XKCD is hit or miss. But when he hits, he hits hard. If you haven't checked him out, it's worth a look. And if something seems off in one of his strips, check out http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Personally I don't think it will crumble. I think either 1 or 2 big players (Insteon being one) will stick around and the rest will slowly fade away or be purchased by the big players. Or all the little guys will have to adopt to one standard and be compatible with each other to compete against the big ones.

Yes! This is one point I forgot to mention. When I had my misfit shine I always put it in my coin pocket of my jeans. I felt that this gave me a more accurate count of my actual steps and not arm movement. Now that I have the pebble, I think it'll often count things like typing on the keyboard which is not cool.

Also, when playing soccer I preferred to slip the misfit into my sock/shoe, whereas I can't wear the watch while playing.

So I guess I more meant the wrist based fitbits will either converge into a smartwatch (which they already are leaning towards), or people will choose a smartwatch that does step counts.

This is why, I believe, the only fitness trackers that will succeed are ones that are integrated into something else useful. Like a watch. The watch I wear was only $200 (now only $100) and it is a smartwatch that uses epaper so the battery lasts 5+ days, and has popular fitness tracking software as an app. My watch is useful for many things, including the fitness tracking, which is why I will keep wearing it.

Why buy a $100 fitness-tracker only, when you can buy a $100 smart-watch with fitness built in.

Sure some forms of the former are better desired by some members of society than others, but they don't signify a deep history and continuing struggle for equality in a large social structure of power, where certain groups have always landed on the subversive. There isn't a culture of oppression around baldness. There isn't a history of oppression for bald people. So using insults pertaining to baldness is in no way, shape or form the same as using gender or racial slurs.

This is a good way of wording this. It often seems hypocritical for women to be offended by a man calling her a cunt or bitch when she can call him a dick. But the fact is, women have had a very recent history of being oppressed (and still are). The same goes for calling a black person a nigger and a black person calling a white person a honky or cracker. Black people have a recent history of oppression (and still are), so it means a lot more.

So, bring up another subject from reddit, how does calling someone fat fit in to this? Does it depend on the circumstances? Where do these slurs fit on the scale? Have obese people been oppressed?

Thanks for the opportunity to explore this topic!

Edit: I'd be remiss not to link Louis C.K.'s take on offensive words (NSFW language).

It also doesn't show your text/discussion submissions.

This is one of the concerns I have about the multiple-posting ability. If each tribe will have its own rules, they will probably be violated quite easily when people are cross posting. It might be helpful if, when selecting a tribe, for the rules to be available for easy viewing.