Wikipedia is my modern and globalized version of CliffsNotes. I only deep dive into sources and research if I happen upon a subject incredibly interesting to me (my "fun" reading) or might help me get ahead with one of my projects (my "work" reading).

As for HN, this site provides more of the guilty pleasure of looking inside the tech bubble than actually being an incredible source of information. So to me it lies somewhere between the national news and Wikipedia.