I had nothing waiting to share this week, so I decided to go random. I’m pretty sure I’m glad I did.

First, Random in its respectable aspect. Sometimes you want something truly random, such as when you draw winners for a contest. Random.org, established in 1998, is my go-to site for that. But it’s more than that! It has a random password generator! You can use the site to find a random date and a random geographical location — STORY SEED, ANYONE?

Now, maybe you have some time to kill, or need to zone out. Maybe you need to engage but don’t know where to start. Try The Useless Web. One click takes you to a random and generally impractical site, like the Passive Aggressive Password Machine, or a 70s British guy playing air guitar.

One place it sent me was Sell Me Something Weird or Confusing. Trouble is, three of the first four sale pages it sent me to were for stuff I would actually buy. The yodeling pickle, not so much.

If you don’t care for that degree of random, try BuzzFeed’s list of 35 Random Corners Of The Internet You Should Visit When You Need A Break. Some really nice ones there.

A WRITING PROMPT BASED ON MY POST: Visit six of those random websites and connect what you find into a story.

MA