From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries



My brush with greatness:

I was at a prep school in Newport, Rhode Island, around the time and
at the site of the 1980 America's Cup race. There was a day that
spring when there was some more minor regatta taking place well inside
the harbor. My friend C______ and I decided to check out a little
Shields sailboat and go out into the harbor to see what we could see.

We sailed up to about 30 feet from the course line (we both knew how
to read buoys and how a regatta course works) and luffed our sail and
hung out in that spot to watch. Ted Turner sailed by on his boat
(whose name I have forgotten) and glared at us and then shook his fist
and called us "stupid cocksuckers" and something else we couldn't
hear. We were like, "Uh, wut?"

On telling the story later to our sailing mentor, we were told that
probably he perceived that our luffed-but-raised sail was interfering
with his wind. We allowed as how we were probably upwind of the
course, but didn't think we had done anything wrong. And way-more-
experienced J.D. knows now with the wisdom of age that we really
hadn't.

So that's my Ted Turner story.
--
jd
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

In <10tg32n$hmi$1@reader1.panix.com> SURNAME@panix.removethispart.com (J.D. Baldwin) writes:

My brush with greatness:

[snip]

So that's my Ted Turner story.

Mine:

mid 1980's, when Ted was (at least per the publicity)
looking at buying CBS.

dannyb was staffing an ambulance (no patient) heading
north on 6th avenue [a] and we saw Mr. Turner on the
sidewalk near (what was then) the CBS building at
52nd street. (AKA the "Black Rock" building).

We stopped for a second and I called out to him something
like "Mr. Turner, hope you succeed!". He looked back
and said something like "I'm working on it".

[a] damn anyone who pretends it has another name.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

On Wed, 6 May 2026 18:59:36 -0000 (UTC), SURNAME@panix.removethispart.com
(J.D. Baldwin) wrote:

We sailed up to about 30 feet from the course line (we both knew how
to read buoys and how a regatta course works) and luffed our sail and
hung out in that spot to watch. Ted Turner sailed by on his boat
(whose name I have forgotten) and glared at us and then shook his fist
and called us "stupid cocksuckers" and something else we couldn't
hear. We were like, "Uh, wut?"

I wonder what he was like in situations where he could potentially be
punched in the face for behaving like that.

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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

Although heavily involved in
developing the ad-supported cable
networks (including CNN and TBS)
in the early 80s, I encountered
Ted in person on only a couple of
occasions, both brief and civil.

On 5/6/2026 3:06 PM, danny burstein wrote:

In <10tg32n$hmi$1@reader1.panix.com> SURNAME@panix.removethispart.com (J.D. Baldwin) writes:

My brush with greatness:

[snip]

So that's my Ted Turner story.

Mine:

mid 1980's, when Ted was (at least per the publicity)
looking at buying CBS.

dannyb was staffing an ambulance (no patient) heading
north on 6th avenue [a] and we saw Mr. Turner on the
sidewalk near (what was then) the CBS building at
52nd street. (AKA the "Black Rock" building).

We stopped for a second and I called out to him something
like "Mr. Turner, hope you succeed!". He looked back
and said something like "I'm working on it".

[a] damn anyone who pretends it has another name.

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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

David Carson <davidc@wa-wd.com> wrote:

On Wed, 6 May 2026 18:59:36 -0000 (UTC), SURNAME@panix.removethispart.com (J.D. Baldwin) wrote:

We sailed up to about 30 feet from the course line (we both knew how
to read buoys and how a regatta course works) and luffed our sail and
hung out in that spot to watch. Ted Turner sailed by on his boat
(whose name I have forgotten) and glared at us and then shook his fist
and called us "stupid cocksuckers" and something else we couldn't
hear. We were like, "Uh, wut?"

I wonder what he was like in situations where he could potentially be
punched in the face for behaving like that.

I hesitate to speak ill of the dead, but: I think we can probably
guess.
--
Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
"Anyway, we delivered the bomb."
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:

My brush with greatness:

[snip]

So that's my Ted Turner story.

Mine:

[snip]


So, I was in grad school in the mid-1980s st gatech and I helped the
folks at "Techwood" (Actually McDaniel) Dormitory set up a uucp node
called 'techwood.' Apparently someone at WTBS noticed this, and the
president of the institute received a phone call from Mr. Turner saying
that we were in violation of some trademark. I pointed out that Techwood Housing Project existed across the street but in the end we had to rename
the site.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
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