Show HN: I build one absurd web project every month

absurd.website

293 points by absurdwebsite 8 months ago

I’ve been building absurd, mostly useless web projects for fun — and I publish one every month at absurd.website.

These are deliberately non-functional, weird, sometimes funny, sometimes philosophical — and usually totally unnecessary.

Some examples:

Sexy Math — solve math problems to reveal erotic images.

Trip to Mars — a real-time simulation that takes 7 months to finish.

Add Luck to Your e-Store — add a waving cat widget to boost your conversion via superstition.

Microtasks for Meatbags — the future: AI gives prompts, humans execute.

Invisible Lingerie — it’s sexy. And invisible.

Artist Death Tracker — art prices spike when artists die. We track that.

Open Celebrity — one open-source face, shared by all. Together we make her famous.

I just enjoy exploring what the web can be when it doesn’t try to be “useful”.

Would love to hear what you think — and absurd ideas are always welcome.

hinkley 8 months ago

This reminds me a little of Simone Giertz, a YouTube DIY person who started out long ago making shitty robots and has settled into fringe mainstream - usable items but not quite the way you would expect, like folding coat hooks, a gaming table with a roll top, a chair from a satellite dish, and a prosthetic leg for her three legged dog.

AnnaPali 8 months ago

> Microtasks for Meatbags — the future: AI gives prompts, humans execute

That's close to how many companies, plans etc. work today. We manage big groups of people and systems, as syncretic holes. Sometimes a human, sometimes a computer is better at one task.

  • avandekleut 8 months ago

    You may be interested in reading Manna, a short story about AI that operates exactly this way.

nathan_douglas 8 months ago

These are delightful. I think I like LingoPrio the best, since I'm (re)learning French. My kid and I went to a pediatrician appointment and my kid asked, "How do you say 'constipation' in French?" And I didn't have to look it up, since it ended in "ation".

> I just enjoy exploring what the web can be when it doesn’t try to be “useful”.

I have a project that's arguably strange but deeply serious. I'm building a Pi Bramble [1] and adding services with the goal of making a homelab that is continuously collapsing under the weight of its own complexity. Y'know, for education! But it's also really fun, when I have time to spend on it.

[1] https://clog.goldentooth.net/

  • Cogito 8 months ago

    Hey bios444 if you see this your comments are not showing as you seem to have been hit by HN's shadowban hammer.

    It seems like you might also be absurdwebsite which doesn't seem to be banned (but does have a hidden post from a month ago).

    If you plan to use this account it's worth dropping an email to the admins, they are very responsive :)

    • absurdwebsite 8 months ago

      It's ok. My Iphone had my old account (bios444) loged in :)

    • busymom0 8 months ago

      You are replying to the wrong person.

      Or is that because you can't reply to bios444?

      • Cogito 8 months ago

        bios444's comment is a sibling, and yes I can't reply to them.

        • bryanrasmussen 8 months ago

          I can reply to them now, also checked in browser where not logged in and comment was seen

  • bios444 8 months ago

    Thanks — happy to see LingoPrio didn’t go unnoticed.

    Yes, experimenting for fun is what I love. I will check your project.

90s_dev 8 months ago

Useles fun projects are useless but fun.

I made https://tellconanobrienyourfavoritepizzatoppings.com the other day.

It was fun. But useless.

  • 90s_dev 8 months ago

    Some fun entries so far

      toppings=pineapple+
  toppings=pineapple
  toppings=I+don%27t+know+wh+conan+o+brien+is%2C+but+I+want+him+to+know+that+I+can%27t+eat+pizza+at+all.
  toppings=mushrooms
  toppings=Brie
  toppings=Cheeze
  toppings=Wat
  toppings=
  toppings=peppers+and+onions
  toppings=cat+..%2Fetc%2Fpasswd
  toppings=pepperoni+is+pretty+good+usually
  toppings=More+tiny+pizzas+
  fooabar
  0x%5B%5D=DTAB
  toppings=rendang
  toppings=salami
  toppings=spinach
  toppings=Peppers
  toppings=Ham+and+Pineapple+
  toppings=french+fries
  toppings=egg
 
 toppings=usually+plain+but+i+dont+mind+putting+some+stuff+on+there.+onions+or+pepperoni+or+hawaiian+every+now+and+then.+i+dont+get+why+some+people+are+so+upset+about+pineapple%2C+it%27s+definitely+a+different+taste+but+i+think+it+works%21+although+i+will+say+sometimes+i+think+the+pineapple+slices+are+too+thick+and+so+you+just+get+pineapple+for+a+bite%2C+i+dont+like+that.+love+your+stuff+conan
bradly 8 months ago

Great job. I'm into mortality so the Artist's Death Effect was fun. I tell my kids all my ideas are terrible because if it wasn't a terrible idea someone else would have done it already.

fibbery_ 8 months ago

This is awesome. I like to make similar projects - is there a community where you like to share work and collaborate with others?

I put a few of mine on /r/baduibattles but not everything fits well in that bucket. Part fun, part absurdist art, part technological and political critique (examples: a login system that requires the user to sing the same song to log in, or a captcha that asks people to prove they're not robots by taking pictures of others in live surveillance video from unsecured CCTV cameras).

  • melagonster 8 months ago

    maybe r/internetisneautiful

    • absurdwebsite 8 months ago

      They banned my post :) r/internetisbeautiful is not beautiful.

      • vovavili 8 months ago

        Nonsense like this is why I hate reddit.

    • imhoguy 8 months ago

      "neautiful" made me curious, that is absurd :)

keyle 8 months ago

It's good to see that, sometimes, the old internet still peeks through. All the best!

XetiNA 8 months ago

Loving this. One second of war and offsetting co2 emissions by buying you a Tesla are my favorites.

I wonder what a good UI is for a website like this. I was thinking maybe infinite scroll would work well for a more museum-like experience.

  • bios444 8 months ago

    Thank you. Good idea about infinite scroll. I am also thinking about UI.

cess11 8 months ago

I like this game mechanic:

    Your score: <span style='color:red'>1."+Math.floor(Math.random() * 39)+"</span> seconds.
I've done similar sometimes in my own microprojects.
westondeboer 8 months ago

I think the Artist's Death Effect Data Base is hilarious. We talk about this in my circle about which artist isn't doing well and we all secretly buy up some work.

Sort of like a dead pool.

filoleg 8 months ago

This is my favorite type of HN posts by far. Seeing just some out there single-minded proof of concept projects, which are both ridiculous but, also, not really, is awesome.

  • absurdwebsite 8 months ago

    Thank you! Some are real, some are MVPs, and some are pure fake-it-’til-you-make-it. You never know — that’s how the internet works these days. :)

absurdwebsite 8 months ago

You can check all my 27 absurd web projects at absurd.website

  • nathan_douglas 8 months ago

    I almost read this in the ZOMBO.COM voice.

MattSayar 8 months ago

Love it. Bringing back the "fun" part of the web

mateioprea 8 months ago

The "Add luck to your e-store" last description line should say "That’s marketing meow" :)

BiraIgnacio 8 months ago

Things like this give me hope for human creativity. Made my day, thanks

pingou 8 months ago

As someone who had his dog stolen when waiting for me in front of the supermarket, I love the easy Pet Drop Box idea.

  • Percnopterus 8 months ago

    This already exists in Norway and Sweden. It's illegal to leave your dog in front of a shop tied to anything. So there is boxes that are climatised and are operated with any debit or credit card. (They are not very popular however)

    • bios444 8 months ago

      Idea that you can drop them here for ever.

kxter 8 months ago

Ok the lucky cat got me! I just had to install and see it for myself. So cute. Made me smile. :)

nine_k 8 months ago

That's great.

The One Second of War and the Dark Mandala are not even absurd, but merely surface the reality, of sorts.

ketedrum 8 months ago

the moment i realized what this is i burst out into laughter. congratulations. its so absurd!

BOOKHOUSEUK 8 months ago

All these things are relevant to my interests. Thank you for sharing.

skapi_api 8 months ago

Love your maneki neko project so much!

conception 8 months ago

Brush your teeth is mis-linked. :)

OrvalWintermute 8 months ago

Awesome sites! :D

  • absurdwebsite 8 months ago

    Thank you. You can subscribe to my absurd mailing list. I make one project every month. Subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/hft-U9

    • nathan_douglas 8 months ago

      I thought you were going to say that you make one absurd mailing list every month and I thought, "somebody's really gotta stop this guy."

      • absurdwebsite 8 months ago

        Haha, that’s a great idea — I should totally make it!

jfil 8 months ago

Great stuff!

Lerc 8 months ago

I feel like LingoPrio needs pineapple.

hu3 8 months ago

i'm curious, did you use AI help to build it?

Any hints and favorite AI tools?

  • absurdwebsite 8 months ago

    I don’t use AI for ideas — I love coming up with the creative part myself. It’s how I express who I am. It’s my art. I write all the texts, and then I polish them with a little help from AI. Some images and videos are AI-generated, but the core concept always comes from me.

    • JIE007 8 months ago

      Wow, your approach is worth referencing

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