Inventor of
Floss Rings, dental floss sold in 5-inch segments with
handy finger rings on the ends designed for people with
sensitive hands and fingers.
Dix began his career as a
jewel-setter in
New York City and became fairly successful. After his invention, he amassed a great deal of positive feedback in the print media concerning his product, but a single television review undid his company and in the end, his
entire life.
His interview and the resulting story by CNN was supposed to be Dix's boost over the top. He had already signed a contract with
CVS to sell his product and investors were starting to
sniff around. This story was to give him the exposure he needed to make
Floss Rings a
multi-billion dollar product.
What he did not realize is that the CNN reporter,
Jeanne Moos, was notorious for
ridiculing strange new products. The piece that aired made light of the new product and presented dentists who seemed to be befuddled by the floss and
withheld their recommendations. Potential investors lost interest in the rings after the story aired. CVS declined to renew their contract even though the positive print reviews continued.
Dix tried for months to contact CNN to ask for a correction story, but his calls were never answered or returned. He resorted to
"black faxing" CNN, which is sending black sheets of paper via fax in order to use up all the
toner in the recipient's machine. He was successful with this, sending roughly
6000 faxes in four days and
burning up a CNN fax machine.
When this activity got him nowhere, he began faxing pages of "
pernicious,
disgusting, completely
fabricated allegations" about Ted Turner. The
New York Police Department became involved at this point, asking him to lay off or he would find himself in jail.
In April, 2000, Dix faxed a message to CNN
declaring his intention to kill
Ted Turner if he did not receive a response from them. The next day, The FBI apprehended him and sent him to an
Atlanta prison, where he still sits, waiting to be sentenced (he was convicted of
faxing terroristic threats across state lines). He faces up to
three years in
prison.