Interesting links for 2009-09-21

'The federal government Monday plans to propose rules that would bar Internet service providers — phone, cable, satellite and wireless — from blocking or hobbling online services in any fashion.'

'It's time to cast aside the political shorthand and ideological pigeonholing that distort our debates over health care in particular and government's role in American life more broadly.'

'Engineers at NASA have created a prototype of an electromagnetic propulsion system that would use a linear motor and ramjet engine–instead of a rocket propulsion system–to fling a vehicle into space.'

'The product ties together the data that the respective companies are best known for, they say — comScore’s numbers about the audience size for each website, and Omniture’s data about how visitors actually behave on a site. Together, the companies promise to give publishers a fuller picture of who is visiting a site and what they’re doing there.'

'Using data from the social network Facebook, they made a striking discovery: just by looking at a person’s online friends, they could predict whether the person was gay.'

'For the Mac addicts and newcomers alike, I’ve compiled twenty of my favorite Mac productivity applications. This list is by no-means exhaustive, so chime in with your favorites in the comments!'