Solution to Riddle of the Week

Solution to Riddle of the Week: Can You Find the Hiding Turkey?

Difficulty level: Hard

Betsy Farrell
By Jay Bennett

Tracking the tricky turkey may seem impossible, as it seems the bird could stay one step ahead. However, there is a way to make sure you find that felonious fowl.

Solution

Randomly searching will not guarantee you find the turkey. Neither will checking every box, nor will checking the same box over and over. To find this bird, we are going to have to make some assumptions.

First, for the sake of argument, let's assume the turkey is in an even-numbered box, meaning either box 2 or box 4.


Betsy Farrell

Let's say you check box 2. If you find the turkey, all is well and good in the world and Thanksgiving can proceed. If not, then you know the turkey must have been in box 4 (again, this is based on an initial assumption that the turkey was in an even-numbered box).

If the turkey was in box 4 on the first day, when you checked box 2, then it must move to either box 3 or box 5 on the second day. So on the second day, check box 3. If the turkey is there, you win. If not, it must be in box 5, and if the turkey is in box 5 on the second day, it must move to box 4 on the third day, and so you check box 4 on the third day and find the turkey.

Now, the above scenario—checking box 2, 3, and then 4—will always let you win assuming the turkey started in an even-numbered box. But, of course, that might not be the case. Now let's look at the scenario if the turkey started in an odd-numbered box—1, 3, or 5.


Betsy Farrell

If the turkey is in box 1, 3, or 5, then on the second day, it must have moved to either box 2 or 4. On the third day, it must have moved back to box 1, 3, or 5. And on the fourth, the turkey again must have moved to either box 2 or 4.

You can probably sense we've discovered something important here: If the turkey started in an odd-numbered box, then after checking for three days, it must be in an even-numbered box. In other words, if the turkey started in an odd-numbered box, at the start of the fourth day, it must be in an even-numbered box. We now must combine the two scenarios.

First, we know from the first example that if you check box 2 and then 3 and then 4, you will find the turkey if it started in an even-numbered box. Let's say you check 2, 3, and 4 on the first three days, and you do not find the turkey. That means it must have started in an odd-numbered box, which also means that on the start of the fourth day, it must be in an even-numbered box. So, on the fourth day, if you have not found the turkey, you repeat the process, because you know that now it must be in an even box.

So here is the solution: Check box 2 on the first day, then 3 on the second day, and then 4 on the third day. If the turkey was in an even box, you are guaranteed to find it on one of those first three days. If you don't find it, then it must have started in an odd-numbered box, and on the start of the fourth day, it must be in an even-numbered box. So you then check box 2 on the fourth day, then box 3 on the fifth day, and finally box 4 on the sixth day. No matter what, you will have found the turkey.

In short: check box 2 then 3 then 4, and if you do not find the turkey, check box 2 then 3 then 4 again.

Power Plant Burning H&M Rejects

A Swedish Power Plant Is Burning H&M Rejects

A rep for the company says the clothing may have mold or chemical issues

By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff

People make purchases at H&M in Tyler, Texas, on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017.   (Chelsea Purgahn/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP)

(NEWSER) – H&M's fashions are on fire—literally, that is, in Vasteras, Sweden. A heat and power station that powers 150,000 homes there has a mandate to stop burning fossil fuels like coal and oil by 2020. Its path to achieving that involves burning "only renewable and recycled fuels," which in its case, includes recycled wood and "trash" from an H&M warehouse in the neighboring city of Eskilstuna. Bloomberg reports it was only last week that the trash was specified as clothing, and a rep for H&M in Sweden explains the company "does not burn any clothes that are safe to use." What's being torched—year to date, about 30,000 pounds' worth—are ones that may "contain mold or do not comply with our strict restriction on chemicals." The alternative would seemingly be a landfill, which is where a staggering amount of our clothing ends up.

The Atlantic in 2014 reported that Americans toss about 10.5 million tons of clothing a year. That's about 85% of what we get rid of, with the other 15% recycled—either ultimately worn by someone else, turned into industrial rags, or "ground down" and repurposed as items ranging from insulation and furniture stuffing to pet bedding, per the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association. The Sourcing Journal cites the Environmental Protection Agency's concern over the situation: The agency recorded a 38% jump in textile waste between 2000 and 2011. Quartz points to a 2016 McKinsey study that found that over that same period, European clothing companies increased their number of annual collections from two to five. 

Time Inc. Sold

Time Inc. Sold in Koch Deal

Conservative brothers fund Meredith acquisition

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

The Meredith Corp. headquarters building in Des Moines, Iowa. Meredith Corp. said Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, that it is buying Time Inc. for about $1.8 billion in a deal that joins two giant magazine companies.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

(NEWSER) – The Koch brothers now have a major stake in the magazine industry. Meredith Corporation is buying Time Inc. in a $2.8 billion deal supported by a $650 million equity injection from the billionaire brothers, the BBC reports. The company, subject of two previous Meredith acquisition attempts, publishes titles including People, Sports Illustrated, and Entertainment Weekly, as well as Time. Meredith publishes titles including Better Homes & Gardens and also owns numerous local TV stations, meaning it hasn't been hit as hard as Time by the steep decline in print advertising revenues in recent years. The two companies say the deal, unanimously approved by both boards of directors, will close early next year, the AP reports.

Meredith CEO Stephen Lacy calls the joining of the two magazine giants "a transformative and financially compelling growth opportunity." Time CEO Rich Battista is expected to depart after the deal closes. Meredith says the investment vehicle owned by Charles and David Koch, prominent supporters of conservative causes, will not have a seat on the board and they will not influence editorial decisions. Mary Bottari of the Center for Media and Democracy, however, tells the Guardian that she believes the brothers want to create their own "media megaphone" to convince the public that they don't need to worry about climate change and they should "forget about regulating the fossil fuel industry." 

FB to Detect Suicidal Posts

Facebook rolls out AI to detect suicidal posts before they’re reported

Posted by Josh Constine (@joshconstine)


This is software to save lives. Facebook’s new “proactive detection” artificial intelligence technology will scan all posts for patterns of suicidal thoughts, and when necessary send mental health resources to the user at risk or their friends, or contact local first-responders. By using AI to flag worrisome posts to human moderators instead of waiting for user reports, Facebook can decrease how long it takes to send help.

Facebook previously tested using AI to detect troubling posts and more prominently surface suicide reporting options to friends in the U.S. Now Facebook is will scour all types of content around the world with this AI, except in the European Union, where General Data Protection Regulation privacy laws on profiling users based on sensitive information complicate the use of this tech.



Facebook also will use AI to prioritize particularly risky or urgent user reports so they’re more quickly addressed by moderators, and tools to instantly surface local language resources and first-responder contact info. It’s also dedicating more moderators to suicide prevention, training them to deal with the cases 24/7, and now has 80 local partners like Save.org, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and Forefront from which to provide resources to at-risk users and their networks.

“This is about shaving off minutes at every single step of the process, especially in Facebook Live,” says VP of product management Guy Rosen. Over the past month of testing, Facebook has initiated more than 100 “wellness checks” with first-responders visiting affected users. “There have been cases where the first-responder has arrived and the person is still broadcasting.”

The idea of Facebook proactively scanning the content of people’s posts could trigger some dystopian fears about how else the technology could be applied. Facebook didn’t have answers about how it would avoid scanning for political dissent or petty crime, with Rosen merely saying “we have an opportunity to help here so we’re going to invest in that.” There are certainly massive beneficial aspects about the technology, but it’s another space where we have little choice but to hope Facebook doesn’t go too far.

[Update: Facebook’s chief security officer Alex Stamos responded to these concerns with a heartening tweet signaling that Facebook does take seriously responsible use of AI.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised the product update in a post today, writing that “In the future, AI will be able to understand more of the subtle nuances of language, and will be able to identify different issues beyond suicide as well, including quickly spotting more kinds of bullying and hate.”

Unfortunately, after TechCrunch asked if there was a way for users to opt out, of having their posts a Facebook spokesperson responded that users cannot opt out. They noted that the feature is designed to enhance user safety, and that support resources offered by Facebook can be quickly dismissed if a user doesn’t want to see them.]

Facebook trained the AI by finding patterns in the words and imagery used in posts that have been manually reported for suicide risk in the past. It also looks for comments like “are you OK?” and “Do you need help?”



“We’ve talked to mental health experts, and one of the best ways to help prevent suicide is for people in need to hear from friends or family that care about them,” Rosen says. “This puts Facebook in a really unique position. We can help connect people who are in distress connect to friends and to organizations that can help them.”

How suicide reporting works on Facebook now

Through the combination of AI, human moderators and crowdsourced reports, Facebook could try to prevent tragedies like when a father killed himself on Facebook Live last month. Live broadcasts in particular have the power to wrongly glorify suicide, hence the necessary new precautions, and also to affect a large audience, as everyone sees the content simultaneously unlike recorded Facebook videos that can be flagged and brought down before they’re viewed by many people.

Now, if someone is expressing thoughts of suicide in any type of Facebook post, Facebook’s AI will both proactively detect it and flag it to prevention-trained human moderators, and make reporting options for viewers more accessible.



When a report comes in, Facebook’s tech can highlight the part of the post or video that matches suicide-risk patterns or that’s receiving concerned comments. That avoids moderators having to skim through a whole video themselves. AI prioritizes users reports as more urgent than other types of content-policy violations, like depicting violence or nudity. Facebook says that these accelerated reports get escalated to local authorities twice as fast as unaccelerated reports.


Mark Zuckerberg gets teary-eyed discussing inequality 
during his Harvard commencement speech in May

Facebook’s tools then bring up local language resources from its partners, including telephone hotlines for suicide prevention and nearby authorities. The moderator can then contact the responders and try to send them to the at-risk user’s location, surface the mental health resources to the at-risk user themselves or send them to friends who can talk to the user. “One of our goals is to ensure that our team can respond worldwide in any language we support,” says Rosen.

Back in February, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that “There have been terribly tragic events — like suicides, some live streamed — that perhaps could have been prevented if someone had realized what was happening and reported them sooner . . .  Artificial intelligence can help provide a better approach.”

With more than 2 billion users, it’s good to see Facebook stepping up here. Not only has Facebook created a way for users to get in touch with and care for each other. It’s also unfortunately created an unmediated real-time distribution channel in Facebook Live that can appeal to people who want an audience for violence they inflict on themselves or others.

Creating a ubiquitous global communication utility comes with responsibilities beyond those of most tech companies, which Facebook seems to be coming to terms with.

What Is the WMI Provider Host (WmiPrvSE.exe)

What Is the WMI Provider Host (WmiPrvSE.exe), and Why Is It Using So Much CPU?

by Chris Hoffman

The WMI Provider Host process is an important part of Windows, and often runs in the background. It allows other applications on your computer to request information about your system. This process shouldn’t normally use many system resources, but it may use a lot of CPU if another process on your system is behaving badly.

This article is part of our ongoing series explaining various processes found in Task Manager, like Runtime Broker, svchost.exe, dwm.exe, ctfmon.exe, rundll32.exe, Adobe_Updater.exe, and many others. Don’t know what those services are? Better start reading!

What Is WMI Provider Host?

“WMI” stands for “Windows Management Instrumentation”. This is a Windows feature that provides a standardized way for software and administrative scripts to request information about the state of your Windows operating system and data on it. “WMI Providers” provide this information, when requested. For example, software or commands could find information about the state of BitLocker drive encryption, view entries from the event log, or request data from installed applications that include a WMI provider. Microsoft has a list of included WMI providers on its website.

This is a particularly useful feature for enterprises that centrally manage PCs, especially as information can be requested via scripts and shown in a standard way in administrative consoles. However, even on a home PC, some software you have installed may request information about the system through the WMI interface.

You can also use WMI yourself to find a variety of useful pieces of information that aren’t normally exposed in the Windows interface on your own PC. For example, we’ve covered the WMI Command line tool (WMIC) to get your PC’s serial number, find your motherboard’s model number, or just to see the SMART health status of a hard drive.

Why Is It Using So Much CPU?

WMI Provider Host shouldn’t normally use much CPU, as it shouldn’t normally be doing anything. It may occasionally use some CPU when another piece of software or script on your PC asks for information via WMI, and that’s normal. High CPU usage is likely just a sign that another application is requesting data via WMI.

However, prolonged high CPU usage is a sign something is wrong. WMI Provider Host shouldn’t be using lots of CPU resources all the time.

Restarting the Windows Management Instrumentation service may help if it’s stuck in a bad state. You could also just restart your computer, but there’s a way to restart the service without restarting your computer. To do this, open your Start menu, type “Services.msc”, and press Enter to launch the Services tool.

Locate the “Windows Management Instrumentation service” in the list, right-click it, and select “Restart”.

If you see consistently high CPU usage, it’s likely that another process on your system is behaving badly. If a process is constantly requesting a large amount of information from WMI providers, this will cause the WMI Provider Host process to use a lot of CPU. That other process is the problem.

To identify which specific process is causing problems with WMI, use the Event Viewer. On Windows 10 or 8, you can right-click the Start button and select “Event Viewer” to open it. On Windows 7, open the Start menu, type “Eventvwr.msc”, and press Enter to launch it.

In the left pane of the Event Viewer window, navigate to Applications and Service Logs\Microsoft\Windows\WMI-Activity\Operational.

Scroll through the list and look for recent “Error” events. Click each event and look for the number to the right of “ClientProcessId” in the bottom pane. This tells you the ID number of the process that caused the WMI error.

There’s a good chance you’ll see several errors here. The errors may be caused by the same process ID number, or you may see multiple different process IDs causing errors. Click each error and see what the ClientProcessId is to find out.

You can now pin down a process that may be causing problems. First, open a Task Manager window by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Escape or by right-clicking the taskbar and selecting “Task Manager”.

Click over to the “Details” tab, click the “PID” column to sort running processes by process ID, and locate the process matching the ID number that appeared in the Event Viewer logs.

For example, here, we’ve seen that the “HPWMISVC.exe” process caused these errors on this particular computer.

If the process has since closed, you won’t see it in the list here. Also, when a program closes and reopens, it will have a different process ID number. That’s why you need to look for recent events, as the process ID number from older events in your Event Viewer won’t help you find anything.

With this information in hand, you now know the process that may be causing problems. You can search for its name on the web to find out the software it’s associated with. You can also just right-click the process in the  list and click “Open File Location” to open its location on your system, which may show you the larger software package the program is a part of. You may need to update this software if you use it, or uninstall it if you don’t.

 Can I Disable WMI Provider Host?

It is technically possible to disable the “Windows Management Instrumentation service” on your computer. However, this will break many different things on your PC. It’s an important part of the Windows operating system and should be left alone.

As the official description for this service says, “If this service is stopped, most Windows-based software will not function properly”. So don’t disable this service! If you have a problem with it, you need to identify the process on your computer that’s causing the WMI Provider Host to use so much CPU and update, remove, or disable that process instead.

Airlines Most Likely to Bump You

These Are the Airlines Most Likely to Bump You Off a Flight

Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

United came in second place on this list.

BRAD TUTTLE / MONEY.COM

This story originally appeared on Money.com.

Viral videos showing a United Airlines passenger dragged off an overbooked plane on Sunday are still making waves, as the airline’s stock price tumbled on Tuesday. The ugly episode left us wondering: Which airlines are most (and least) likely to overbook flights in the first place?

A study released recently by MileCards.com shows that in 2016 Delta was the airline most likely to give passengers compensation due to overbooked flights. The airline paid out some form of compensation—usually flight vouchers or credits—to 10 passengers out of every 10,000.

United was second on the list, with compensation given to 7.2 out of every 10,000 passengers, followed by:

• Southwest (5.9)
• Spirit (5.4)
• American (4.1)
• Virgin America (3.0)
• Alaska (2.9)
• Frontier (1.4)
• JetBlue (0.5)

So it looks like JetBlue Airways—named one of MONEY’s best airlines in our 2017 travel report—is the carrier least likely to be overbooked.

But the MileCards.com data above focuses only on voluntary bumps, in which passengers agree to miss a flight in exchange for some compensation. It doesn’t include involuntary bumps like those that occurred on United’s flight over the weekend.

According to the Department of Transportation, a total of 40,629 passengers were denied boarding involuntarily on domestic flights in 2016. That may sound like a lot, but it’s a decline from 2015, when 43,704 passengers were bumped involuntarily. The airline with the most involuntary bumps last year was America’s biggest domestic carrier, Southwest, with 14,979. Southwest also had one of the highest rates of involuntary bumps—0.99 for every 10,000 passengers, second only to the regional puddle-jumper carrier ExpressJet (1.51).

JetBlue actually had a relatively high involuntary bump rate—0.92 per 10,000 passengers, ninth highest out of America’s top 12 airlines. This is because while JetBlue appears to overbook flights less often than others, when there were overbookings it was more likely to bump passengers against their will rather than offer compensation to those missing flights voluntarily. In 2016, JetBlue gave compensation for 1,705 voluntary bumps, while involuntarily bumping 3,176 passengers. (All things considered, 2016 could have been a fluke for JetBlue: The year before, it denied boarding involuntarily to only 73 passengers, for the lowest rate of any airline, 0.02 per 10,000 passengers.)

Delta, on the other hand, may overbook flights the most, but it’s also the most likely to pay off passengers to convince them to get bumped voluntarily. The airline gave compensation for a staggering 129,825 voluntary bumps in 2016, while involuntarily bumping only 1,238 passengers.

Hawaiian Airlines had the lowest overall rate of involuntary bumps in 2016, at 0.05 per 10,000 passengers, followed by:

• Delta (0.1)
• Virgin America (0.12)
• Alaska (0.4), and
• United (0.43).

Take note that passengers who are denied boarding due to overbooking must receive compensation per federal regulations: The airline must pay 400% of the customer’s one-way fare, up to a maximum of $1,350, if the passenger is delayed to his or her final destination by more than two hours for flights within the U.S.

The good news, as the MileCards.com study reveals, is that it appears fewer passengers are being denied boarding against their will:

"Involuntary bumps, where confirmed passengers who want to travel on the flight aren’t allowed to board, are also about 40% less likely than they were in 2010, with 0.6 out of every 10,000 passengers bumped without being a volunteer."

The bad news is that the overbooking of flights is still common practice within the industry: A total of roughly 475,000 passengers were denied boarding voluntarily or involuntarily last year because the airlines sold more tickets than there were seats on the plane. And, as the fiasco on a United flight this past weekend demonstrated, when there are overbookings the airlines are allowed to choose who gets kicked off the plane and have them removed—forcibly if necessary.

Tesla Model 3

Tesla Model 3 Goes 310 Miles per Charge, According to EPA

That's for the long-range model, which costs significantly more than the $35,000 base model.

TESLA

By Bob Sorokanich

It's hard to say what we really know about the Tesla Model 3. Outside of Motor Trend, no serious outlet of automotive journalism has reviewed one, and with just 260 examples built in the last quarter, even reservation holders have no idea what their car is like.

At least we know how far it'll go on a charge: 310 miles, according to the EPA.

The Verge first discovered the official EPA rating for the new Model 3, which gave the all-electric sedan a rating of 131 MPGe city, 120 highway, for a combined rating of 126. We should point out that these range and efficiency ratings are for a Model 3 Long Range, which starts at $44,000. The EPA-certified range claim lines up nearly exactly with what Tesla promised the Long Range variant would do.

How far will you be able to drive in your base-model $35,000 Model 3? No numbers from the EPA yet, but Tesla said the non-Long Range version would have just 220 miles of range. So far, it seems, of the small handful of Model 3s that have been built, all are Long Range examples. Tesla doesn't plan to start building standard versions until 2018.

World News

Japan Emperor Will Be First to Abdicate in 200 Years

Emperor Akihito will step down on April 30, 2019

By Newser Editors and Wire Services

Passers-by read an extra edition of a newspaper at Shimbashi Station in Tokyo Friday, Dec. 1, 2017.   (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

(NEWSER) – Japan's much admired Emperor Akihito is set to abdicate on April 30, 2019, at age 85 in the first such departure from the Chrysanthemum Throne in about 200 years, the government said Friday. Akihito's elder son Crown Prince Naruhito will ascend the throne a day later, beginning a new era. The decision was made Friday at a meeting of the Imperial House Council, which was chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and included parliamentary leaders, supreme court judges, and imperial family members, the AP reports. Akihito expressed his apparent wish to abdicate in August 2016, citing his age and health.

Authorities say the timing was chosen so that Akihito can abdicate after reaching his 30th anniversary on the throne, a milestone. Akihito was 56 years old when he ascended the throne in January 1989 after the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito, beginning the Heisei Era. Naruhito will be 59 when he becomes emperor. Legislation allowing Akihito to abdicate within three years was enacted earlier this year. The legislation for Akihito's case was needed because the 1947 Imperial House Law does not provide for abdication. The last emperor to abdicate was Kokaku in 1817.

Entertainment News

Friday's TV highlights: 'Blindspot' on NBC

By ED STOCKLY

Mary Stuart Masterson continues her guest role in "Blindspot" on NBC. (David Giesbrecht / NBC)

SERIES

MacGyver Mac and Jack (Lucas Till, George Eads) and the team follow mercenaries who are transporting stolen lethal nerve gas in this new episode. 8 p.m. CBS

Blindspot While Jane (Jaimie Alexander) struggles with a secret from her past, director (guest star Mary Stuart Masterson) sends the team on an urgent mission to prevent an international crisis. Sullivan Stapleton, Rob Brown, Audrey Esparza and Luke Mitchell also star. 8 p.m. NBC

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team are stranded on a mysterious ship in outer space in the two-hour season premiere. Iain De Caestecker, Ming-Na Wen and Chloe Bennet also star. 8 p.m. ABC

Hell's Kitchen The contestants must use exotic meats (such as boar, elk and venison) and have to use spears in gathering the ingredients for side dishes. John Rzeznik of music's Goo Goo Dolls is a guest for the dinner service in this new episode. 8 p.m. Fox

Hawaii Five-0 McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) investigates a pilot's death in a plane crash during an air-race by posing as an aviator. Ricardo Chavira guest stars. Scott Caan, Chi McBride and Meaghan Rath also star. 9 p.m. CBS

The Exorcist The exorcism is underway, but the sinister spirit is determined to use every wile against Marcus and Tomas (Ben Daniels, Alfonso Herrera). 9 p.m. Fox

Z Nation Doc (Russell Hodgkinson) and his band run into a pair of weapons dealers (guest stars Mark Carr and Doug Dawson) when they take shelter in a barber shop that also is filled with characters that are mysterious and perhaps even murderous. Kellita Smith and Nat Zang also star. 9 p.m. Syfy

Blue Bloods When Danny and Baez (Donnie Wahlberg, Marisa Ramirez) work with a task force to bring down a drug-dealing operation, Baez ends up being subjected to a potentially lethal overdose. David Zayas (“Dexter”) guest stars. 10 p.m. CBS

Superstition The malignant entity known as the Dredge returns, this time the spirit is inhabiting the body of a medical professional (David E. Collier), who's also an old flame of May (Demetria McKinney). Brad James and Morgana Van Peebles also star in the first of a new two-part story.10 p.m. Syfy

SPECIALS

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer A youngster has his suspicions about why his grandmother is missing on Christmas Eve in this annual animated special. 8 p.m. KTLA

Masters of Illusion: Christmas Magic Featured magicians in this new special include Jarret and Raja, Jonathan Pendragon, Ed Alonzo, Jibrizy, Les Arnold, Murray SawChuck, Farrell Dillon, Tommy Wind, Titou, Naathan Phan, Greg Gleason and Christmas Choir. 9 p.m. KTLA

MOVIES

The Belko Experiment John Gallagher Jr. (“The Newsroom”) heads the ensemble cast of this modestly budgeted 2017 horror thriller about co-workers at a remote industrial facility in Colombia, who become inexplicably trapped in their building one day, and a voice over the intercom begins orders them to kill colleagues or face execution themselves. Tony Goldwyn, John C. McGinley and Michael Rooker also star. 8 p.m. Cinemax

TALK SHOWS

CBS This Morning (N) 7 a.m. KCBS

Today "The Crown" set visit; Rossen Reports. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC

KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA

Good Morning America Charlize Theron (Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project); Mark Hamill. (N) 7 a.m. KABC

Good Day L.A. Vince Ferragamo and Vince Slater; Ming-Na Wen ("Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."); Chris Wallace: political commentator(N) 7 a.m. KTTV

Megyn Kelly Today Danielle Bradbery. (N) 9 a.m. KNBC

Live with Kelly and Ryan Terrence Howard ("Empire"); Kumail Nanjiani. (N) 9 a.m. KABC

The View (N) 10 a.m. KABC

The Talk Taye Diggs. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS

The Dr. Oz Show Sexual-harassment victims take a stand while the accused see their careers crumbling. (N) 1 p.m. KTTV

The Doctors Surprises for hometown heroes; a nurse devotes her time to California wildfire victims. (Part 2 of 2) (N) 2 p.m. KCBS

Rachael Ray David Muir ("World News Tonight"). (N) 2 p.m. KCOP

Dr. Phil A runaway teenager faces her mother for the first time in more than a month. (N) 3 p.m. KCBS

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Octavia Spencer (“The Shape of Water”); Dave Franco; Ed Sheeran performs. (N) 3 p.m. KNBC

The Real Melissa Rivers (“Joan Rivers Confidential”). (N) 3 p.m. KTTV

Washington Week First episode: Battles over taxes inside the Republican Party; partisan battles over the budget: Shawna Thomas, Vice News; Erica Werner, the Washington Post; Jonathan Swan, Axios. Second episode: Sexual harassment and abuse complaints on Capitol Hill: Michael Scherer, Time; Shawna Thomas; Erica Werner, the Associated Press; Jonathan Swan (N) 7 and 7:30 p.m. KOCE

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Queen Latifah; Freddie Highmore; Sam Smith performs. (N) 11:34 p.m. KNBC

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Carol Burnett; Lewis Black. (N) 11:35 p.m. KCBS

Jimmy Kimmel Live Mark Hamill; Andy Serkis; John Boyega; Oscar Isaac; Laura Dern; Adam Driver; Daisy Ridley. (N) 11:35 p.m. KABC

Tavis Smiley Computer scientist Jaron Lanier. (Part 2 of 2) (N) midnight KOCE

Nightline (N) 12:37 a.m. KABC

Tell Your Hurts to God

Tell Your Hurts to God

By Touching Lives 

“Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea. Hear me and answer me.”  Psalm 55:1

When my two-year-old grandson plays in the house, he likes to jump on the furniture, climb the walls and explore under the kitchen table. I’m constantly telling him to slow down, afraid he will hurt himself. As two year olds go, he listens sometimes and doesn’t at others. Eventually he may stub his toe, or fall on his arm, or have some other minor mishap. Sometimes I see it, but more often I hear it – that sharp cry of pain that needs attention.

I’ll tell him to come over to my chair and I’ll ask what happened. He’ll brush away a tear and he’ll point to what hurts. I’ll pull that arm or finger or forehead to mine and kiss it and ask if he will be okay. And in a few moments he nods, and then he turns back to his play. A listening ear, a sympathetic voice and a kiss of care was what was needed.

I’m reminded of our Heavenly Father in the same way. He cares for us. He’s ready and willing and wanting to hear about our hurts. Not just physical hurts, but emotional, relational and spiritual. He hears us when we pray, and tell Him our troubles. He answers with His Word, the Bible, not only telling us that He cares, but also offering a word of instruction or counsel. And He promises that He has a future for us beyond this world; that no matter what is thrown at us today, our greatest tomorrow is going to be okay.

We can live in that knowledge and it helps us move past our hurts, to concentrate on what God has for us to do today. And just like that two-year-old who’s jumping on the sofa cushions, we can know that our Heavenly Father is right there with us to hear us and comfort us when hurt happens.

Time for Radical Action

The Time for Radical Action is Now

The Time for Radical Action is Now
Alex Crain, Crosswalk.com Contributor

"...if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
Romans 8:13 

Aron Ralston's grisly experience during a climbing expedition illustrates a spiritual truth that makes me wince. If you aren't familiar with the story, take a look at his book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place (© 2004 Simon & Schuster), which is a detailed tell-all of his ordeal that occurred in late April 2003.

The experienced 27 year-old outdoorsman jumped into his truck that spring morning, bringing just enough food and water for the day. He took off by himself, driving 150 miles south of Salt Lake City to his favorite spot—a remote canyon area that used to be the hideout for wild-west outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

By afternoon, he was suspended seventy-five feet high off the canyon floor—climbing in a crevice that was just a few feet wide. It was a near perfect day. But then without warning, a boulder suddenly broke loose from the rock wall above him, hurtled down and trapped Ralston's right arm against the wall, completely crushing his hand. At that instant, Aron's hand—one of his greatest assets—had now become his greatest liability.

Why God Sometimes Delays

Why God Sometimes Delays Your Answers to Prayer

Why God Sometimes Delays Your Answers to Prayer
By Rick Warren

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard” (Luke 1:13 NIV).

I heard a story once about a young girl who wrote a letter to a missionary, trying to encourage him and lend her support. Evidently, she’d been told not to request a response to her letter because the missionaries were very busy. So when the letter arrived, the missionary got a kick out of reading, “Dear Mr. Missionary, we are praying for you. But we are not expecting an answer.”

I think that little girl unintentionally summarized the prayer lives of most Christians. We do a lot of praying, but we don’t expect an answer. But we’ve got to change our attitude if we want to receive an answer from God!

First, we must be willing to let God answer in his own time. That means according to his schedule, his timetable — whenever God thinks is best.

Sometimes I have a hard time believing God’s going to answer my prayers. But if God ever sent an angel to meet me face-to-face and say, “Rick, I’m here to tell you that God has answered your prayer,” I think I’d be convinced.

The Bible tells the story of Zechariah, who was very old and whose wife, Elizabeth, could not have children. The angel Gabriel visited him and said, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard” (Luke 1:13 NIV). Gabriel went on to say that Elizabeth would give birth to a son who would eventually “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Then Zechariah says in verse 18, “How can I be sure of this?”He’s the ultimate skeptic. Why didn’t he believe it?

Because he had stopped praying that prayer years before. If you read the passage casually, it looks like, “He went into the Temple. He prayed. And the angel came and said, ‘Your prayer’s been answered.’” The fact of the matter is, he had given up on this prayer years earlier. Yet God had heard Zechariah’s cries. In fact, the tense of the word “heard” in this Scripture means it’s already happened.

God answers our prayers immediately, but sometimes there’s a delay in the giving of the gift. Why? Because he wants to change us first. God is more interested in making you mature than he is in making life easy. After you’ve learned the right attitude, then God’s free to go to work on the problem.

Fri Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

How many times have you ever been told by someone who meant well when you are worried, “Don’t worry!” How many times has that helped you? Paul does exactly that.
“Do not be anxious about anything.” (Philippians 4:6)

Paul says, “Don’t worry.” Or if you want to put a positive spin on it, “Worry about nothing.” Take it from a worrier. It is a lot easier said than done. I get it, but then, Paul tells us how to do it.

“In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

Here is the second part of his advice. Worry about nothing. Pray about everything. This sounds like such a cliché and I know it, but it really is true. The one thing that works every time if you truly do it that is guaranteed to get worry out of your life and put peace into your life is when you turn your cares into prayers. Paul is dealing here with reality. It is not that we are to pretend that we don’t have pressures or problems or we don’t have to deal with difficult people, because we do. Every single time you and I have a choice. We can choose to carry that pressure, try to solve that problem, try to deal with that person on our own or we can give every one of them to God.

Least Sinful City in US

Least Sinful City in US Is in the Northeast

Hello, South Burlington, Vermont

By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff

A confessional booth.   (Getty/syldavia)

(NEWSER) – The most "sinful" city in the US is ... yup, Vegas. Though that top result isn't too surprising, a ranking by WalletHub is still pretty entertaining to read. Using metrics that run the gamut from casinos, to massage parlors, to plastic surgeries (vanity is a sin, remember), and even to the number of active Tinder users, the site has a comprehensive ranking on the best and least sinful cities out of more than 180 studied. South Burlington, Vermont, ends up as the most virtuous. Here are the worst, along with the overall "vice index":

Airport Breaks World Record

Airport Breaks World Record for Number of Flights in 24 Hours

By 

Sam Nagarajan

Rising incomes and cheaper fares offered by budget carriers are fueling air travel in India, an aviation market set to be the third biggest behind China and the U.S.

In signs traffic is surging, Mumbai on Friday handled 969 flights in a 24-hour period, a world record for an airport that operates only one runway at any given point of time, the Times of India reported Sunday, citing an official at the Mumbai International Airport Ltd. The aim is to reach 1,000 aircraft movements, the official told the newspaper.

Indian carriers flew about 100 million domestic passengers last year, and the International Air Transport Association estimates the market will add about 337 million more in the next two decades. About 97 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people have never been on an airplane, according to low-cost airline SpiceJet Ltd., indicating the potential for growth in traffic.

Mumbai’s airport, which has two runways, can operate only one at a time because they criss-cross each other, with lack of land ruling out the construction of one more. As a result, it is technically a single-runway facility. The surge in traffic on Friday was also aided by private and charter aircraft, the newspaper said.