Hacker News with Generative AI: Culture

Henry James was not at home in America (newrepublic.com)
Contra Thomas Wolfe, you actually can go home again—but once you see how much it’s changed, you may want to leave just as quickly.
Literature, America, Culture, Travel
18 points by benbreen 2 days ago | 14 comments
Sarah Wynn-Williams's 'Careless People' (pluralistic.net)
Books, Art, Culture
14 points by hn_acker 3 days ago | 2 comments
The evolution of the Alpha male aesthetic (bloomberg.com)
In the mid-19th century, French poet Charles Baudelaire opined that fashion wasn’t merely ornamental, it was a mirror reflecting the spirit of the age. This continues to be true today. In certain corners of the internet, the ideal man lifts weights, tracks macros and speaks in clipped imperatives. He dresses not for comfort but for the camera, squeezing into compression gear or tightly tailored suits.
Fashion, Masculinity, Culture, Social Media
5 points by throwaway2037 3 days ago | 1 comments
Evolution of the Manosphere Alpha Male Aesthetic (bloomberg.com)
Masculinity, Culture, Social Media, Online Communities
9 points by SLHamlet 4 days ago | 2 comments
"Upgrade" has become the most frightening word in the English language (2016) (nytimes.com)
I was disappointed when the website of Oxford Dictionaries called off its search for the worst word in the English language before I got a chance to have my say.
Language, Culture, Opinion, Technology
31 points by lvnfg 5 days ago | 25 comments
Europe's Language Revolution (brusselstimes.com)
Europe, Language, Culture, Politics
6 points by yusufaytas 6 days ago | 0 comments
Slouching towards San Francisco (rachdele.substack.com)
San Francisco looms large over the American imagination. Even I succumb to its mysterious promise from time to time, but seldom for very long.
San Francisco, Culture, Opinion
95 points by greenie_beans 6 days ago | 99 comments
India's sword-wielding grandmother still going strong at 82 (bbc.com)
An 82-year-old woman who teaches the ancient Indian martial art of Kalaripayattu says she has no plans to retire.
India, Martial Arts, Elderly, Culture
10 points by fuzztester 6 days ago | 0 comments
The grit and glory of British toe wrestling (huckmag.com)
The Obsessives — Born out of a Derbyshire pub in the ’70s, the foot clenching sport has gradually built a cult following in rural England. Ginnia Cheng reported on toe wrestling’s London debut from a south Tottenham pub.
Sports, Culture, England, UK
3 points by pseudolus 7 days ago | 0 comments
The 'freaky and unpleasant' world when video games leak into the physical realm (bbc.com)
Video games are the biggest form of entertainment in the world, but sometimes they bleed into people's lives offline in surprising and disturbing ways.
Video Games, Entertainment, Technology, Society, Culture
29 points by l3x 7 days ago | 53 comments
Come with Me If You Want to Survive an Age of Extinction (nytimes.com)
Every great technological change has a destructive shadow, whose depths swallow ways of life the new order renders obsolete. But the age of digital revolution — the time of the internet and the smartphone and the incipient era of artificial intelligence — threatens an especially comprehensive cull. It’s forcing the human race into what evolutionary biologists call a “bottleneck” — a period of rapid pressure that threatens cultures, customs and peoples with extinction.
Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Culture, Extinction, Society
9 points by chucksmash 7 days ago | 2 comments
A Map of British Dialects (2023) (starkeycomics.com)
This map took me a long time to make, and is very detailed, but will always be incomplete and inaccurate due to the nature of language.
Linguistics, Maps, United Kingdom, Culture
220 points by gregorvand 7 days ago | 177 comments
The British sitcom that swept through the Balkans (2023) (samizdata.co)
If you were in Britain on Christmas Day in 1992, chances are you sat in front of the TV to watch an episode of one of the most-beloved series in the country, Only Fools and Horses.
Television, Culture, United Kingdom, Balkans
67 points by mellosouls 7 days ago | 79 comments
Sonic Heritage - the sounds of the world's most famous sights (citiesandmemory.com)
Sonic Heritage is the first collection of the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.
Audio, Travel, Culture, History
16 points by hinnisdael 8 days ago | 1 comments
Why does everything look infantilized? (assemblagenyc.substack.com)
If you’re like me, you have been bemoaning that they “just don’t make things like they used to.”
Design, Aesthetics, Nostalgia, Culture
18 points by futuraperdita 9 days ago | 7 comments
Peru's ancient irrigation systems turned deserts into farms because of culture (theconversation.com)
Seeing the north coast of Peru for the first time, you would be hard-pressed to believe it’s one of the driest deserts in the world.
Ancient History, Agriculture, Peru, Culture, Deserts
158 points by PaulHoule 9 days ago | 78 comments
Preserving Ireland's Bogs– Memory, Identity, and the Path Forward (worldsensorium.com)
Ireland’s bogs are more than landscapes; they are living archives of history, memory, and cultural identity.
Environment, History, Ireland, Culture
10 points by dnetesn 9 days ago | 0 comments
Why drinking coffee in Iran has become so complicated (adelbordbari.github.io)
It all started with a sarcastic jab in a chat: “You shouldn’t be more Catholic than the Pope. You go to order a coffee, and the guy’s like, ‘From Kenyan farms or Brazil?’ It’s like going to Italy for ghormeh sabzi, and they ask if you want the herbs from Bostanabad or Tuyserkan. Come on—just give us an espresso so we can move on with our lives :))”
Iran, Culture, Coffee, Social Commentary
137 points by imnitwit 10 days ago | 147 comments
Australian PM weighs in after Toronto café ordered to remove Vegemite (thestar.com)
Australia, Food, International News, Culture
13 points by ranit 10 days ago | 5 comments
Once banned, Poland's stately 18th century dance garners UNESCO honors (2024) (apnews.com)
Israeli defense minister says troops will remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely
Poland, UNESCO, Culture, Dance, History
69 points by danielam 11 days ago | 38 comments
The Old World Is Dead (spacedino.net)
The Old World is Dead.
Culture, Philosophy, Society
20 points by kayge 12 days ago | 1 comments
Dismay as cross-border library in US-Canada feud: 'We just want to stay open' (theguardian.com)
There is only one building in North America, probably in the world, where one can browse bestsellers and children’s books by crossing an international border and then sit for an amateur theatre troupe in a regal opera house with each half of your body in two different countries.
International Relations, Libraries, Canada, United States, Culture
59 points by beardyw 12 days ago | 14 comments
Small Towns in Japan (japanstartshere.com)
It is in the small towns in Japan, they say—well, I say—where the real Japan resides. But in a country with literally hundreds of them—small towns, this is—where do you even begin?
Travel, Japan, Culture
69 points by airstrike 12 days ago | 32 comments
The Ten 'Commandments' of Sushi. (2015) (medium.com)
My first lunch at Yajima Sushi, in Tokyo, felt more like a kidnapping.
Food, Japan, Culture
11 points by Tomte 14 days ago | 5 comments
Umberto Eco's List of the 14 Common Features of Fascism (openculture.com)
Fascism, Umberto Eco, History, Politics, Culture
38 points by treetalker 14 days ago | 5 comments
The West is bored to death (newstatesman.com)
Our nihilistic politics are a product of the crushing ennui and spiritual vacancy of modern life.
Politics, Culture, Philosophy, Modern Life
14 points by pseudolus 15 days ago | 6 comments
Yakult Lady (wikipedia.org)
A Yakult lady (ヤクルトレディー; Yakuruto redi-), also known as an Yakult auntie (ヤクルトおばさん; Yakuruto obasan),[1] is a woman who sells Yakult products as an employee or delivers the products door to door[2] to individuals at their homes.
Japan, Sales, Culture, Food, Beverages
3 points by nyodeneD 17 days ago | 2 comments
The Modern Struggle Is Fighting Weaponized Addiction (2020) (nav.al)
The modern struggle is really about individuals—disconnected from their tribe, religion and cultural networks—who are trying to stand up to all these addictions that have been weaponized: alcohol, drugs, pornography, processed foods, news media, Internet, social media and video games.
Addiction, Technology, Culture, Society
39 points by HiPHInch 18 days ago | 16 comments
Middle-aged man trading cards go viral in rural Japan town (tokyoweekender.com)
In the small town of Kawara in Fukuoka Prefecture, something unexpected is happening at the Saidosho Community Center. While kids in most parts of Japan are obsessed with Pokémon cards — or perhaps the franchise’s latest smartphone game, Pokémon TCG Pocket — the children of Kawara are clutching to something a little closer to home.
Community, Japan, Culture, Trending
1817 points by PaulHoule 19 days ago | 404 comments
Minecraft Movie: Why People Are Clapping So Much in the Theater (thedirect.com)
Now that A Minecraft Movie has made its way to theaters, audiences are heading in their droves to see Steve's live-action debut. But as they do that, some moviegoers have been surprised by the loud applause and cheers in moments that seemingly wouldn't warrant such a roaring reaction.
Movies, Video Games, Culture, Social Media
4 points by walterbell 19 days ago | 1 comments