We're trying to ween ourselves off cute-polar-bears-in-German-zoos stories but... they're just so damned cute. We get it that the Berlin Zoo's poor Knut now has a personality disorder but we just can't stop!

Flocke, which means snowflake, is the new Knut. She's the new star of the Nuremberg Zoo in southeastern Germany and like Knut, she's been hand-reared by zoo-keepers. (Apparently her mother tried to drop her down some stone stairs.)

Given that the Berlin Zoo admits to earning nearly $8 million from Knut last year, the Nuremberg Zoo will be looking for people like us to fork out for Flocke merchandise and extra zoo visits, too. Will we give in to temptation? We're hoping to stop at some gratuitously cute pictures.

Related Stories:
· Move Over Knut [Reuters]
· Polar Bears With Personality Disorders [Jaunted]

[Photo: indio]]]> amandak 2008-04-10T09:45:47-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/8/30/7582/04658

A German restaurant owner has come up with a unique solution to rude waiters, problems with tipping or wait staff calling in sick: he's done away with them altogether.

'S Baggers restaurant in Nuremberg, Germany, is being billed as the world's first automated restaurant. Guests choose their meals from a touch screen at their table and food is delivered by a "mini-railway" from the kitchen located on the floor above. Parts of the delivery contraption look like a slide, so the food has plenty of fun on the way down to the tables. Presumably 'S Baggers still employs humans to cook the meals, but who knows how much longer that will be necessary.

Related Stories:
· Gooodbye Rude Waiters [Spiegel]
· What's Worse Than Kiwi Wurst? [Jaunted]
· Destination: Bamn Automat [Jaunted]]]> amandak 2007-08-30T09:20:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/