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Sunday, Jul 31, 2011 4:01 PM UTC

The Week in Uppers

Gay marriage, feats of heroism and a chimp bottle-feeding a tiger cub -- just a few of the week's uplifting tales

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Topics: Uppers,

The Week in Uppers

While the brinkmanship of Congress has many, if not most, Americans on edge, it certainly wasn’t the only point of interest this week. In fact, there were a whole slew of stories that didn’t involve sovereign debt crises, even a little bit! Check them out below:

  • One notable attraction at a zoo in Thailand: a chimpanzee that bottle-feeds tiger cubs. Seriously. [CBS News] 

  • Iraq-war veteran Troy Yocum is raising money for troops by walking across America. He’s already traversed 7,000 miles, and he hopes to raise $5 million. [Huffington Post] 
  • Meet New York’s first gay couples to legally wed. [Reuters]
  • Researchers in the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Mexico, saved a humpback whale that had gotten caught in over 200 feet of net. Once free, the animal literally jumped for joy. [ABC News] 

  • A cable guy doing maintenance in Texas is a hero after he saved a boy from drowning in a pool by pulling him to safety and performing CPR. [Huffington Post] 
  • Last week it was a tortoise with a wheel. This week, scientists have fitted a Cambodian elephant who lost a limb to poachers with a brand-new prosthetic foot. [AOL]
  • Amid all the economic doom and gloom, there’s at least some good news: Germans are making more beer again! [Reuters]
  • And amid all the fears about an obesity epidemic in the U.S., there’s likewise a glimmer of hope: Americans are cutting back on sugar. [Reuters] 
  • A 100-year-old doctor shares his secret to longevity: “I recommend falling in love and getting married. And sex is to be encouraged.” [NBC News] 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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The week in 10 pics

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  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

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