘b-off’, the power off the Prius.

These instructions may work for earlier model years as well, although 2006 and earlier models may require no one be in the seat which seatbelt is being disabled.

(Tip: Cotton)