The hottest Community Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Culture Topics

Listen

Silentium • 159 implied HN points • 02 Nov 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Community
  1. Listening carefully helps you understand what is truly around you. When you really listen, you might discover new insights.
  2. Silence can be a powerful tool for reflection and understanding. Taking time to be silent allows us to connect with our thoughts and feelings.
  3. Joining a community for shared silence can enhance the experience. Being together in silence can create a supportive environment for everyone.

Bring back the Based Old Halloween Ways

Blackbird Spyplane • 1079 implied HN points • 31 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Halloween used to be all about creativity, like making your own costumes with your family. Nowadays, it's more about buying cheap, mass-produced outfits from big stores.
  2. Trick-or-treating has become limited to specific areas, which takes away the fun of exploring neighborhoods and meeting neighbors.
  3. There's a push to return to the good old days of Halloween, where unique, homemade costumes and engaging with the community are the main focus.

Marilyn (Molly) Marcus, 1942-2026

Marcus on AI • 25057 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Practice deep empathy: assume people are fundamentally similar, pay attention to their struggles, and treat them with kindness.
  2. Pay attention to the whole world and to people from all backgrounds—notice who is present, fight for social justice, and believe that every life matters.
  3. Prioritize relationships and steady, quiet support over wealth. Write for yourself to process and share stories, and stand by people without judgment.

Introducing: Whoa, Vol. 1

The Sublime Newsletter • 257 implied HN points • 31 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. In a world full of quick and superficial content, people crave deep conversations that feel real and meaningful.
  2. The project 'Whoa, Vol. 1' features a collection of interesting talks with various creatives and thinkers, focusing on human experiences and challenges.
  3. It highlights the importance of honesty and vulnerability in discussions, aiming to inspire and connect readers in a genuine way.

Underrated ways to change the world, vol. II

Experimental History • 54567 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Pick useful, unglamorous problems and solve them — small, practical fixes (like pricing parking or improving a statistic) often help more people than chasing grand gestures.
  2. Be the person who shows up: being a present neighbor, a good audience, or an attentive organizer creates social bonds and can prevent harm in everyday life.
  3. Do steady, honest work to make systems better — honest brokers, bureaucracy-fixers, and people willing to take modest risks often multiply their impact far more than lone heroic acts.
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Dear Pastors

Erick Erickson's Confessions of a Political Junkie • 3816 implied HN points • 22 Oct 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Community
  1. Pastors should focus on their local congregations and their real needs rather than seeking attention on social media. The people in their communities need spiritual guidance more than viral posts.
  2. It's important for pastors to lead people toward Jesus instead of political idols. Encouraging love and prayer for neighbors and leaders can help foster unity rather than division in challenging times.
  3. While voting is a civic duty, true hope and redemption come from faith in Jesus, not political outcomes. The Kingdom of God is everlasting, and that's what should matter most to Christians.

Open Thread 425

Astral Codex Ten • 3510 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. A forecasting-contest winner revealed themself as a Bayesian-focused statistics PhD who is looking for an academic job and is asking people to participate in prediction markets about an upcoming Italian referendum.
  2. Readers uncovered that a proposed constitutional amendment contained a typo that reversed its meaning, and someone found evidence an extra state may have ratified another amendment in 1790, creating a legal puzzle about whether and how such an amendment could be considered in force.
  3. A company called Nectome is offering nanoscale, room-temperature-stable whole-body preservation and is running a $100,000-per-body pre-sale promising future revival possibilities.

My Cousin Ron

Life Since the Baby Boom • 2536 implied HN points • 11 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. He was a warm, reliable family man who was loved and trusted by relatives and neighbors.
  2. He built a successful accounting practice in Wickenburg and became deeply involved in civic life and local organizations.
  3. As mayor he pushed practical, sometimes controversial solutions to fund town services, worked across party lines to get help, and faced strong political opposition.

Spring Meetups Everywhere 2026 - Call For Organizers

Astral Codex Ten • 4886 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Sign up by March 26 using the organizer form if you want to run your city’s ACX meetup; the list of meetups will be posted on the blog around March 27 so people can find your event.
  2. Organizing is simple: pick a date/time/place (any day April 1–May 31; mid-April or early May is best), show up with a sign, and you don’t need to run structured activities unless you want to.
  3. Turnout varies from zero to over a hundred, so plan accordingly; small expenses like nametags, food, and drinks can be reimbursed, and you’re not committing to run meetups forever — you can recruit or hand off the role.

"Predictive History" and the Second Coming

What's Important? • 20 implied HN points • 27 Mar 26
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Community
  1. Conspiracy-style doom stories might grab attention but usually lower your agency; ask whether an idea actually increases your consciousness or capacity to act before you invest energy in it.
  2. Building communities that balance material and spiritual values—combining left-brain analysis with right-brain intuition—can reduce unnecessary suffering and help people co-create a better future.
  3. People with resources and influence should freely share wisdom and form networks that empower free will instead of manipulating attention, and act generously and promptly to support that shift.

The alms round

Silentium • 59 implied HN points • 01 Nov 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Community
  1. The writer is asking for support to help cover the costs of running their work, including internet and equipment, as they prepare to move to a new location.
  2. They have experienced unexpected financial strains due to the relocation and the need for a new internet setup, among other things.
  3. The writer encourages readers to consider supporting their work through subscriptions, donations, or participating in their courses, emphasizing that even small contributions are appreciated.

SITREP - 10/27/2024

THREE SEVEN MAFIA • 619 implied HN points • 27 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. The recent visit to the Confederate Mound was a big success with great weather and positive vibes.
  2. The writer is dealing with rheumatoid disease, which sometimes affects their ability to work, but they appreciate everyone's understanding.
  3. There are plans to share updates and content soon after returning from a trip to Portland, including a Halloween celebration.

Why Continue After Five Years?

Animation Obsessive • 6458 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
🎨 Art & Illustration Community
  1. They’re celebrating a five‑year anniversary for their animation newsletter, marking a big milestone in the project’s life.
  2. The project began as a Twitter account about animation and evolved into a full publication run by co-runners.
  3. The newsletter uses a paid subscription model with a seven‑day free trial and gated archives for paid readers.

The Awe of Sondering

Polymathic Being • 58 implied HN points • 22 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Every person you pass has a vivid, complex life full of stories, struggles, and dreams, and seeing that sparks humility and awe.
  2. We’re more connected than we think — social networks and the idea of six degrees show how quickly perceived differences can collapse into shared relationships.
  3. Small, temporary interactions like a nod, a joke, or a short conversation can bridge separate worlds, offer help, and create meaningful connections.

Photos From New York City's Halloween Dog Parade

In the Flash • 1378 implied HN points • 21 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. The Tompkins Halloween Dog Parade has been a fun event for 34 years, bringing together pet owners and dog lovers to show off their furry friends in costumes.
  2. Taking photos of the parade can be challenging because cute dogs often lead to predictable pictures, so it's important to think creatively about how to capture interesting shots.
  3. Photographing from a dog's perspective can create unique images, helping to show the event from a different angle and vibe.

On What Makes a Good Writer with Kevin Wilson

The Sub Club Newsletter • 1110 implied HN points • 22 Oct 24
📚 Literature Community
  1. Finding a supportive community can really help a writer feel like their work matters. Connecting with others can make the writing journey feel a lot less lonely.
  2. Writing is both a personal and technical craft. It's important to enjoy the process and be open to learning, rather than getting too caught up in formal success markers.
  3. Art should be valued beyond just monetary success. Writers can thrive by focusing on what they love to create, regardless of whether they achieve fame or fortune.

What's new in Svelte: November 2024

The (Unofficial) Svelte JS Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 01 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Community
  1. Svelte 5 has been released with new features making coding easier. This includes helpful additions like snippets for filling slots and new DOM properties.
  2. The Svelte community is active with a hackathon called SvelteHack 2024, encouraging developers to create new projects for prizes.
  3. There are many new libraries and tools for Svelte that help build apps more effectively. These resources can boost efficiency and creativity in projects.

25 Ways to Destroy a Community

The Honest Broker • 12633 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Break family ties and discourage marriage and children so people lose deep personal connections and long-term support.
  2. Discourage dating, sex, and intimacy and encourage hostility between men and women so close relationships become rare and strained.
  3. The result is a closed, isolated, and helpless population that's easier to control, and powerful actors may be promoting these trends.

The Government Will Not Save You

Erick Erickson's Confessions of a Political Junkie • 3736 implied HN points • 04 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Community
  1. The government isn't always quick to respond in crises, so relying solely on them may not be the best choice. Local communities often step in to offer help before any federal aid arrives.
  2. FEMA and other federal agencies aren't usually first responders during disasters. Regular people and local organizations often provide the most effective assistance when things get tough.
  3. It's important to trust your community and neighbors during hard times. They are the ones who will offer real support, rather than waiting for government help.

What Holds America Together?

Chris Arnade Walks the World • 3306 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Place, family, faith, and local culture give many people deep, non-credentialed meaning and dignity, so folks often stay in declining towns simply because it’s home.
  2. A shared “thick” culture—summed up by the American Dream/Careerist Christianity—holds diverse regional lifestyles together by promising upward mobility through decent work and fair rules.
  3. The educational and economic split between the elite ‘front-row’ and the rest threatens that shared belief, but areas like the Midwest show recovery is possible with affordable housing, respected blue-collar jobs, and strong local communities.

What I learned writing 100 essays

Castles in the Sky • 52 implied HN points • 17 Mar 26
📚 Literature Community
  1. Keep making and sharing work even if it feels silly or small; doing it consistently changes you and can lead to real, surprising impact.
  2. A small, engaged audience can matter a lot; people will share personal stories and be genuinely affected by your writing.
  3. Personal, low‑tech gestures and thoughtful follow‑up—like handwritten notes and sincere replies—build deeper connections than impersonal, automated approaches, so act like your project matters.

We know too much about each other

Random Minds by Katherine Brodsky • 117 implied HN points • 20 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. We mostly see snippets of people's opinions online, so we reduce them to labels or avatars and misunderstand who they really are.
  2. Growing social connectivity plus people clustering with like-minded others drives sharp polarization, and once it crosses a threshold it becomes very hard to reverse.
  3. The antidote is more real-life presence and curiosity—spending time together and asking people to explain themselves lets us see the whole person instead of judging a single post.

Office Hours—register for March sessions

The Novelleist • 119 implied HN points • 07 Mar 26
🚌 Education Community
  1. Office hours are scheduled for March at Fridays 9am Singapore Time, which is Thursday evenings in the U.S. (5pm PT / 6pm MT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET).
  2. Come prepared to discuss the utopian cities series, Network School experiences, or any other topic you’ve been thinking about.
  3. Joining requires a paid subscription, so use the provided links to subscribe or sign in to sign up for the sessions.

One Hundred Laps

Passing Time • 234 implied HN points • 11 Mar 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Doing Freeway on the Second Flatiron a hundred times turns the route into muscle memory. Climbs become focused, practiced movements where every foothold and crack feels familiar.
  2. The Flatirons and Chautauqua trail are a social hub that mixes students, tourists, serious athletes, climbers, and families. That variety makes the place feel like a shared public living room where casual outings and intense efforts coexist.
  3. When snow makes scrambling off-limits the rocks become a quiet, sublime scene that invites pausing and awe. That seasonal beauty brings contentment and a steady eagerness to return for more laps when the conditions change.

ICYMI: Trans thought experiments

gender:hacked by Eliza Mondegreen • 1170 implied HN points • 07 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Thought experiments can help people think about their gender identity, like imagining a magical button that changes your sex. If you'd push that button, it might mean you feel trans.
  2. Imagining transformation doesn't change real-life limits and challenges of transitioning. It can be more complex than just wishing for change.
  3. The journey of transformation can have unexpected outcomes. It's not just about the physical changes, but also dealing with inner feelings and realities.

Open Thread: What Would You Teach Everyone?

Everything Is Amazing • 705 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🚌 Education Community
  1. People from many different careers and life paths bring a huge range of expertise and perspective.
  2. That collective knowledge can surprise, delight, and teach others in ways a single person can't imagine.
  3. Asking everyone what they'd teach opens a simple, powerful way to share practical lessons and spread useful wisdom. It turns a community into a place where readers become teachers.

ACX Classifieds 1/26

Astral Codex Ten • 3785 implied HN points • 29 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. This is an irregular classifieds thread where people can advertise things in the comments.
  2. Keep replies under the right top-level category (Employment, Dating, Read My Blog, Consume My Product/Service, Meetup, Other) and don’t add new top-level comments or they’ll be deleted.
  3. Be respectful especially when responding to dating posts, and consider the linked resources like the EA job board, internships, and meetup finder for related needs.

Scrolling Alone

After Babel • 2979 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Over many decades, gains in comfort and convenience — like suburbs, cars, TVs, and household gadgets — made life easier but quietly eroded everyday, place-based social ties and trust.
  2. The internet, smartphones, and changing work patterns have sped up that trend by letting people shop, work, and socialize from home, increasing time alone and making face-to-face interaction more optional.
  3. Rebuilding community won’t happen automatically; it requires intentional cultural change and effort to create new rituals and institutions, unplug sometimes, and choose in-person connection over convenience.

Help me figure out what to do with Read Max

Read Max • 737 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. A short reader survey is being circulated and readers are asked to fill it out to help shape the newsletter.
  2. The newsletter began in 2021 and has grown into a full-time project, so it's entering a long-term phase.
  3. The goal is to use reader feedback to figure out what's working, what isn't, and what new features or changes to add.

How I rebooted my social life

Odds and Ends of History • 5360 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Community
  1. People need community: even a comfortable, independent life can feel isolating without regular in-person connections.
  2. Community can be built: organizing recurring, low-pressure meetups around a shared connection and an easy way for new people to join creates a ready-made social network.
  3. Simple, consistent effort works: routinely inviting people to casual events solves coordination and relationship decay and quickly renews social energy.

Little Echo

Don't Worry About the Vase • 7437 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Community
  1. Even though the future with advanced AI looks grim and the odds feel against us, it's important to hold a defiant belief that we can still win. That belief fuels continued effort.
  2. You can fully love life and its everyday joys while still dedicating yourself to hard, urgent work to influence the outcome. Both living well and fighting for the future are worth doing at once.
  3. Persisting means doing the messy daily work: triaging, arguing, changing your mind, and moving pieces where you can, even when overwhelmed. Shared rituals and communities help sustain courage and focus.

Is it Really So Much Better Now?

Chris Arnade Walks the World • 1939 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Technology has made many things safer, cheaper, and more convenient, but when systems break down the loss of direct human connection turns processes into frustrating, impersonal experiences.
  2. Relying on efficiency and automation in places like healthcare, travel, and end-of-life care strips away the nuanced, comforting human interaction that machines can’t replicate.
  3. Widespread food delivery in the U.S. is partly a response to cultural and zoning choices that limit nearby affordable dining options, so people pay for convenience even when cooking might be cheaper or healthier.

I've built a city, now it needs residents!

polymathematics • 153 HN points • 27 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Community
  1. Greenwich is a new app that creates a secret network of links on the internet. It lets users find and share interesting webpages with each other like hidden subway stations.
  2. Anyone can join as a resident of Greenwich and help contribute links to webpages. This means that users can see others' suggestions and discover related content more easily.
  3. The idea is to make the internet feel more alive and connected, allowing people to share interesting recommendations instead of relying on algorithms like on social media.

Happy Anniversary!

Steady • 32155 implied HN points • 20 Jan 24
📰 News Community
  1. Dan Rather and Team Steady are celebrating their anniversary on Jan 20, 2024.
  2. The Steady community's support, guidance, and friendship have been crucial to their success.
  3. Dan Rather expresses gratitude and dedication to the readers for their continued support.

SITREP - 10/7/2024

THREE SEVEN MAFIA • 479 implied HN points • 07 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. The author is traveling to Portland for a tour starting on November 2, 2024, and is thankful for the support received so far.
  2. They are close to reaching their fundraising goal but are still $200 short and offer different ways for people to contribute.
  3. The author is working on learning video content creation for a documentary, and if not successful, will use the funds for publishing their manuscripts.

Three Ways to Change Your World. Right Now.

What's Important? • 42 implied HN points • 21 Mar 26
💼 Business Community
  1. A growing Network of Networks connects aligned communities. It lets people plug into cooperative, positive-sum groups that help them find purpose, integrate experiences, and share resources.
  2. A Leading Edge network is about 150 high-agency members who balance tensions like individual vs collective, material vs spiritual, intellectual vs experiential, ordered vs chaotic, and digital vs physical. That mix of structure, practices, and peer support helps members deepen their work and lives.
  3. Training and funding steward schools to teach network leaders is a high-leverage way to scale this movement. A few trained stewards can quickly create many connected 150-person communities and generate large systemic change.

How The Free Press Found Me a Husband

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 904 implied HN points • 13 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. A 29-year-old in Tel Aviv was fed up with dating apps, setups, and feeling uncertain about the future of their love life.
  2. Free Press Cupid is back and inviting short write-ups at [email protected] for people who think the community could help them find a match.
  3. The full story is behind a sign-in/subscription paywall and the piece includes AI-generated audio narration.

The unexpected luxury of my local library

Jeff Giesea • 678 implied HN points • 01 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. Local libraries can be really nice places to relax and read, with comfy seating and a peaceful atmosphere. If you haven't been to your library in a while, it's worth checking out!
  2. Libraries are better than coffee shops for working or studying because they are quiet and free. You can enjoy a calm space without having to buy overpriced drinks.
  3. Getting a library card can save you a lot of money. You can borrow books for free and explore new titles without spending anything.

$89 Lifetime Lunduke Journal Subscriptions all January!

The Lunduke Journal of Technology • 2297 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Community
  1. A limited-time sale offers lifetime subscriptions for $89 when paid with Bitcoin or $99 via other platforms, a big discount from the regular $300 price, valid through January 31, 2026.
  2. Monthly and yearly plans are half off during the sale,-priced at $3 per month or $27 per year.
  3. Subscriptions include perks like forum access, DRM-free video downloads, and ebooks, and can be purchased via Substack, Locals, or Bitcoin (Bitcoin payments are cheaper due to lower fees).

SITREP (CONT.) 'WEEN/PORTLAND/FUNDRAISER/FRESH CONTENT

THREE SEVEN MAFIA • 599 implied HN points • 02 Oct 24
🎭️ Culture Community
  1. The fundraiser is almost complete, with just $200 needed to reach the goal. Donations can be made through Cash App, Venmo, or Zelle.
  2. The writer will be traveling to Portland on Halloween, so they won't be in Chicago to meet people. There will be a cemetery walk to honor the fallen on October 26.
  3. A friend is moving to Chicago and will collaborate on content, making the project more dynamic and exciting.