oddly enough

oddly enough

Squirrel goes nuts on Maine teen taking ‘selfie’

AUBURN, Maine

A Maine teenager is flustered but not hurt after a photo op with a squirrel went awry.

Seventeen-year-old Brian Genest, of Auburn, said Thursday he saw what appeared to be a friendly squirrel on a hand rail while walking through John Chestnut Park near Tampa, Fla. He was on a trip looking at colleges.

Genest took a “selfie” of himself and the squirrel, but the flash and noises from his camera phone scared the animal, which climbed under the teen’s shirt and hung onto his back.

“He was just in that spot where my arm can’t reach him,” Genest said. “I threw myself on the ground, and that scared him off.”

Genest’s mother, Paula Wright, snapped photos of the hoopla, which originally were posted to her son’s Instagram feed along with his selfie.

She said neither her son nor the squirrel was harmed.

Cosmic commencement: Astronaut to give UConn speech

HARTFORD, Conn.

University of Connecticut alumnus Rick Mastracchio would have liked to deliver this year’s graduation address to the school of engineering in person. But he’ll be out of town May 10 — orbiting the globe on the International Space Station. So UConn has arranged for the 54-year-old astronaut to give the speech from space.

“I remain a bit nervous,” said Kazem Kazerounian, the dean of the engineering school, who helped set up the unusual graduation speech. “We have never tried anything like this before, and I know that the world will be watching us. So, while I’m excited, I still have to have my fingers crossed.”

Associated Press