Page 20 - PGA Community News - July '21

Page 20, PGA C.A.N.! July 2021

Book Review

The Confidence Men: It was basically a wooden board with the letters of the

How Two Prisoners Of alphabet arranged – not in order, but randomly – around
the outer edge. One person, either alone or from a group
War Engineered The Most seated around the Ouija board, would ask a question; then
the leader, with eyes closed or blindfolded would rest his
Remarkable Escape In History or her hand very lightly on the pointer (or an inverted
glass if no pointer was available), and the pointer would
By Nils A. Shapiro “mysteriously” roam around the board, touching letters
This true story is certain that spelled out the answer to the question.
to be made into an exciting It was widely believed by Ouija board devotees that
major movie. But read the the answers were responses from the spirit world, which
book first. The book is was why so many of the questions were directed to loved
always better than the film. ones who had passed away, in the hope of being able to
You know the old communicate with them. This was the same era in which
saying: “Truth is stranger group séances were popular, led by mediums who claimed
than fiction.” I cannot their own personal ability to communicate with the spirit
recall when that has been world.
demonstrated more vividly How was it possible for so many to become believers?
than in this difficult to The author explains:
believe – but absolutely true – vivid account of how two “The technological marvels of the age (radio, wireless
British military officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, telegraph, telephone) that had buoyed spiritualism were
prisoners in World War I, escaped from their Ottoman
captors. Book Review on page 22
What makes this book so difficult to put down once
you start reading – I finished it in two sittings despite a
busy daily schedule that includes my role as editor of
this newspaper – is the way in which author Margalit Drainage Information From Northern Palm Beach County
Fox presents her story, taking us on a remarkably detailed
and fascinating journey through every step of how Jones Improvement District
and Hill conceived, developed and executed their escape
plans over a period of many months, and then explains Why do some yards flood after large quantities of rain? The simple answer is according to most
clearly what made it successful – a critical component of approved drainage designs, some water is meant to be temporarily stored in public recreational
this book when you realize the nature of their outlandish areas, yard swale and streets. The excess surface water slowly drains to community lakes or on-
plan! site ponds via street and yard drainage grates and/or via swales, ditches and canals. The more
Some readers of this review column are not old enough complex answer is that each yard is different. Some yards have drainage swale areas. These
to know what a Ouija board (pronounced wee-jee) was are areas that are sloped to catch water and filter out pollutants as water is absorbed into the
during the heyday of its popularity in the latter decades ground. Some yards direct water to the community drainage system as run-off with very little
of the 1800s and early decades of the 1900s. The Ouija water retained in the yard. Familiarize yourself with how your yard was built to determine how
board was, for millions of adults around the world, water drains from your home.
about as popular as computer games are to the younger
generation today – but they had a more serious purpose.

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