Show HN: I build one absurd web project every month

absurd.website

278 points by absurdwebsite 2 days 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 2 days 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 2 days 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 a day ago

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

nathan_douglas 2 days 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 2 days 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 a day ago

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

    • busymom0 a day ago

      You are replying to the wrong person.

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

      • Cogito a day ago

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

        • bryanrasmussen a day ago

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

  • bios444 2 days 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 2 days ago

Useles fun projects are useless but fun.

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

It was fun. But useless.

  • 90s_dev 2 days 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 2 days 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.

westondeboer a day 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.

XetiNA a day 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 a day ago

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

keyle 2 days ago

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

fibbery_ 2 days 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 a day ago

    maybe r/internetisneautiful

    • absurdwebsite a day ago

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

    • imhoguy a day ago

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

filoleg 2 days 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 a day 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. :)

mateioprea a day ago

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

absurdwebsite 2 days ago

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

BiraIgnacio a day ago

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

BOOKHOUSEUK 19 hours ago

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

pingou a day 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 a day 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 a day ago

      Idea that you can drop them here for ever.

MattSayar 2 days ago

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

ketedrum a day ago

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

nine_k 2 days ago

That's great.

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

jfil 12 hours ago

Great stuff!

conception a day ago

Brush your teeth is mis-linked. :)

cess11 a day 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.
Lerc 2 days ago

I feel like LingoPrio needs pineapple.

OrvalWintermute 2 days ago

Awesome sites! :D

  • absurdwebsite 2 days 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 2 days 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 2 days ago

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

hu3 2 days ago

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

Any hints and favorite AI tools?

  • absurdwebsite 2 days 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 a day ago

      Wow, your approach is worth referencing