The first chapter from The Mind's Provisions: A Critique of Cognitivism by Vincent Descombes. Don't cross that line: Would a fighter pilot shoot down a private airplane? A review of Michelangelo: A Tormented Life by Antonio Forcellino. Embrace prejudice: Stereotyping exists because it captures the whisper of a truth, because it provides a convenient shorthand and is fun. From TAC, an article on Robert Nisbet’s conservatism of community against the state; the people’s priest: Ivan Illich understood the dangers of trying to save the world; and John James Audubon was a terrible writer and a cruel conservationist, but his vision still took flight. The Higher Arithmetic: How to count to a zillion without falling off the end of the number line. Fight Night: Hamilton Nolan on the glorious racism of boxing. Inconsistent Pleadings: When and how to say "fucking" at work. The domestication of the savage mind: Cosma Shalizi reviews What is Intelligence? Beyond the Flynn Effect by James R. Flynn. A look at how online sponsorship changes the way we give. A man for troubled times: Ban Ki-moon rises above the fray. Here are 6 enlightened ideas brought to you by evil empires. Reality TV and porn collide: Both unscripted television and pornography call for their exhibitionist stars to expose themselves in intimate ways and now the space between the two genres is collapsing. Ed Smith had a theory that sprinters — like greyhounds and racehorses — were not getting any faster, but then came Bolt. An interview with Johann Hari on life on the front-line of political journalism. What the Maya calendar really tells us about 2012 and the end of time.