Yes, they will, indeed, grant a patent to just about any self-styled inventor. Even me.

The funny thing is, nobody ever told me that this thing was granted. I knew when it had been applied for (I'd helped draft and edit the non-legaleese part of the application, and later I received an attractive little cube to commemorate its being filed), but not that it had been granted. I found it as an incidentally while looking for something else.

Well, then. I guess now I should go search the Nobel Prize website, just in case....