Klex, huh? He was well ahead of his time, even if his young tormenters misspelled "Klark".

Klex. Ha! Fun nickname. Although one wonders if one gets called "inkblot" as a child because one (a) has a wild imagination and a tendency to lie; (b) is a total klutz; or (c) has a funny birthmark.

The most popular theory: Hermann's father was a successful artist. Hermann wanted to be an artist too, but he had no talent and his efforts were derided as 'inkstains.' Eventually people started calling him Inkstain. In the end, though, Hermann's inkstains are much better known than anything his father did. It's a perfect psychoanalytic story.

I don't care for the story myself, because the moral seems to be that if you are born without talent the best thing to do is to become a psychologist.

I think there's probably something vaguely immodest about bragging about one's presents, but... aw hell. My coworkers won't understand. Maybe you guys will.

I have a Stargate Command patch!

Edited because I felt I hadn't been emphatic enough in my geeky glee. Wondering if I should put it on my backpack. Sort of like a "geek pride" sticker.

Emily, that is so cool! I totally understand your geeky joy. Who was it a present from?

And where did they get it from?

Suddenly I'm all unsure about the etiquette of the situation. Yeesh, with all the prying! But, Theo, Intergalactic Trading Co. From whom, apparently, one can acquire all kinds of patches, including Alpha Moonbase from Space 1999, Yoyodyne Propulsion, Alpha Control (from Lost in Space), Project Quantum Leap, and Federal Colonies from True Recall.

ETA: cause I now have a catalog. Which, theo, I could probably pass on. Or, hey looky here! [link]

I don't care for the story myself, because the moral seems to be that if you are born without talent the best thing to do is to become a psychologist.

Heh heh heh.

I will say, Ole Klex's inky noodlings are famous, but they're also easily replicated by Steve Gutenberg with a cup of hot soup on a napkin. So, the ideas behind them are pretty powerful (but wonderfully unscientific), but the art behind them, NSM.

I learned a couple of years ago that the Rohrschach "answer key" is a closely guarded secret, so that people can't throw their own assessments by cheating beforehand. Which -- okay, I understand if you were to cheat on the MMPI, but inkblots??

I learned a couple of years ago that the Rohrschach "answer key" is a closely guarded secret, so that people can't throw their own assessments by cheating beforehand.

That was true, but in the age of the internet there are no more secrets.

[link]

This is a big problem for good tests, because it can make them invalid. But the Rorschach is pretty much of a joke anyway, so no one cares.

Okay, that made me laugh too hard to decide what I thought the blots looked like.

Maps of Atlantis, every one.

I'm pretty sure the text on the deltabravo.com page is taken verbatim (and without credit, as far as I can tell) from William Poundstone's book Big Secrets.

Which is kind of funny, given the "copyright" language at the top of the page.