 OCTOBER 10 • 2019 | 5

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T

he royal flush (10-Jack-
Queen-King-Ace, same 
suit) is the best hand to 
hold in poker; it is unbeatable. 
 Kn 
owing that playing cards 
have a long history, I find it no 
wonder that the cards of this 
“famous” hand 
influence our 
everyday speech.
If you have 
strong faith in a 
venture coming 
off very well or 
failing misera-
bly, you might 
offer someone 10-to-1 odds on 
the outcome.
A salesperson trying to 
make his pitch might assure 
you that his presentation will 
take “10 minutes tops.
” Well, 
how gullible are you? Many 
offers should not be touched 
with a 10-foot pole.
From your experience with 

cop shows, you are famil-
iar with the signoff 10-4. 
It usually signifies understand-
ing. Before you lose patience 
with someone, you should 
count to 10. If you have been 
working really hard, you may 
benefit if you take 10; if you 
are close to the beach when 
you decide to do this, get your 
surfboard and hang 10.
Want to signify that some-
one does not know what he 
is talking about? Tell him he 
does not know jack. Before 
you can say Jack Robinson, 
he will have a smart retort for 
you. The list of specialty jobs 
these days shows us that rarely 
do we find someone who is a 
jack of all trades. Remember, 
however, that all work and no 
play make Jack a dull boy.
A lovely lass may be a 
beauty queen; if she over-
does things, she may be a 

drama queen; if she shows 
no emotion, she is deemed 
an ice queen. 
Have you had a day when 
everything went right? You felt 
like the king of the hill. Got 
money to spare? Then you 
may want to bet on the horse 
races, the sport of kings. Today 
it seems that cash is king. 
Having eaten sumptuously, 
you may declare you had a 
meal fit for a king. 
When making deals, it is 
advisable to keep an ace up 
your sleeve. If you are top dog, 
then you hold all the aces. The 
clincher is to play your ace, 
which will be your ace in the 
hole.
Just remember that what-
ever you do, play/say your 
cards right. 

Water for Flint
The story “Israeli Technolo-
gy is Answer to Flint Water 
Crisis,
” Sept. 19, page 30, 
missed the point. Not that the 
technology won’
t work, it just 
solves the wrong problem. 
The Flint problem is not 
an absence of clean safe 
water. The Great Lakes Water 
Authority is delivering to 
Flint’
s reservoirs some of the 
highest-quality water available. 
Flint’
s pumps deliver it to the 
water mains running down 
each street, and those mains 
have healed after adequate 
time with properly treated 
water. It’
s been verified with 
testing. 

Some homes in Flint test 
clear. Others don’
t, and some-
times they are next-door 
neighbors. The problems are 
in the customers’
 homes and 
property, the last few feet of 
pipe up to their tap. Copper 
pipes were soldered with lead. 
Faucets built before lead was 
banned are some of the worst 
offenders. 
 Corrosion control fails in 
them because parts move and 
rub off the protective coating. 
 
Lead also may have deposited 
in formerly safe pipes and 
now is leaching. It’
s senseless 
to provide alternative sources 
for homes that test clear, but 
not every home is being test-
ed. Because the test costs less 
than a week’
s supply of bottled 
water, it’
s foolish to continue 

supplying expensive alternative 
water, bottled or from some 
exotic device, without deter-
mining if it is necessary. 
If found necessary, the vic-
tims of this fiasco deserve help 
in fixing their plumbing rather 
than living with operating and 
maintaining their own mini 
water treatment plant. Can 
Grandma hobbling around on 
her walker manage this? The 
story didn’
t mention what this 
contraption costs and what 
operating skill are required. 
More or less than new pipes 
and fixtures? Salesmen at 
exhibits always have the best 
idea since sliced bread. Perhaps 
it works well for a desert, but 
Flint is not a desert. 

— Dennis L. Green, PE

Farmington Hills

Sy Manello
Editorial Assistant

ws, you are famil-

i noff 10-4.

if she shows 

letters

for openers
Play Your Cards Right

