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Denver North [Change Location]

Blog Entry 38 of 79 BroFax Cosmonaut
Denver rocks.

Giving a pound of (thumb) flesh to use an iPhone


Author's note: The North Denver News has issued an editor's note ( link) that not only confirms that this story is a complete hoax, but chastises the world at large for believing that a story in a newspaper with no history of satire might be true. To that I say only that the burden of proof of fact should not be the reader's responsibility.

The North Denver News is reporting that one of our own, a Denverite named Thomas Martel, has had his thumbs "whittled" so that he can properly use his new iPhone and other tiny tech items.

This blogger( link) makes a few interesting comments about the man, but also assumes that Bonnie Brae is a city in Colorado, not the southeast Denver neighborhood that is home to the city's best ice cream.

The surgery itself is a little perplexing to me, because I would think that really, any dowel-like object (pen, stylus, toothpick, etc.) or even a fingernail could still accomplish the job without the whole "slicing off a piece of your body" business.

There is also the question of what his hands look like now (the story didn't have photos). Symmetry is important in the look of a hand, so significantly smaller thumbs might throw your hand aesthetics completely out of whack.

What do you think?

Leave a comment below, or click here to post your own column.
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Surgically alters thumbs to better use iPhone(link) NorthDenverNews.com

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Showing 1-7 of 7 comments

Nancy: I just called it like I saw it and assumed the North Denver News did it's own fact-checking. And yes, upon doing a cursory search, it does appear that none of the players in the story: Thomas Martel, Dr. Robert Fox Spars nor the story's author, James Benfly, seem exist, at least online. Nor does Benfly appear on the staff page of the newspaper. I left a message with the editor of the North Denver News/Cherry Creek News to get a comment, but I haven't heard back yet. You'd better believe I'll be following this up.

It appears to be a hoax. You'd think that RMN could google the surgeon's name before proliferating a bogus story (then maybe contact said surgeon). http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/

I haven't been this proud to live in North Denver since the KFC at 38th and Federal became a KFC and Long John Silver's.

Gross!

That's just plain creepy.

Ew, ew, ew. I am clutching my thumbs and wincing just imagining it. Sure, people get plastic surgery because they think their butts are fat or something, but thumbs?? Shouldn't technology cater to humans, not the other way around?

Is he related to Cher, by any chance?
Showing 1-7 of 7 comments