4,523 karma · joined February 16, 2008
XMPP continues to advance, so could be considered modern if you use the latest versions.
Matrix is more of an event sync protocol, consisting of a server to server sync protocol and a client to server protocol (sort of like email). It is mostly used for chat, but appears to be more flexible. Matrix uses JSON and HTTP.
XMPP is focused on chatmessages. In many ways XMPP and Matrix are similar. XMPP is based on XML and originally used TCP as the transport protocol, but has been extended to use HTTP now as well.
EDIT: I think a clearer way to describe the basic difference is that Matrix syncs Matrix Events across servers, whereas XMPP facilitates exchanging messages with clients. Most folks use the protocols to exchange chat messages. It is the way this is accomplished by the corresponding servers that differs significantly.
Is China really an "enemy" and if so, to what degree compared to other nations?
Skimming that and other sources, I could not confirm the assertion that no net money was spent bailing out depositors. If that was the case, then the FDIC wouldn't need to replenish their insurance fund.
Perhaps a followup article will go into detail about their replacement.
The 30 year treasuries are still doing just fine, in accordance to the terms of the treasury when it was bought.
But few transit advocates are saying that we have to 100% eliminate all personal vehicles. They will remain an important part of the overall transportation infrastructure for the foreseeable future.
It would also be folly to advocate for eliminating all rural living. There are many necessary activities that take place in rural communities, such as agricultural production, that will remain critical to society.
The thing that I see most transit advocates targeting is excessive suburban sprawl, communities that aren't really countryside, but also aren't dense enough to be urban. They sprawl on and on for miles, with nothing to distinguish them, often simply the same tract home design repeated with only minor differences over and over and over. I am sure there are some folks that prefer these communities, but I also think that many residents would prefer wither moving into a less dense rural setting or a more dense urban setting, and many of those left that like the density would still prefer that the way these communities are structured be changed.
I loved all of them, worst train journey I had was Tokyo to Osaka... landed in Japan, slept overnight at an Airbnb and got up to get on the train to Osaka, but we missed our first train... was not a problem catching the next one, but we decided to eat lunch first. Got on the next train and got about 1/3 of the way to Osaka when the train had to stop due to a typhoon. We were stuck in the train for hours, by the time they let us off (we were stopped at a station, but not at the platform) it was too late to book any lodgeing anywhere near the station, and all the food was sold out everywhere nearby. We ate snacks we brought with us and slept on the train station floor! It was an adventure for sure. But things like that can happen when flying too and are quite rare on Japanese trains.
Don't have any experience with cross country train travel anywhere else, but I love doing it in Japan!