---
title: "Curiosities"
emoji: 🧠
draft: false
---

I'm a thoroughly [miriscient](https://www.miriscient.org) chap, and this often ends up in me creating toys, trinkets, projects and other artistic things. I've listed some out below.

<style>li a { margin-left: 0.2em; }</style>

## Words and writing

* I created a word to fill a hole in the vocabulary I had to describe my _miriscient_ friends. Read or listen to 📖[the story right here](/posts/miriscience).
* During the pandemic I built 🐌[slow.fyi](https://slow.fyi) so I could write to friends old and new without pressuring them to reply or be rude.
* I published a book, 📔[A lighter side of Africa](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lighter-Side-Africa-Paintings-Michael/dp/0993324908/), with my brother and Dad which showcases the artwork of a now sadly deceased Zimbabwean family friend, Michael J. Allard.

## Art and Creativity

* As I travel I like to take 30 second video clips of the peaceful places. I visit the 🧘‍♂️[site I made for them](http://30s.byjp.me/) when I want to relax for a moment.
* My friend created a beautiful alphabet, I turned it into a font and 👨‍🎤[performance microsite](https://caspian.byjp.me). Read or listen to 📖[the story right here](/posts/the-beauty-of-type).
* I once studied biomedical physics, so when I had an MRI of my head I jumped at the opportunity to extract a 3D model of my brain and 🧠[render it in WebGL online](https://brain.byjp.me/).
* I built a clockface that counts 🕰[the seconds since I was born](https://tictoc.byjp.me/). In binary.
* I helped by friend learn about website infrastructure by building a microsite of her favourite moment in film… 🐶[wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?](https://wannahearthemostannoyingsoundintheworld.byjp.me).
* Maybe you'll like this little guy 🐙[called tako](https://tako.byjp.me).

## Postcards

* I write short fiction on postcards my Grandmother collected as she travelled Europe. You can 📮[read them on their site](http://lucy.byjp.me/) or 🌍[as an artsy animated thingie](http://lucy.byjp.me/globe#diving), if you're in a fancy browser.
* My friend likes telling me to 🤫[shut up by post](https://www.instagram.com/p/BqZR3qjAkMC/). If I need it I have a 😏[speedier retort to hand](http://shutupclaire.byjp.me/).
* I once left 15 self-addressed postcards dotted around London, suggesting that people doodle on them and send them back. 🐪[Only one returned](http://postcarddoodles.byjp.me/), but I like that I'll never know who sent it to me, or drew it.
* In 2013 I tried to send a postcard every day for the whole year. I sent about 200, and 📫[uploaded 92 of them](http://postcards.byjp.me/) to an odd site that never really knew what it was.
* Have you noticed that I really like postcards? See some favourites on 📸[postcards.jpg](https://instagram.com/postcards.jpg).

---

If you enjoyed any of these, why not tell me about it in an email — I have a [standing invitation](/standing-invitation).
