The foreman appeared to be near tears. He whined, “If I let you do this and if you fail, then I’m still in trouble and behind schedule. But if for some strange and unexplained reason you can actually make this thing work, then I’m ahead of the game. I guess half a hope is better than no hope.” He handed me the set of plans. He said, “Here use this set of plans while I go write my suicide note.”

I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but I quickly gathere...