For centuries after his accidental discovery of the Bahamas, Christopher Columbus was a true hero of history. But then the alternative histories were published, and the colonization of the New World was revealed to be a nightmare of atrocity and terror. Still, we can learn something from this stubborn idiot who insisted until the day he died that Cuba was part of Asia.

Tropical Storm Igor has turned into a hurricane, registering winds of 80 mph in the Atlantic.

The tropical depression near Florida has been given a name—Danielle. It should become a hurricane this week.

We mentioned earlier the outrage of a prospective intern approached by the ancient-but-rebranded magazine Atlantic—40 hours unpaid per week. But it turns out it wasn't an isolated incident. They're building an entire slave army!

Yeah, yeah, magazine features are shorter than they were. This Old House may be shut down. The lead times for printing and distribution are increasingly absurd in an age of instant online publishing. But do magazine writers have to be quite so depressed and depressing?

Can't be right: "Atlantic owner David Bradley has nabbed Wired Publisher Jay Lauf as publisher of the culture and politics magazine... 'In the second half of 2007, we increased our ad prices by 390 percent,' said Atlantic President Justin Smith. 'I felt our ad pages were underpriced compared to some of our competitors.' So far this year, the Atlantic has slipped 12 percent in ad pages." [Post]

How did Atlantic owner David Bradley lure writer Jeffrey Goldberg from the New Yorker? Charm, flattery, and ponies. Also, a ton of cash. [WP]