"One false step and they may not recover from the fall."

A bit severe. IMO. (We'll see)Would you sell the 1/2 interest in the MMP for 100 mill $? (No) Would TPL buy it for that? I think they might. (Partnership won't be split up IMO)

That $100 mill. plus what we have plus the settlement money due in April would give us $200,000,000 in cash, no long term debt. Not too shabby. (Cash in lieu of future MMP earnings is not what I want)

Add to that Holocom potential (I like Holocom) , we'd have ~ 52 cents a share in CASH, with a P/E of 6 that's over $3.00.

Yes we'd have to add another revenue stream, but if you looked at the above as a "fall back position" we don't look so desperate, do we? ( I hate to see what happens to this stock if the MMP derails in any way)

As far as looking at the 400 companies out there trying to get us, look in the rear view mirror and see who we have gotten, especially the J5 in Texas. ( We don't know what we got yet- the others may look small by comparison or quite good??)

And for the USPTO, that could (you said it "COULD") look a whole lot rosier with a win with the '584, that could happen any day and ARM is a huge plum on the horizon when and if it happens.

Lots of ways to look at things (I agree), some of them look very encouraging.