Monday morning quick hits

Fulbright Grants reinstated to Gaza scholars All seven Fulbright Scholars who had previously been informed their grants were being withdrawn were sent emails from the American Consulate on Sunday, telling them it was “working closely” with officials in Israel to secure their exit permits. A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry office of civilian affairs , Maj. Peter Lerner, said the Gazans would be granted permits after individual security checks.

The world is a little less elegant today. Yves Saint Laurent has passed away. A scarf bearing his logo was the first "designer" item I ever owned, and I still remember how "grown up" I felt when I opened that gift from my grandmother - who deified him the day she discovered the pantsuit. He was the father of fashion wedded to function, and he came along at the perfect time, when we were so ready for that. A lot of women, especially those of us who are "of a certain age" are feeling very sanguine today and remembering a specific reflexion that looked back at us before we went out the door, and we looked fabulous, and he had a hand in it. I dunno about you, but that means something to me.

When I pack my exquisite YSL bags t travel this summer, I'm going by train. High oil prices, coupled with a slumping economy have combined to make for desperate times ahead for the airlines. The International Air Transport Association dramatically adjusted downward their 2008 projections...in March they predicted a $4.5 Billion profit - today, they predicted a A$2.3 billion dollar collective loss. As I was once stuck in the airport in Hawaii for two days - during a garbage strike - because an airline went belly up, I am not booking any flights.
The weather is conspiring against me today Readers in KC know that we are under siege by the weather gods, those who aren't...Check this out...



If I disappear, it isn't me, it's the electricity...But what the hell? Have a little Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King opening a can of six-string whoop-ass on Stormy Monday, after the jump...