At this point, the crown has a bishopy feel to it, which was not my conscious intention. I just like the lines.

In September, I visited the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland. I had just given a paper at a naturalized epistemology conference (where people talked about how to explain knowledge from a scientific point of view, i.e. from a non-religious/metaphysical point of view). But my naturalism didn't stop me from being blown away by the Medieval section in the Warsaw museum. In fact, it has to be one of the best collections of wood sculpture that I’ve ever seen. Two pieces are particularly striking, one that I like to call the "Hairless Christ" (its actual name is "Christ in Distress"), c. 1500, and the other is a Pieta c. 1370. Both are remarkably contemporary figures, covered in carved blood droplets. In fact "Christ in Distress" looks suspiciously like Rodin's Thinker--I wonder if he saw it?  And lots of Kings, Queens and brightly-colored underlings. This kind of aesthetic experience sticks with me, and probably is behind some of the look of my King.

After attending a philosophy conference at Oxford in October, I went to the National Portrait Gallery in London. Another visual feast, but two dimensional. I saw lots of medallion necklaces, jewelry and attitude.