A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

BREAKING THE MATZO: Lexus let Calvin Trillin test a new car that parallel parks itself:

I didn’t actually need what Lexus calls an Advanced Parking Guidance System to help me park. On the other hand, even though I consider myself pretty good at washing pots and pans, I wouldn’t hesitate to hand that chore over to an advanced scullery system. So I told the Lexus man to bring the car around to my house. I said that I’d stand on the sidewalk nearby, say “Park!” in a commanding tone, and watch the Lexus LS 460 L do its stuff. He told me that wasn’t how the Advanced Parking Guidance System worked. I told him to bring the Lexus LS 460 L around to my house anyway: I had already alerted the neighbors.

However, the technology's not quite there yet: "The Advanced Parking Guidance System works only if the spot is six and a half feet longer than the car — the sort of spot, in other words, that the average Manhattan parker comes upon about once every 14 or 15 years."