[xekul]

For cultural rather than technical news, with an intelligent and vibrant community, Metafilter:

http://www.metafilter.com

[georgieporgie]

Another vote for Metafilter. It seems to be entirely populated with quirky, positive people. It's like the anti-Reddit.

HN is just about perfect for my technical news, since other sites become a rabbit hole of useless tech consumption.