Edwin Taylor Pollock (1870–1943) was a career officer in the United
States Navy, serving in both the Spanish–American War and World War I.
He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Captain. As a young ensign,
Pollock served on board the USS New York during the Spanish–American
War. After the war, he gradually rose through the ranks and served on
many ships, including doing important research into wireless
communication. Less than a week before World War I, he won a race
against a fellow officer to be the one to officially sign over the U.S.
Virgin Islands from the Danish and serve as the territory's first
acting-governor. During the war, he was promoted to captain and
successfully transferred 60,000 American soldiers to France, for which
he was awarded a Navy Cross. Afterward, he was made the eighth Naval
Governor of American Samoa and then the superintendent of the United
States Naval Observatory, before retiring in 1927.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Taylor_Pollock>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1034:
After Malcolm II of Scotland died at Glamis, Duncan, the son of his
second daughter, instead of Macbeth, the son of his eldest daughter,
inherited the throne to become the King of Scots.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_II_of_Scotland>
1120:
William Adelin, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England,
drowned in the White Ship Disaster, leading to a succession crisis
which would bring down the Norman monarchy of England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Ship>
1795:
Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last King of Poland, was forced to
abdicate after the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth by Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski>
1970:
Failing to instigate a military coup to restore the powers of the
Emperor of Japan, Yukio Mishima committed the ritual suicide seppuku
at the Japan Self-Defense Forces headquarters in Tokyo.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima>
1975:
Johan Ferrier became the first President of Suriname.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Ferrier>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
shill (v):
To promote or endorse in return for payment, especially dishonestly
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shill>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Now and then it occurs to one to reflect upon what slender threads of
accident depend the most important circumstances of his life; to look
back and shudder, realizing how close to the edge of nothingness his
being has come.
--Upton Sinclair
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair>