Who Used To Own It? West Indies Edition - Round Two
Round One Answers
1) Barbados - Great Britain
2) Suriname - The Netherlands
3) Jamaica - Great Britain
4) Haiti - France
5) Dominican Republic - Spain
6) Dominica - Great Britain
7) Puerto Rico - Spain

Round One Scoring
Skeeter 7/7 = 100%
The Watergirl 6/7 = 86%
Dr. Hee Haw 5/7 = 71%
The Guy 3/7 = 43%
K. Steeze 3/7 = 43%

Great Caesar's ghost, the first perfect score in the brief but illustrious history of Who used To Own It?! Congratulations, Skeeter! I am humbled by your vast knowledge and invigorated by the challenge is poses. And well done to you all, many of you far more comfortable in the warm, familiar waters of the Caribbean Sea than in the fabled jungles of the dark continent. Thank you all for playing, for answering the clarion call of Thursday's now famous Direct Hyperlink, but most especially my thanks to The watergirl, the only soul to brave the queries before the Direct Hyperlink. Brass balls, Katie, brass balls.

Also, Dominica was labeled "Tricky" because France nominally owned the island before ceding it to Great Britain at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War (the French and Indian War), though there was never an accompanying French colonial presence. Half a point would have been awarded for an answer of France.

Round Two
And now, emboldened by your collective triumph, I bid you test your mettle against... Round Two! Have fun, I hope you learn something (though if Round One is any indication you already know everything), and thank you so very much for playing. Good luck!

1) Antigua and Barbuda

2) Belize

3) Cuba

4) Guyana

5) Saint Kitts and Nevis

6) Brazil

Tricky
7) Trinidad and Tobago

The Quality of Mercy
In the Fall, I was picking up a few groceries at my mother's request when I was approached by a man who handed me a bright orange card. The card read:

Hello!

I AM A DEAF PERSON

I am selling this
Deaf Education System
card to make my living.

WILL YOU KINDLY BUY ONE?

PAY ANY PRICE YOU WISH!

THANK YOU

The back of the card sported simple illustrations of the American Single-Hand Manual Alphabet for the Deaf and the caption, "Hand alphabet used by the Deaf throughout the world. Easy to learn."

I had in my wallet fourteen dollars, four singles and a ten. I paused for a moment, thinking not really on a conscious level, and handed the man the the folded dollar bills. He pressed his palms together and if in prayer and bowed his head in thanks before moving along. Why, why in the name of all that's holy didn't I give him the ten? By tiny inches now and again this has been eating me alive. I am poor, but not so poor that I couldn't spare ten dollars for someone clearly in greater need than myself. What did I have to buy that was so important six measly bucks made all the difference?

I have been to confession and partaken of the Sacrament of Reconciliation twice in the past six weeks, but prior to that I had not been in three years, since just before Easter in '05. At that time, Father Bill, since revealed as a drunkard and dismissed from his pastoral duties, seemed disinterested in my sins, possibly because though they encompassed the deadly sins of gluttony, sloth, envy, wrath, lust, and pride, they were commonplace, everyday sins. Not murder most foul, no rape or pilferage in the offing, just the sins of a weak man striving and failing to achieve the Christian ideal. Before he gave me absolution, he suggested that perhaps I was being too hard on myself for relatively minor sins. Of course, Father Bill was a squooshy, hazy, feel good type of priest, seemingly none too concerned with the grave difference between venial and mortal sins, but I believe he was right about me, at least to some degree.

The dark bastard scoffs each and every time I ask for God's mercy, I pray that God forgives me, because I know I'll never forgive myself. I brush off a great many mistakes and missteps, some perhaps too quickly, but others, like the incident with the deaf gentleman, haunt me. Any sin I might have committed has since been absolved through the blessed Sacrament, but still some small corner of my mind dwells upon the occasion. But it's not like I didn't give him anything, another corner protests, I gave him almost 30%, almost a third of what I had on me! But no matter what I do, I simply refuse to be pleased with myself, I always find my efforts wanting. I could have done more. I could have given him ten dollars instead of four. I should have. I could have done more. I am simply incapable of taking to heart the words of the Bard:

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."
--Wm. Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

(Reminiscent of the Book of Job, The Merchant of Venice is the most challenging of Shakespeare's plays, at least of those with which I am familiar.)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Barenaked Ladies, "Rule the World With Love" from Barenaked Ladies Are Me (T.L.A.M.)