Good Morning MOTleyville, It's Saturday, July 20th, 2013
MOT should be here every morning @ 6:30 am
RIP Schoep
Last summer, a photo of a man cradling his elderly dog in Lake Superior pierced the hearts of millions. Schoep, a shepherd mix who turned 20 on June 15, passed away on Wednesday, but his image will remain a lasting tribute to the deep and loving bond that can run between humans and their canine companions. Owner John Unger posted a brief Facebook statement on Thursday, saying, "I breathe but I can't catch my breath...Schoep passed yesterday."
Unger adopted Schoep, named after a popular Wisconsin brand of ice cream, when he was 8 months old. He told the Daily Mail that the puppy was huddled in the back of his cage and showed signs of abuse. Slowly, Unger and his then-fiancée worked to gain the pup's trust and help build his confidence. Unger's relationship with the dog was mutually giving from the start: When Unger's girlfriend left him, he said he plunged into a suicidal depression, and the pup pulled him out. "To be honest with you, I don't think I'd be here if I didn't have Schoep with me," he told the Mail. "He just snapped me out of it. I don't know how to explain it...I just want to do whatever I can for this dog because he basically saved my a--."
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the birth of 2 rare Persian Leopard cubs
Two Persian leopard cubs were born in a Russian national park last week for the first time in 50 years, according to a statement from the World Wildlife Fund. The species is endangered.
The Persian leopard is one of the largest leopard subspecies, and the beasts once heavily roamed southwest Russia's Caucasus Mountains and the surrounding region along the southern Caspian Sea.
But heavy poaching and habitat loss in the 20th century landed the animal on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's endangered species list, with only about 1,290 adults now believed to be alive in the wild.
Happy Birthday Snooty
Snooty the manatee was born when Harry S. Truman was president, Columbia records had just released its 33 1/3 LP format, and people were still talking about how the NBC television network had broadcast Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in its entirety.
Life in America, of course, has changed.
But Snooty is still around, entertaining visitors, munching on lettuce and swimming silently in his tank at the South Florida Museum in Bradenton.
Sunday is his 65th birthday, and to mark the occasion the museum will host a free party Saturday.
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NASA investing in Space Tech Ideas
NASA has granted funding to a dozen imaginative tech concepts, in the hopes that one or more of them will lead to big breakthroughs in space science and exploration.
The 12 ideas, which were selected under Phase 1 of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, are ambitious and varied. One aims to build biomaterials such as human tissue with a 3D printer, for example, while another proposes to induce deep-sleep torpor states in astronauts making the long journey to Mars.
"These new Phase 1 selections include potential breakthroughs for Earth and space science, diverse operations and the potential for new paths that expand human civilization and commerce into space," NIAC program executive Jay Falker said in a statement.