Who Used To Own It? East Indies Edition - Round Two
Individualized scoring may be found in the commenting section of this post. My thanks to all who played and my compliments on your audacity! Good on you.

Round Two Answers
1) Korea - Japan
2) Sri Lanka - Portugal, The Netherlands, & Great Britain
3) Cambodia - France
4) Brunei - Great Britain
5) Taiwan - Spain, The Netherlands, China, & Japan
6) India - Portugal, The Netherlands, France, & Great Britain
7) Papua New Guinea - Germany, Great Britain, & Australia

Round Two Scoring
The Guy 7:7 = 100%
Skeeter 6:7 = 86%
C. 3 1/2:7 = 50%
Dr. Hee Haw 3:7 = 43%

The scoring for this round was the most complex in the history of "Who Used To Own It?" and, as always, in the end it came down to judgment calls by yours truly. I awarded a standard point for Great Britain as the suzerain of India, and added a half-point for each additional colonizing country. All four players, to whom I am one and all grateful, correctly identified Great Britain, but only The Guy took the additional step of naming The Netherlands. (Though I was tempted to subtract half a point because he called The Netherlands the "first," when in fact the Portuguese arrived ahead of the Dutch.) Additionally, though Great Britain was a correct answer for Papua New Guinea, I awarded it only half a point because I was more interested in the more exotic answers of Germany and Australia. Cry foul if you wish, but I am confident the "Tricky" label shields me from any charge of capriciousness. Had a full point been awarded for Great Britain as a suzerain of Papua New Guinea, C.'s score would have been 4 of 7, or 57%, and Skeeter's would have been 6 1/2 of 7, or 93%.

As a last point on scoring, I substituted The Netherlands, a nation-state, for territories that were in many cases actual possessions of the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.), and never formally the Dutch state (in its many different forms). This was done for simplicity's sake, and reasonable as the V.O.C. was chartered by the Dutch parliament. Similarly, Britain's conquest of the Indian Subcontinent was pioneered by the Honourable East India Company, a chartered company not dissimilar from the V.O.C., and direct rule by the British government only came about after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857-58. I awarded Skeeter a bonus half-point for her mention of the British East India Company.

I thank you all for your participation over the seven games of "Who Used To Own It?" I had a whale of a time, and 'tis my hope that we've all, myself most especially, learned a good deal more about the history of colonialism, and what this teaches us about both the colonized and the colonizers. I have clutch of ideas for other quizzes and your feedback would be most warmly greeted. Is this the sort of thing of which you'd like to see more at The Secret Base? Less? And bear in mind my general boorishness, good people. For me to solicit your opinions in this way is rare indeed.

The world is full of both woe and wonder, and in the wonder there is often much woe and in the woe much wonder. I do not deny the woe, but I prefer to ponder the wonder. "The world is just awesome."

Science!
Phoenix lander was never intended to survive a winter in the Martian polar north, and now 'tis but a matter of time until the end: Winterlink. Thank you for your service, friendly robot minion, your human masters are proud of you.

Science!

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Fountains of Wayne, "I'll Do the Driving" from Out-of-State Plates, Disc 1 (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Nothing exasperating happened today, I didn't have a run in with a particularly dimwitted girl or anything, but from the time I woke up I knew "I'll Do the Driving" was the Song of the Day.

"She knows nothin' at all about nothing,
The moment I saw her was something
That I found alarming,
That certain nothing behind her eyes."