The tale of a big dude getting his thumbs whittled down to an iPhone appropriate size evidently took in a few readers.

The schools need to do a better job of teaching critical thinking to students, lest they become adults who take passages like this satirical one from the North Denver News as truth:

Thomas Martel, 28, of Bonnie Brae is a big guy. So he has a hard time using the features on ever-shrinking user interfaces on devices like his new iPhone. At least, he did, until he had his thumbs surgically altered in a revolutionary new surgical technique known as “whittling.”

It’s worth a chuckle at best, but a number of people didn’t get the joke, which required an editor’s follow-up explaining the punchline:

For those who have “debunked” the HUMOR piece, thanks for pointing out that there are no muscles in the thumbs, and that the timeline from iPod release to successful surgery is pure fantasy. Also “whittling”?!?! Come on, pollexplasty, from the Latin for thumb, pollex, perhaps, but not whittling!!

Additionally, many commentators have derided Mr. Martel for stupidity first and foremost, which may indicate something about their credulity.

People should be paying more attention to the iPhone’s ability to transmit their thoughts to servers at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, MD, where Homeland Security professionals scrutinize them for suggestions that the iPhone’s owner might harbor un-American thoughts like looking forward to the Bush Administration’s departure from Washington. (Note: that was satire. There’s almost no chance the iPhone can read your mind.)

Posted in Features, Hardware, Opinion |