Back during my days as a newspaper reporter there were times just after a particularly frantic midnight deadline when a rumpled veteran editor was fond of muttering… “Well, If the paperboy misses the porch this was all for naught.”

The comment typically got a knowing nod and chuckle. Anyone who has ever committed considerable time and effort into a project only to see it fall apart in the final stage of execution can relate to the image of a waterlogged newspaper mired in the front shrubs.