Friday, September 27, 2013

Man definitely not racist

pic: wikimedia commons

A man who posted a racist rant to facebook yesterday attracting the ire of hundreds of online comments and posts has been found to be "definitely not racist" by the Institute for the Study of Racist Behaviour.

According to officials from the SRB, the post by 46-year-old Sandton businessman Johan van der Westhuyzen may have at first seemed racist, as it contained several harsh slurs, including the words nigger and k****r and phrases like "these bloody blacks", but a second revision of both the content, the poster, and the circumstances under which the post was made shows that the status was actually benign in its nature.

"If we take a second look at what he said, we can see that he started off with some very insightful preceding statements," said Dr Ray Cist of the SRB. "If you look at his status, he started off by convincingly telling us that 'I'm not racist, but...'. Statements like these are societal agreements that whatever we say after that will be totally devoid of hate speech."

Cist went on to point out that Van Der Westhuyzen also went on to point out that "some of my best friends are black", saying that this is also the mark of a forward-thinking, unprejudiced individual.

"It's well known that if you talk to black people every once in a while, you can't physically be racist. Fact," he said. "He also said that he hates Darren Scott and thinks places like Orania are backwards. I mean, you can't argue with logic like that."

Cist said that the Racism Research Team they put to task also found that the offended facebook users who were up in arms over the innocent post totally ignored the context in which the post was published.

"Again, there are times and places where shouting racist or hateful slurs is socially okay," said Cist. "Just look at Shoot the Boer. Johan had a really bad day, and that car guard did get a scratch in his expensive Merc."

Johan has since retracted his apology on facebook, saying that it was "just typical" how "those people" react to "innocent freedom of speech".

Van der Westhuyzen has, however, promised that in future, he would be more equality-minded and politically correct.

"I know that this country is filled with different races and cultures, all of which play a vital role in our society," he said. "Next time, I'll try to slander as many different races as possible."

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Canoes may appear at drinking festival

The addition of traditional white-water canoes, pictured,
to these events have caused much consternation and
controversy.
pic: http://www.ichauffeur.co.uk/events/news/2009/02/the-oxford-and-cambridge-boat-race/


Thousands of students gearing up for this weekend's giant Hansa Drinking and Alcohol Festival held by Fish River in Cradock, the Eastern Cape, are reportedly in arms over the news that a canoe race might be held alongside the drinking festivities next weekend. 

"The Fish River Drinking Marathon has long been one of the greatest parties and drunken get-togethers in South Africa, just after the Port Alfred Drinking Boatraces and the Inter-Varsity Drinking Competition," said event organiser Nota Boutsport. "And now, alongside the lineup of DJs, sexy Red Bull girls and cheap drinks, we might even have some sports. Or something."

Many students planning to attend the event are reportedly excited by the addition.

"You know, I'm travelling a long way to get ultimately trashed as hell, and so if i get to see some boats, you know, maybe for a few minutes, well, that's a plus for me," said third-year Wits student Rachel Devibes. 

This is not the first time, however, that such a change to drinking festivals have been made.

"Back in 1977, when the annual Boat Races was all about drinking and nothing more, the party organisers thought it would be really cool if some, like, boats came by. You know, cos of the name," said South African Party historian Daits Antyms. "We've seen similar additions of sport to famous booze fests, such as the Tri-Var thing, which was originally named because of the three variations (Tri-Var) of booze - wine, beer and spirits - that were consumed over the three-day competition."

These additions were somewhat successful, and have been continued.

"I hear they even give out these fake trophies to give it an air of officialism and stuff," said Antyms. "You'd almost think that sport was a central part of the proceedings."

However, many attendees are worried that these new changes will ruin the spirit of the event, and detract from the real point of the whole festival weekend.

"This marathon weekend is supposed to be dedicated to the ultimate contest of struggle and will, and the pure essence of competition," said student and fourth-time Fish attendee Dow Ndowns. "How can we laud the astounding achievements of these accomplished alcoholics if there're these flippen' sportsmen and their bloody boats trying to steal the spotlight?"

In spite of this, many more students are not at all worried about the changes.

"I've been to the Boat Races before, and half of us didn't even see a boat," said fourth-year BSc student Marion Phistpumps. "So like, who cares? These guys are acting as if these events are all about sport."

Events organisers have arranged for the racing to be right between dancing and the complex art of getting plastered, so as to disturb or distract the partygoers as little as possible.

"We don't want people to think that we're prioritising the wrong crowd," said Boutsports,

Monday, September 23, 2013

RICA intercepts spy texts

pic: Alton, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Texting.jpg
South African Secret Services have been left reeling this morning after communications monitoring act RICA intercepted thousands of heavily encrypted spy messages cleverly hidden as stupid, meaningless, badly-spelled texts.


The Registration and Interception of Communications Act, or better known as "that fucking thing that means I need ten thousand reams of paperwork to buy a phone" successfully intercepted these messages sent on various instant-messaging platforms such as Brokeberry Messenger (BBM) and WhatsApp messenger.

According to Security Specialist and Decryption Expert Hiddin Meenin, many incriminating and covert messages were discovered on these platforms.

"Our suspicions were first raised when we discovered thousands upon thousands of horrifically constructed messages utterly devoid of any real grammar, punctuation, or syntax," he said. "Why would anyone be this stupid and completely ignore the basic rules of talking to another human being? Unless... unless they were trying to hide something."

Security experts were shocked by what they found.

"Some of these spies - many of them working for Mossad and the CIA, as well as the KGB - have incredibly deep cover," Meenin said. "You'd actually be fooled into thinking they're truly dumb and lazy, and don't give a rat's ass about making a word of sense or adding, say, vowels and full words into their messages."

Since the discovery, they've decoded some truly shocking messages.

"This one might look like it says 'hy bb, gn 2 da rat 4 a drink, u wnt 2 cum? Just me n the guyz. Chek u l8a.'" he said, showing us one of the intercepted messages, "where actually when decoded it reads 'Operation Sundown is a go. We strike at midnight. Arms cache located in northern warehouse. Viva la revolcion, comrade.'

The police have since arrested thousands of foreign nationals, suspected spies, and Blackberry owners between the ages of 14 and 22. However, early reports suggest that perhaps many of these potential criminals are, in fact, just students who don't give a shit whether they sound like brain-dead morons when they have a phone in their hand.

"Honestly, this one dude who has charges of sedition and treason against him spells like he was educated by wolves. Except wolves would probably have some self-respect when they tweet at each other," said MP John Fisher, who was speaking metaphorically, because wolves lack the opposable thumbs and higher cognitive functions to properly utilise communication technologies efficiently.

Other politicians agree.

"For these to be the work of operatives of internationally infamous intelligence agencies, you actually expect some intelligence,' said Chief of Police Shudbhee Fyred. "So far, we've found very little."

Before Muse and Abuse left, Meenin showed us another example.

"Look at this one: 'hy hun, hw u doing 2nyt? Herd bt u n Tony, he's such a'... No... Sorry, that's just a shallow piece of shit message. It's pretty easy to confuse the two."

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Global youth shocked as WWF revealed as "fake"

Millions of eight- to twelve-year-olds were left reeling in shock this morning as a tell-all scandalous book was released exposed the World Wrestling Federation (with its signature logo of a cute panda), World Wrestling Entertainment and all other forms of Wrestling Entertainment as fake.

The book, entitled, "Bodyslams and bodyshams: a life behind the ropes" and written by famous Wrestler-turned-"actor"-turned-informercial-product-host-turned-"writer" Beau D. Slahms (who once wrestled under the stage name John Cena) turns an insider's eye on the very-real looking wrestling profession.

"As a kid, I used to think that these men must have been gods," said Slahms. "I mean, to take that many chairs, ladders, pile-drivers and choke-slams, you must be literally made of steel. Literally."

Entranced by the moves on tv, and after ignoring that stupid warning and Trying These Moves At Home on his younger brother, Slahms was determined to become one of these ultimate men. It was only once he had made the big break and was put in his first real title match, that he realised what was really going on.

"They gave me a script and I had my own personal assistant who brought me lattes and I had to follow cues and rehearse and put on makeup and everything," he said. "I was devastated. It made me want to punch a wall that looks real but is actually cardboard and kaylite painted very convincingly."

The book gives damning evidence into the sham of wrestling.

"That fall from a ladder onto a metal table might look very real, but it's fake," said Slahms. "The same applies for the punches and kicks. All totally fake. You never would have guessed it, right?"

According to child psychologists, the revelation of wrestling's true status has rocked prepubescent teens to the core.

"This would have been the single largest shock to pre-teen belief systems since learning that Santa Claus is actually their drunk uncle in a costume," said child psychologist Reed Mynds. "However, that doesn't really matter. Pretty soon they'll be too busy discovering masturbation. In a month they'll be like 'Steve Austin who?"

Wrestling now joins the long list of mythical, fake things in the world, alongside Pamela Anderson's breasts, beer for less than R10, and that video of that girl who catches fire while twerking.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Study: everything causes cancer


A study looking at the thousands of studies produced every year has discovered that everything on the planet causes cancer.


According to Jake Hardington, lead researcher at the Institute of Studies into Studies, this newly published report, which looked into the mass of innumerable papers covering the potential causes of cancer between 1908 and 2013, has determined that "everything is a potential carcinogen."



"We've looked into a plethora of claims, and we've found that everything on this death bowl we call a world contributes to cancerous growths," said co-head of the research team Gess Timate.

According to Timate, they have seen papers suggesting that a variety of seemingless harmless agents actually cause tumorous growths.

"Things like milk, reusing plastic bottles, that silvery stuff on scratch cards... even oral sex is not safe."

When asked whether these studies were peer-reviewed or backed up with scientific data, Timate just laughed. "I don't think that things like that matter. This is CANCER we are talking about!"

The shocking study has shocked scientists across the globe, with its shocking finds, such as the shocking new Amplified Delay Theory (ADT), which is a truly shocking theory indeed. Shocking. Did we mention it was shocking?

Timate explained that according to ADT the higher the amount of time that passes  after your exposure to a potential carcinogen, the higher your risk of dying from seemingly unrelated causes.

"We had one man who ate a banana when he was 4," he said to the gathered reporters, who will die of cancer in twelve years' time because of prolonged exposure to a man talking on a podium. "Bananas have high amounts of Potassium 40, or K-40, a radioactive isotope of this Group One metal. This radiation built up over 40 years, eventually causing a microtumor that got him shot eight times in a burglary-gone-wrong," he said.

Since the release, thousands of worried people have reportedly changed their lifestyles to avoid possible causes of cancer.

"When I read the report that was grossly misunderstood by journalists and edited to produce a fear-mongering scare tactic that sells papers, such as the MRM vaccine scandal a few years back, I immediately stopped eating ice cream, wearing black hats, and tying my shoe laces," said local resident James Fisher.

New studies suggest that even a cure for cancer
might be a possible carcinogen.

However, scientists have been quick to point out that such measures are futile.

"You can stop eating certain foods, or doing certain things, but there will always be something unavoidable that you have to do that will still cause cancer," said a man who for some reason has the letters P, H and D after his name. "Like breathing. Studies have shown that the more breaths you take in your life, the higher your risk of dying."

However, recent reports have suggested that dying is a potential cure that needs to be investigated. 

"We studied the corpses of animals and people and exhumed hundreds of post-life specimens, and have found that 100% of these cases had strangely developed absolutely no cancerous tumors," explained the author of the 200-page report Frank N. Stein. "There are some unwanted side-effects of this sort of treatment, such as a loss of conscious thought, a dramatic decrease in vital functions, and so on, but we think that the benefits outweigh the negatives. 

Meanwhile, similar news sources have recently reported on studies that have found that people with cancer are more likely to have cancer. 

"100 per cent of people with cancer are more than likely to have cancer,” explained the study’s author Jane Hockley. “This contrasts with the rest of the population, who do not have cancer.” The study included 200 participants, half of whom had cancer and half of whom did not.

*since the time of going to Press, Muse and Abuse is sad to report the death of local resident James Fisher, who died after tripping into a busy roadway. Cancer is suspected to have played a role.

Friday, September 13, 2013

"Western decadence actually pretty kiff" - Al-Qaeda

Image: Virtuousgirlhood.com
After an all-expenses-paid trip to America, including flights, accommodation at the lovely 5-star Ritz Hotel and a pampering spa treatment weekend getaway, hardened Islamic leaders of the anti-West terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda have admitted that wicked imperialist indulgence and vile Western decadence is "actually pretty fucking great."

"It's definitely not what we thought it was," said the hated international terror group in a statement yesterday morning.

According to statements given by heads of the notorious terrorist cult including head of weapons and training Mahalamud Al Jazir "The Red Butcher" Algahadish, Head of Public Beheadings Jal Ag "Quick Hands" Alahumud and intern and photocopy boy Jake Smith, beauty salons, lavish gifts and complimentary bags of peanuts were somehow less evil than they first imagined.
 
The hardened serial killers first found out about the trip after Smith entered a You magazine competition.

"We don't usually read that Western decadent filth filled with pro-capitalist dogma, but they had the new Reeva Steenkamp news and that's just soooooo scandalous," said Algahadish. "Besides, it was their bumper crossword edition, and sitting in a cave uploading hateful propaganda on a 12kbps internet connection is awfully boring."

It was between a fiendish-level Sudoku puzzle and a half-finished crossword that the group received their notification that they had won.

"I was so surprised and shocked!" said Algahadish. "There I was, thinking up an eight-letter word for 'fascist leader', and suddenly I saw an email from You magazine!"

After a long argument about whether or not it would be ethical to accept the competition, the top leadership agreed to send a few 'scouts'.

"We were willing to risk the dangers of four-step facial treatments and detox programme diets for our holy cause," said Algahadish. "Besides, I once used a bar of soap when no one was looking, and it was pretty exciting. I was definitely in." 

The trip has been life-changing.

"You know, when you're sitting in your cave with nothing but Jazir's rice and sauce to eat and you have to sleep with a rock as your pillow, you forget how great a bed is," said Alahumad.

According to Alahumad, the life-changing realisation was driven home during the trip when  an expert dermatologist gave him a facial.

"He told me that the desert climate is actually very bad from my skin, and made me realise that I don't moisturise enough," he said. "He told me that if I don't treat me skin properly, I'll look twenty years older than I really am by the time I hit thirty."

Many feared terrorist organisations have since come forward protesting against the major and world-renowned organisation's statements, calling them "sell-out western dog slaves" and "girlyboy manicure lovers". Al-Qaeda, however, remain unmoved by such scathing attacks.

"Caring for your personal image is something every man should do, be he a builder, office man, or feared international wanted-list murder," said Alahumad. "Besides, they're just, like, totally, like, jealous, you know? Look how fabulous we all are."

American military experts are now considering dropping DIY pedicure sets and home makeover kits onto the warstricken area, and have since brought L'Oreal and Revlon into their military R&D centres.

"It's promising," said new chief military advisor Calvin Klein. "So far we've developed a bomb that dyes and straightens everyone's hair." Klein also said there were many other top-secret projects in the pipeline, including one codename Nuclear Blonde.

Political analysts expect stability to return to the region within the next few months, with only slight risks of aisle catfights over who saw that cute Dolce & Gabana purse first.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Rhodes publishes new student cookbook

pic: Heroic Beer, Flickr
Students across South Africa are rejoicing after announcements by Rhodes University to publish a new cookbook aimed at catering to the lack of money, meal standards and real culinary skill that resounds in 18 - 25 year-olds.

The book, which is to be made available at the only monopoly of a bookstore in all of Grahamstown Schan Vaik's later this week, will cover not only the basics of student cookery, such as how to properly order a pie at BP when you're trashed, how to correctly open and heat a tin of beans, or set your toaster to the right setting, but will also introduce students to the more difficult aspects of cooking, including knowing when a swig is one too many, how to make sure you rotate between digsmates' cereal boxes, and how to reuse a dirty pan instead of washing up anything in the growing mountain of crockery and cookware piling up in the disease-festering hellhole you call a sink.

Studies show that using someone else's milk can
improve flavour by up to 38%.
pic:Bitch Cakes, Flickr
"This book is just perfect for all students who are just too lazy to go and buy their own goddamn bottle of milk at Pick n' Pay," said the book's author Rumaj Inthafrige. "Even if you just sneak a handful of friend's Rice Krispies every now and then, or maybe even just a slice of bread and a finger or two of their peanut butter, there's something for everyone in its pages."

The book includes many healthy and wallet-saving meals, for example the Sneaky Oat Bowl Breakfast. Take a cup or so of your digsmate's oats, microwave it to perfection and then add a splash of your other digsmate's milk. If you're feeling particularly brave, be sure to enjoy a fast swig of his orange juice.

Students can learn much from its pages, including proper meal preparation. "For example, before preparing any meal, it is always important that you check which of your digsmates are home," said Inthafrige. "So that you don't get seen 'accidentally' browsing their cupboards."

Many nutritional experts have praised the book, citing its scientific accuracy and large, colourful picture-based recipes that accommodate even the most inept BCom student.

"Studies have shown that not only is taking someone else's food a more cost-effective way of preparing easy, quick meals," said Rhodes dietology expert Noah Moorekarbs, "but that the food itself will also taste better, flavoured by the satisfying and salty tang of smug guilt that comes with being a sneaky dick."

The book also contains a section of handy excuses for those who get caught red-handed (seen in the section, "How To Argue That You Thought Your Milk Was The One With The Red Label" and "No, This Is My Beer, I'm Positive, Bro") as well as methods to avoid detection completely. 

"You can buy, or even dig through a bin to find, an empty oats box or milk bottle and just keep it in plain sight so that you can point at it and say something like, 'Oh no, I've got my own, why would I use yours?'," said Inthafrige. "Or, if push comes to shove, you can always point the first finger. Many students find it extremely beneficial to say something like, 'okes, who keeps drinking my fucking milk? It was all the way above the label, and now it's, like, half empty. Come on!' This way, they can move blame away from themselves and at the same time look caring, respectable and righteously angry, instead of the low-life cheapskate milkswigging motherfucker they really are."

The author has since announced plans to follow up with an Instagram- and Twitter-friendly version of the book, so that students correctly learn the art of uploading multiple shots of their cup of morning coffee. 

"Let's be serious," said Inthafrige. "It isn't good coffee until everyone you know has seen a picture of it. And liked that shit."

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

'Porn Not Horn' campaign launches


Dealers in traditional Asian aphrodisiacs are going to face much 'stiff' competition this year, with the upcoming launch of the Department of Wildlife and Conservation's Porn Not Horn anti-poaching initiative.

The campaign intends to airlift large crates of hardcore pornography into porn-impoverished areas of China, Malaysia and the rest of East Asia.

According to Jai. N. Tiirekshun, founder of the controversial campaign, the idea first came when he was thinking about porn, which was all the time between the ages of 13 and 33. However, he would only take the first steps to this project many years later on a trip to China.

"I was thinking about how porn just gets you going, you know? But when I went to Beijing and all the porn they have is this shitty 80's stuff where you can barely see any boob."

The situation is aggravated by an overly restrictive internet content filtration system. According to Tiirekshun, some of the best pornography on the market is automatically filtered out and banned by the Chinese state internet controls, which ban sites based on key words.

"The best films, like Tibetan Monk Sluts 5, Democracy Vixens 9 and Human Rights Attrocities in China Whores 3 are all banned when people look for them online because of unexpected and entirely coincidental links to serious world issues," he said. "No wonder they've taken to sniffing descicated animal hair, the poor bastards."

The campaign is not however, backed by any adult filmstars yet, although Tiirekshun says they've got initial requests from Anne Hathaway.

"She gets paid a lot to show her boobs now and then and acts terribly , so it's pretty much the same thing."

The campaign has come just in time, as alternative suggestions have become increasingly more troubling. One campaign has included giving the rhinos ground-up Asian child bone to help them reach sexual maturity more quickly.

Scientists have been astounded by the project's scientific basis, saying that in a lengthy private study conducted with the door locked and soft music playing on their laptops, there was a 98% boner success rate.

"It's incredible," said Head of Biochemistry at Bellend University Tay Kinapluk. "If you want to perform, I can't recommend anything better."

The campaign has so far recieved enormous US State support, citing its potential communism-ending potential.

"Chinese leaders are just super-stressed right now," said Secretary of State Noah Fucault. "If they just took some alone time, we're pretty confident that this whole Tibet thing would sort itself out."

Monday, August 26, 2013

SRC election to be decided in dance-off

In a sudden turn of events this morning the Rhodes Student Representative Council shocked the sometimes-voting student body by announcing that the usual ballot-style democratic elections for SRC portfolios would be dropped in favour of a "kiff dance competition."

According to incumbent SRC President Officer Raak Datbadhi, the move comes in hopes that "all those okes who watch Idols and Big Brother will get interested."


 

"We've seen in past Idols seasons that sometimes so many people vote that they get two winners at the end of the day," said Datbadhi. "We think that the possibility of accidentally having two presidents will be great."

The new electoral process started off with a surprising video released this weekend, in which the SRC showed off their preliminary dance moves in hopes to win a strong starting sentiment with the voting public. The video contains none of that usual democratic election crap, such as names, portfolio aims and goals, candidate manifesto, previous leadership credentials or current campaign mandate, and instead focuses on their skills on the dancefloor.

"Basically all the important stuff," said Datbadhi.

And according to Head of DanceSport and now expert in Student Politics Megan Bohlroom, this is a great way for students to pick out the right candidate.

"They all have a pretty similar, too-long marching intro, which makes it difficult to single one true leader out," said Bohlroom. "However, the spin, twist and pose of the Projects candidate shows that she is a truly gifted, natural-born leader with the kinds of skills that will really serve in the non-dance related side of the SRC's workload."

Other candidates also show promise. 

"The tall white president dude might seem a little stiff and forced at first, but it's in that final little squat that he really shows his natural gift for leading the student body."

Other candidates, however, might suffer a stunted start.

"The 'machine-gun' move of the Oppidan Councilor might be a little too politically aligned to the ANC and 'Umshini Wami' to win over students, and the fact that some of the candidates aren't wearing overalls or purple shows that they actually don't give two flying shits about students and their needs," said Bohlroom.

However, many students remain unconvinced at the show, saying that the obvious lack of Autumn Harvest in the video means that the clip is not a valid indication of their real dance potential and thus their leadership capabilities.

"I'm somewhere between Sheldon Cooper and an IS major when it comes to dancing," said second-year BFA student Ackjulie Tahlented. "But err'body knows that when i've got ma drink own, I'm half Beyonce, half Rihanna. I'm Rihyonce, biaatch!"

Students can vote over the course of the next week, during which candidates will be staging dance-offs every lunchtime at the Kaif, with surprise choreographed flash mobs at Dining Halls to be announced this week.

Water discovered in gtown pipes





Forensic experts specialising in the detection of trace elements have found striking new evidence that suggests water might have once flown through the pipes of Grahamstown.


In a breathtaking new report published in all leading South African scientific journals this morning, the team from the Rhodes University Department of Nanotech Quanititative Analysis say that the decades-old pipes that lie under Gtown's busy streets may have once had water running through them.

"In a systematic study of the toxic sludge and strange substances that might once have been a polar solvent in our pipes, we discovered traces of what could have been running, clear, drinkable water," said the chief data analyst Rhee Dzepaiges. "Well, not that drinkable, but yeah, if you were too lazy to go to the spring you could probably drink it."

Grahamstown's pipeline network was first installed in 1923, but it was only recently that they were finally renovated to fulfill their original purpose of transporting air and large quantities of nothing around the town.

"Engineers back then were worried that there wasn't enough air and nothing flowing into each house," said Head of the Rhodes History Department Ayn Chentbhooks. "In June of that year, they completed their project, and every tap had large amounts of nothing and air flooding out their taps and supply outlets."

However, in 1936 the pipeline was accidentally flooded with water, thus kicking off the first of the "Water Outrage Crisis" protests. "

It was utter chaos," said Chentbhooks. "Just think: water, flowing freely and coolly out of every tap and into every toilet. How grim."

Protesters reportedly lined the streets carrying inspiring anti-H20 signs such as "water we going to do?" and "this blows, it H(as) 2 (g)0."

"Some of these signs' puns took up to three days to think of," said Chentbhooks.


Then, in 1989, the Municipality introduced a new dual purpose to the pipeline: transporting a low-grade chemical poison to each house.

"The benefits and uses of this heavy-metal-enriched solvent was immediately evident," said Chentbhooks. "People used it for all kinds of daily activities, such as bathing, brushing their teeth, and synthesising cheap Mercury and Aluminium compounds in the comfort of their homes."

The scientific report has stunned the people of Grahamstown.

"Every time I open one of the taps in my house and try to imagine water coming out of it, it just boggles my mind. Impossible!" said local resident and Mercury salesman John Manders.

"I just don't get it," said long-time resident and bartender Noah Hunderayteen. "Where did all those people get their daily heavy metal supplement from?"

Now all that is left is for the Rhodes team to date when this water might have once run - a process that is proving challenging.

"The water record, as we're calling it, comes and goes. It appears and disappears sporadically as we look at the pipes. However, initial radiometric dating have suggested that there may have been water many millions of years ago in this age, perhaps in the pleolitithic era," said head of carboradiometry. "But then again, some evidence suggest that the water might have been in the pipes until as recently as three weeks ago. We just don't know."

In related news, Makana Municipality has sent out a statement asking all residents to remember that the rates charged for the maintenance of their underground oxygen pipes is to go up at the end of the month.

"We're also thinking of upping the costs for our extensive darkness network, which runs into each home and ensures that families can enjoy the quiet bliss of utter darkness at least once a month."