Ted Turner has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Ted Turner has died

#51

Post by DANmode » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:20 PM UTC

tren_hard wrote: post #19

> In 2010, Turner joined Warren Buffett's and Bill Gates's The Giving Pledge, vowing to donate the majority of his fortune to charity upon his death. Does The Giving Pledge still exist? Will this happen?

Will they still transfer all of their money to a (perhaps charitable) trust that their people control?

Yes.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#52

Post by deferredgrant » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:22 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Ted Turner has died

#53

Post by paddy_m » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:25 PM UTC

Ted Turner won the America's cup there in 1977. His team named Courageous was legendary. Robbie Doyle was a team member, and got a degree from Harvard in applied physics. In the middle of the trials to see which team would defend the cup for the US, he remade the sails to be more competitive. Doyle went on to found a racing sailmaking company.

I used to live in Newport, RI. I love sailing and introducing people to the world of sailing. When I had guests I asked them to watch this NBC video about Ted's 77 campaign [1]. It really captures the history of Newport, sailing, and Ted

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr7-BwzceYI&list=PLXEMPXZ3PY...

Re: Ted Turner has died

#54

Post by Fordec » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:26 PM UTC

foolfoolz wrote: post #44

mekdoonggi wrote: post #42

Ted Turner owned the largest American Bison herd (~45k animals), supplying meat for his "Ted's Montana Grill" restaurants. I don't know much else about the man, but as a supporter of Bison I can commend that part of his legacy. An impressive vision and execution.

how do you own a herd

The same way every beef farmer does.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#55

Post by jihadjihad » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

foolfoolz wrote: post #44

mekdoonggi wrote: post #42

Ted Turner owned the largest American Bison herd (~45k animals), supplying meat for his "Ted's Montana Grill" restaurants. I don't know much else about the man, but as a supporter of Bison I can commend that part of his legacy. An impressive vision and execution.

how do you own a herd

One head of bison at a time.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#56

Post by jimt1234 » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

JSR_FDED wrote: post #3

I remember CNN bursting onto the scene. It was revolutionary. Although there was never (even today) enough news to fill a 24hr period. Just endless repeats of the same block of news.

I also remember when CNN first appeared. I was a kid, but I recall people (adults, Boomers) sort of rejected it at first. I think there was a trust issue, not just with CNN, but cable-TV in general. But yeah, I recall people thinking CNN was a passing fad, like it would fail in a year or so because people liked/trusted the local broadcasters and network anchors they'd known for most of their lives.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#57

Post by Henchman21 » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

deferredgrant wrote: post #52

[flagged]

I'd say it changed it extremely negatively. Before CNN, the news was reported when it happened. AFTER CNN, creating "news" to fill the gaps between news actually worth reporting happened. This was the start of the slippery slope to the news being little more than entertainment.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#58

Post by herodoturtle » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise!” - Ted Turner

Side note, for those of you that enjoy biographies, his autobiography “Call Me Ted” is a real page-turner (pun intended).

A highly inspirational story of entrepreneurship, which includes a raw and authentic account of his flaws.

A true legend.

Rest in peace Ted.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#59

Post by stego-tech » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:32 PM UTC

Aeroi wrote: post #9

Before starting CNN, Ted Turner captained the sailing Yacht Courageous to an America's Cup victor 4-0 over the Australians in Newport, RI during what was arguably sailings hay day.

Oh my god I finally get a very specific Harvey Birdman joke as a result of this factoid. Fuck me, Phil Ken Sebben as a parody of Ted Turner kinda works.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#60

Post by wat10000 » Wed, May 06, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

ap99 wrote: post #11

ranger_danger wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there absolutely would be enough if they also covered international stories as well as happier news. There's a whole lot more good going on in the world right now than bad, but for some reason we do not highlight it.

"For some reason" is that people do not watch it. Once you get a taste of "bad" it dominates.

It's important to remember that actually reporting news is a tertiary purpose of the news business. The primary purpose is to sell advertising. The secondary purpose is to get eyeballs onto their product, in order to facilitate the primary purpose. Reporting news is only done because it's how they've chosen to get those eyeballs.