Odd News-German churches find 'chocolate Jesus' tasteless

Odd News!

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany's churches criticized a businessman on Tuesday for selling thousands of Jesus chocolates.

Frank Oynhausen set up his "Sweet Lord" chocolate Jesus-making business saying he wanted to restore some traditional religious values to Christmas in Germany.

But the German Protestant Church criticized the idea as "tasteless" and the Roman Catholic Church was not amused.

"I started thinking about how I could reintroduce traditional religious values into this commercial world," said Oynhausen, who had been unemployed since losing a recycling business two years ago.

Together with a friend, a local chocolatier, Oynhausen, 54, developed the concept of "Sweet Lord." It is growing fast in his home town of Duisburg and on the internet (www.goldjesus.com).

Oynhausen said thousands of people have put in orders for the figures wrapped in gold foil.

But church associations expressed dismay.

"It is terrible that Jesus is being wrapped up in gold foil and sold along with chocolate bunnies, edible penguins and lollipops," said Aegidius Engel, a spokesman for the archbishopric of nearby Paderborn.

"This is ruining the symbol of Jesus himself," he added.

Oynhausen is now custom-producing the chocolate Jesus figures, but by Easter he hopes to have a partnership with a mass producer.

"We're hoping to be able to export them around the world one day," Oynhausen said. He reckons there are parts of the United States where they will be especially popular.

In 2007, a life-size chocolate sculpture of a naked Jesus caused an outcry from Roman Catholics when an art gallery in New York wanted to exhibit it in a window.

Odd News-After 55 days, contest ends for 2 living in truck

What, 55 days in a truck, that is odd!
MADISON, Wis. – A Wisconsin radio station had to make two contestants an offer they couldn't refuse in order to get them to quit a game to win a new car.

Tommy Kempfer, 26, of Sun Prairie, and Lisa Thompson, 40, of Westfield, had been living in a truck, hoping to outlast the other to win a new $30,000 vehicle from WMAD-FM in Madison.

After 55 days, the station became concerned that the contest would never end.

"We sensed these two were not going to back down," said John Flint, a co-host on the station's morning show. "There was no way we expected this to go 55 days. If it was not for the deal, it's possible they could have gone on until New Year's."

On Tuesday, the station offered the two a compromise: End the contest and receive $10,000 toward the purchase of a car, among other prizes, or continue with the runner-up receiving nothing.

Within 15 minutes, both agreed to the deal.

"Both of us were ready to go home," Kempfer said, "but we didn't want to leave with nothing after you put in that much time."

Thompson called the contest a "very good experience" but said she wouldn't do it again.

Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

Odd News-Upset over pet, man stabs bureaucrat, wife

This is nutty odd news!

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese man upset by the death of his pet turned himself in after fatally stabbing a bureaucrat and his wife, Japanese police and media said on Sunday.

Police were searching the house of a 46-year-old man who said he murdered a former vice minister for health and welfare, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department said.

Kyodo news said the man also admitted to the fatal stabbing of the 66-year-old bureaucrat's wife, although the police spokesman was unable to confirm that.

Takehiko Yamaguchi and his 61-year-old wife, Michiko, were found dead at their home with stab wounds to the chest on Tuesday, Kyodo News said.

Also Tuesday, the wife of another former health and welfare bureaucrat was seriously stabbed at the entrance to her home by a man pretending to be making a delivery, domestic media reported.

Her husband, who had also been vice minister, was not home at the time, according to media reports.

Japanese police and media originally believed the stabbings may have been a backlash against former employees of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, due to widespread resentment over the government's handling of the national pension system.

However, the man who turned himself in to police said he was upset over the death of a pet, Kyodo said.

"I was angry because my pet was killed in a public welfare center," Kyodo quoted the man as saying.

The police spokesman could not confirm the comment, but did say the found "several" survival knives after searching his car.

While Japan still has relatively low crime rates, the country has been shocked in recent years by several grisly stabbings.

In June, a man who said he was tired of life went on a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's crowded shopping district of Akihabara, killing seven people and wounding a dozen others.

(Editing by David Fox)