Oddity Central

Oddity Central

How Do You Stop a 400-lb Running Back? You Don’t!

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 02:00 AM PST

At 6’4”, (190 centimeters) and 400 lb (181 kilograms), Tony Picard, a senior at the White Swan High School in Yakima, Washington, is not only the biggest running back in high-school football, but probably the biggest in the history of pro football, as well.

Just like the famous William "Refrigerator" Perry, who played for the Chicago Bears during the 80′s and 90′s and is known as one of the biggest players to ever play pro football (6'2" and 335 lbs.), Tony “The Tone” Picard started out as an offensive lineman, but after his coach noticed his unusual speed, he was reinvented as an unlikely running back. His qualities for the position became evident at a football camp a couple of years ago, during a game of basketball. "He was so agile and making shots from way out there," White Swans coach, Andrew Bush, recalls. "I said 'I've got to use this somehow.'" He gave Picard just two instructions: average 4 yards per carry and don't fumble. In the first 10 games of this season, the Tone has averaged 5 yards per carry. "Most teams will sacrifice five guys to stop him: four linemen and a middle linebacker. That leaves three guys on each side to stop the rest of our team," the coach says. "Everything else opens up: our outside running, our play action, and our entire passing game. We average about 450 yards as a team offensively."

Tony-Picard

Arborsculpture – The Art of Turning Young Trees into Living Works of Art

Posted: 19 Nov 2013 01:00 AM PST

Who said you need to chop the wood off trees to make sculptures? Arbosculpture is an art form that makes use of living trees to make wonderful creations. Also known as Biotecture, Grown Furniture or simply tree sculpting, the technique involves growing and shaping the trunks of trees and other woody plants by grafting or pruning. The trunks or branches are grown into ornamental or useful shapes. The word Arbosculpture comes from the Latin word arbor, meaning tree.

Tree branches and trunks have the unique ability to unite together by grafting. The new shapes are retained when fresh layers of wood grow over the older ones. So an Arbosculptor winds two or more parts of a tree together by cutting off the bark and then binds the wounded parts together so that the contact is secure. This promotes the tree parts to grow together. These stems and branches need to be wound together for at least a year depending on the amount of resistance they need to overcome. Additional layers of wood grow during this time, acting as a natural cast and retaining the new desired shape. Once the shape is able to hold itself, the bracing is removed. The techniques used by artists vary between Instant Tree Shaping (mature trees bent into the desired shape and held until cast), Aeroponic Culture (the use of living, air-suspended roots to make bridges) and Gradual Tree Shaping (trees are grown from saplings for the specific purpose of creating a design).

Arborsculpture

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