trivia

The BBC has a fascinating news item about sunken treasure found near Sumatra. (Seehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7675866.stm ) About 1,200 years ago, the Chinese were already mass producing china for export. But the two bits that got me: the blue dye used for blue and white china originally came from Iran, and the dhow was probably headed for the port of Samara, which is called Basra today. So the good Samaritan in the…