Archive - May 23, 2017

THE MIGRAINE A PUBLICATION FEATURING GENTEEL INTROSPECTION SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER, 1965 Written and published by Peace Corps/Malawi, P.O. Box 700, Blantyre, Malawi. The editors welcome correspondence arising out of articles in The Magraine. Essays, poems, etc., all given serious consideration. EDITORIAL The horrors multiply in Vietnam. The editorial staff of The Migraine openly condemns President Johnson for his recent decision to send 20,000 more troops into that country. This is a time when our vanity must be forgotten in the interests of those awaiting their own murder by United States and Chinese forces. We do not share President Johnson’s views and we earnestly hope that he will summon the courage to begin withdrawing troops. He has recognized that he can blunder–the withdrawal of the troops from the Dominican Republic was a recognition of his fecklessness in the crisis. We do not approve of totalitarianism in any of its forms, masquerading as a democrat or . . .

  From the National Peace Corps Association: Today the Trump Administration announced its proposal to cut almost $12 million from Peace Corps’ present budget, lowering it to $398 million for fiscal year 2018. This amounts to the largest proposed cut to the Peace Corps by a president in over 40 years. With these cuts,  the agency will likely be unable to increase the number of volunteers for greater impact in over 60 countries,  make programmatic improvements volunteers need to be effective, or invest in our domestic dividend through support for returned volunteers’ work in their local communities. The budget proposal also requests disproportionate 32% cuts to the topline International Affairs Budget, bringing America’s development and diplomacy programs back to 9/11 levels and hampering the ability of Peace Corps’ partners to strengthen interagency project implementation. Glenn Blumhorst, president and CEO of National Peace Corps Association, responded to the president’s proposed cuts: Considering the challenges we currently face at . . .

 …..when you were in the Peace Corps. You’re one of hundreds of RPCV’s who said that you had symptoms that you believe might have been caused by mefloquine (Lariam). Yes, it’s been a long time – we sent out that survey almost two years ago. Believe it or not, we’re just now wrapping up our project and getting close to scheduling the stories; many thanks for your help. But we have a couple quick questions again that we need you to answer please to help us fill in some blanks. Would you please send me your answers in a reply email? DZwerdling@npr.org 1)      Did any Peace Corps staff talk to you, either one-on-one or in a group meeting, about Malarone? 2)      If so, what do you remember them saying about the drug? Please tell us everything you remember, including discussions of Malarone’s pros/cons, availability to volunteers, cost, etcetcetc. 3)      And . . .

CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to strengthen the social network’s community by connecting users to people they should know. Zuckerberg, who has been on a tour visiting every state as part of his annual personal challenge (not because he intends running for public office, as speculated), posted an update of his travels over the weekend that revealed how he’s working with developers to build artificial intelligence systems that could help people build new, valuable relationships. “We’ve built AI systems to recommend ‘People You May Know.’ But it might be just as important to also connect you with people you should know — mentors and people outside your circle who care about you and can provide a new source of support and inspiration” Zuckerberg wrote in the post. Nothing has been built yet, but Zuckerberg has already thought about different models that might work. The first is a digital Peace Corps of . . .