KUCI: Ask A Leader

Tiny Houses AND High Stakes High School Siting AND In Appreciation of Bernard Gilmore

A triple treat today starts with Christopher Smith, co-director with Merete Mueller, of the documentary "Tiny A Story of Living Small." The film will be presented March 6th, 8 pm at the Orange County Museum of Art, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach. More information is available at either www.ocma.net, 949-759-1122, or www.tiny-the movie.com. Harvey Liss, local activist and recent appointee to the Irvine Planning Commission, takes up the Irvine Unified School District's complicated selection of a site to build its 5th high school. In addition, he addresses the conditional use permit for the nearby proposed drive-in for Chick Fila. Lastly, Phyllis Gilmore presents at the end of this week, March 8th at 8 pm at the Winnifred Smith Hall, a concert in memory of her husband the late Bernard Gilmore. She considers as we listen to excerpts of his compositions and a performance, his career of music. A limited number of tickets for the free performance are available at the box office 949-824-2787 or at www.arts.uci.edu/calendar.

Get Safe with Self Defense AND Get Ready with Comcast Merger

Get Safe Founding Director Stu Haskin, along with Craig Rexroad and Heidi Campbell, talks about Stu's self defense organization that teaches skills and awareness techniques to students from 5-81, throughout all of California. More information is available at getsafeusa.com. Michael Hiltzik, LA Times business columnist and Pulitzer prize winner, takes the short and long view of Comcast's $45 B merger with Time/Warner.

Watchdog Bites OC Leadership AND NASA Astronaut Lands at Beckman Center

Shirley Grindle, OC campaign finance reform activist and TINCUP oversight volunteer, offers new blood an opportunity to assume her charge. Since the 2008, the OC's grand jury pronounced the need to create a Campaign Practices Commission; the need for public, county wide oversight of campaign finance persists. Shirley Grindle, a long term fixture in this enterprise, is ready to pass on the torch. Next, in advance of her 2/18/18 appearance at the UCI's Beckman Center, NASA astronaut and International Space Station veteran Tracy Caldwell Dyson gives a personable look at the program. From her selection into the astronaut corps to the projection of future space exploration, priviledged glimpses are offered. For additional information about the Beckman Center free public lecture on 2/18/14 at 7p.m., contact Melissa Sweet at 949-824-2628 or msweet@uci.edu

Assessing the Affordable Care Act AND Unnerving Trends in Human Development

Tom Buchmueller, healthcare economist at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, offers much needed, nuanced interpretations of the labor market and state/federal budget impacts from the Affordable Care Act. Among the recent adjustments he covers are the Congressional Budget Office's February 2014 report as well as yesterday's extension of the employer mandate. Then, second guest Daniel Estulin, author of recently published, "Transformation: The Coming of Age of Human Deconstruction'" plots the dots along some unnerving trends in human development. Starting with his early work tracking the influence of the Bilderberg Group, Estulin draws extensively on such sources as: the Strategic Trends Report, Codex Alimentarius,the Futures Group, Tavistock Institute, DARPA, In Q Tel with Bio Rad Laboratories, British Coefficients Club, CIA's MK-ULTRA, The Project Pandora, Russia 2045, Project Quasar, and Timothy Thomas' "The Mind Has No Firewall;" to name a few. Daniel Estulin can be followed at: www.danielestulin.com and www.trineday.com.

Behind the Sochi Olympic Curtain

Margaret Maradudin, a definitive authority of all things Russian, takes the show's full hour, to pull aside the curtain of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. As a prelude to viewing the Olympics, the Russian Television broadcast of Vladimir Putin's 2007 IOC meeting in Guatemala is very compelling. Among Peggy Maradudin's many insights are her recommendations that Olympic viewers follow the Games' coverage on the following websites among others for additional perspective: http://en.ria.ru/russia, http://themoscownews.com/, http://english.pravda.ru/, http://www.themoscowtimes.com/ For seniors who wish to hear Ms.Maradudin's lectures, you can enroll at extension.uci.edu/olli or 949-451-1403.

Making the Case for Nuclear Energy AND China’s One Child Policy

A J Shaka, UCI Chemistry Professor examines our energy options in his inestimably critical and expansive way. Ready to look at nuclear power through a chemist's prospective? Next, UCI sociology professor and demographer, Professor Wang Feng, offers his latest findings on the impacts and adjustments to China's one child policy and gender preferences for offspring.

Give Us This Day Our Daily GMO’s AND ”Angels in America”

Howard Vlieger, Third Generation Iowa family farmer and GMO/glyphosate expert, and local activist Kathleen Hallal, cover the impact of the latest agricultural practices on public health and the food chain. Vlieger's current tour in Southern California takes him to Northridge Chabad Jan 21st (818)765-1939; Irvine PTA on Wednesday at the IUSD offices; Laguna Woods Community January 31st (949)597-4200; and The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano on Feb 2 (949)443-4223. More information about these forums and future events is available at www.momsacrossamerica.com, and studentofthesoil@gmail.com. Additional resources include the following books: "Seeds of Destruction," "Uncertain Peril," "Our Stolen Future," "America's Two-Headed Pig," and "The Unhealthy Truth." UCI guest director, Gavin Cameron-Webb in the run up to Saturday's opening night, talks about presenting this week and next week Tony Kushner's mold breaking play "Angels in America." Performances are scheduled at 8 pm Jan. 25, 30, Feb 1; 7:30 pm Jan. 26; and 2 pm Jan 26, Feb. 1,2. The box office at 949-824-2787 or www.arts.uci.edu/tickets, provides additional information about this special production at UCI's intimate Robert Cohen Theater.

Ariel Sharon’s Wide Swath AND California Landscape into Abstraction

Gabriel Piterberg, Professor of History and Director of the Gustav von Grunebaum Center for Near East Studies at UCLA reflects on what Ariel Sharon wrought throughout his military and political campaigns. Chief curator at the Orange County Museum of Art, Dan Cameron, returns to AAL to lay out themes he's pulled together at the current exhibition entitled "California Landscape in Abstraction." Who knew that the OCMA collection could express things in this way? Information on this exhibition, and the many special events still planned, is available at: www.ocma.net or by calling 949-759-1122.