vault backup: 2025-10-21 22:02:46

1960-04-04_durant-daily-democrat.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+---
+id:
+aliases: []
+tags:
+  - authorship/other
+title: Rev. William Alexander And Wife Killed In Airplane Crash
+url: https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2193346/
+source: Durant Daily Democrat (Durant, Okla.), Vol. 59, No. 172, Ed. 1 Monday, April 4, 1960
+description: |
+  Frontpage newspaper article noting the accidental death
+  of Rev. Dr. William Hamilton Bill Alexander and his wife Marylouise.
+---
+# Rev. William Alexander And Wife Killed In Airplane Crash
+
+![[rev-william-h-alexander_ddd-obit.png]]
+
+CAMP HILL Pa. (UPI)--
+A former chaplain of the Republican party who was an unsuccessful candidate for U. S. Senator in 1950 was killed with two other persons Sunday night in the crash of a private plane.
+
+The victims were identified as the Rev. Dr. William H. Alexander, pastor of the First Christian Church of Oklahoma City, his wife, and N. S. Schumman of Enid, Okla., the pilot.
+
+Alexander, a night club entertainer before he went into the ministry, was en route to Hershey, Pa. to open a three-day conference of the Pennsylvania Association of Chief School Administrators at the Milton Hershey School.
+
+The six-seat plane crashed into a row of trucks at a dairy moments after receiving clearance to land, officials at the Harrisburg York airport said.
+
+## Named GOP Chaplain
+
+Alexander was defeated by Sen. A. S. Mike Moroney in his bid for the Senate. He was named chaplain of the republican party in 1952.
+
+Alexander, a fiery red head, combined hollywood glamour and politics with his career in the ministry.
+
+When cowboy movie star Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were married, Alexander donned a cowboy outfit and flew to a ranch near Gene Autry, Okla., to perform the ceremony.
+
+Several years earlier he had turned down a \$1,000 - per-week movie contract in Hollywood.
+
+Alexander, born Jan. 10, 1915 in Shelbyville, Mo., attended the University of Missouri and played football there in 1932 and 1934. He dropped out to take up his night club act but entered the ministry a year later.
+
+## First Church at Stroud?
+
+He was divorced by his first wife Chrisie, now remarried and living in Denver, after they had three children. The divorce was granted in July 1952.
+
+Two years later, he married Marylouise Rowsey, of Park City, Ky., and adopted her daughter by a previous marriage. Marylouise was killed in the crash with him.
+
+His first church was at Stroud, Okla., where he gained statewide fame through a radio service. In 1941, he was sent to Los Angeles as a pastor of the McCarty Memorial church there, and in 1941 went to Oklahoma City, where he built the First Christian Church, dubbed the "Church of Tomorrow" when it was completed in 1956 for $2 million.
+
+He was in demand throughout the nation as a public speaker, and it has been reported that his speaking engagements earned him as much as $40,000 per year.

README.md

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tags:
   - status/incomplete
   - topic/meta
   - type/encyclopedia
-title: zmVault
+title: README
 ---
 # zmVault
 
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ Notes are written in [Obsidian-flavored markdown](https://help.obsidian.md/),
 which is partially reimplemented by [Markdown Oxide](https://oxide.md/)
 for use in editors other than Obsidian.
 
-Novel syntax implemented by Obsidian plugins should be avoided.
+For compatibility,
+novel syntax implemented by Obsidian plugins should be avoided.
 
 ## Organization
 
@@ -34,4 +35,3 @@ All notes are located in the main directory.
 
 For steps to clone this vault
 and setup Git, see [[windows-setup]].
-

favorite-quotes.md

@@ -36,3 +36,28 @@ title: Favorite Quotes
 > [!cite] Goodhart's Law
 > When a measure becomes a target,
 > it ceases to be a good measure.
+
+## About Process Optimization
+
+### "Sharpen the Axe"
+
+Frequently misattributed to Abraham Lincoln is some variation of:
+
+> [!quote]
+> Give me six hours to chop down a tree
+> and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
+
+For the legitimate origin of the quote see [[reverend-william-h-alexander]].
+
+I think when people use some version of the quote in real life
+it's usually to justify second definition [yak shaving](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving)
+(at least that's usually when I use it).
+
+> [!quote] Ecclesiastes 10:10 King James Version
+> If the iron be blunt,
+> and he do not whet the edge,    
+> then must he put to more strength:
+> but wisdom _is_ profitable to direct.
+
+I like the story because it's well known
+and easily interpreted as an [optimization problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimization_problem).

refactor-system-scripts.md

@@ -39,3 +39,4 @@ consolidated in [[pre-takeoff-research]] and [[takeoff-review]] respectively.
 It should be considered if `## Info` can also be removed,
 replaced with callouts and embeds in the script.
 
+![[pdi-estimating-systems]]

reverend-william-h-alexander.md

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+---
+id:
+aliases: []
+tags: []
+title: Reverend Dr. William Hamilton Bill Alexander
+---
+# Reverend Dr. William Hamilton Bill Alexander
+
+Reverend Dr. William Hamilton Bill Alexander,
+born 1915-01-10 in Shelbyville, Missouri,
+was pastor of the First Christian Church of Oklahoma City
+until his death 1960-04-03.
+
+He is the likely originator of the "sharpen the axe" quote
+frequently misattributed to Abraham Lincoln.
+
+The earliest citation for a similar quote
+is this second hand account of a 1944 speech by Alexander,
+
+> [!quote] "Radio Church Ads Poor"[^1]
+> On preparation he urged his hearers to study and prepare themselves,
+> relating the instance of the lumberjack
+> who said that if his life depended upon his ability to cut down a tree in five minutes
+> he would spend three minutes sharpening his axe.
+
+[^1]: 1944 December 2, Sooner State Press, "Radio Church Ads Poor",
+  Quote Page 2, Column 2, Norman, Oklahoma. (Newspapers.com)
+
+## Death
+
+lamenting the imminent demolition of the [William Alexander Youth Center](https://okcmod.com/architecture/endangered/william-alexander-youth-center/),
+but the newspaper they cited was paywalled,
+so I transcribed [[1960-04-04_durant-daily-democrat|a different one]].
+
+## Legacy
+
+In 2022 Alexander's "Church of Tommorow" was demolished.
+[An article by the Oklahoman](https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/religion/2022/10/07/a-look-at-the-history-of-the-demolished-first-christian-church-building/69531476007/)
+details its history.