I didn't mean to pick on you, that was not my intent. But what I stated is my understanding re: what consitutes prior art - it has to have been put in the public domain is some form. I'm open to correction on this...

As for having dealt with the "real world", yep, I've been there too much, and grew to hate it. I'm too much of a logical thinker, so when internal politics or other such BS (e.g., stupidity) came into play, I was at a total loss. I couldn't find a "balance". It's like when our newly installed CEO put up a poster in his office that said, in big bold print, "Chaos is Good!", I could hardly contain myself (but did). I was the manager of Contracts Compliance and Support in the areospace/defense industry. Sometimes it seemed top management went out of their way to make my job tougher.... Can you imagine the message that poster sent to visiting Admirals/Generals? Not to mention on-site Gov't auditing agencies (DCAA/DCMC). Nightmares!

SGE