Q. I have a Nissan Rogue that’s due for 60,000-mile maintenance. The dealership is quoting me about $1000 to perform the 60,000-mile service. I’m considering taking it to a private automotive shop which could be cheaper. Any thoughts or recommendations on a non-dealer doing this as well as any automotive shops?

A. Any good repair shop that uses AllData or similar repair databases (or even the vehicle owner’s manual) can perform the 60,000-mile service. There are a series of checks which take a little time, plus oil and brake fluid change, tire rotation, replacement of the cabin and engine air filter and interestingly the key-fob batteries. If you are looking for a shop look for the ASE (technician certification). For a AAA Approved shop (also ASE certified techs) go to aaa.com/repair

Q. I have 2021 Ford Bronco Sport (1.5L Turbo), I am trying to decide whether to purchase breakdown insurance for 10 years 100K miles. If I follow fluid changes recommended by Ford, will I have any issues before 100,000 miles? Just wondering what your thoughts are. I understand there not much history with this engine, but you may have some insights.

A. This engine has been used in the Ford Escape for several years and it has had less than a stellar record. There were issues with head gaskets and other problems that in some cases required complete engine replacement. If it were my Bronco I would wait until the factory warranty was near the end of its term and then consider buying an extended service contract/warranty. There is no sense in buying in now and paying for coverage you already have.

Q. Will AAA come out and charge the battery in my car or is it just a jump start? What about changing the battery?

A. AAA will come out and test the car’s battery as well as the starting and charging system. We will jumpstart a dead battery if possible. We don’t have on-board battery chargers, although your vehicle, if operating normally will charge the battery to some extent. It is best when a battery is completely discharged to have it fully charged using a battery charger. If the battery is in poor condition, the roadside technician can install a battery on the spot and properly recycle the old battery.

Q. I have a 1969 3/4-ton Chevy truck with a 350 cubic inch V-8 engine. The engine has a dead cylinder when idling and if I rev the engine up the number four cylinder-header will than get hot but at idle the same cylinder is cool. What could be wrong?

A. The exhaust port staying cool indicates there is no or incomplete combustion at the number four cylinder. The best way to determine what is wrong is to first remove the spark plug and see what it looks like. If it is heavily oil fouled, the piston rings or valve seals could be bad. The issue could also be a faulty ignition wire or even a crack in the distributer cap. If it is white, the engine could be very lean from a valve that is burnt or a vacuum leak. The next step would be a compression test or cylinder leak down test. The spark plug will deliver you the beginning of the story of what is wrong.

Q. I recently bought 2023 Lexus IS300. The dealer says I should use 93 octane gas to get the best performance and best mileage. Performance not important to me (I’m in my mid 80’s) but I don’t want to hurt engine! The 93-octane gas is a lot more money that the 87-octane gas, what do you recommend?

A. The dealer is correct that the best performance will come from using premium fuel. To determine if it is needed is based on what it states on the fuel cap door. If the door states 91 octane fuel required, then you need to use premium fuel to prevent engine damage. If the fuel door states 91-octane fuel recommended, then you can use 87 octane fuel. Recently I was driving a four-cylinder turbocharged vehicle and octane choice according to the manufacturer could make a difference. Using 87 octane fuel would not harm the engine, but the stated horsepower was 275, moving up to premium fuel the horsepower jumped to 300.

Q. I am about to purchase a 2023 Subaru Forester and saw a very disturbing YouTube video concerning the emergency brake. In the YouTube video it showed that if the battery dies and the car is not in park that neither the braking system nor the emergency brake can be engaged in order to keep the car from rolling. Is this true? And what do you do if something happens, and the battery dies while the car is not in park, and you can’t engage the emergency brake! This seems to be a mechanical flaw if it is the case and a very scary one!

A. This sounds like a bit of a parlor trick and a YouTuber trying to get their views up. Although if the car is in drive and the battery is completely discharged the electric parking brake will not work and it is a bit tricky to get the car in park. That being said, the service brakes will still work. Under anything but extreme or made-up conditions I can’t think of anytime that the battery would fail completely, and you would have the car in any gear other park.

Got a car question, email the Car Doctor for a personal reply. jpaul@aaanortheast.com

As fun as building your own PC can be, it’s not always the right call. A pre-built can end up the more fitting choice—as my colleague Ashley Biancuzzo rightly pointed out. Pre-built computers have their advantages too. You don’t have to devote as many hours to their purchase nor maintenance, for starters. Sometimes they win on price as well.

So how do you know if rolling your own PC is right for you? With no universally correct answer, you’ll have to ask yourself the following five questions…and then decide the order of priority for your responses. For example, even if the scales tip in favor of a pre-built, a single “yes” for the DIY camp could trump all.

What’s your budget?

Building your own PC can be cheaper than pre-builts, but DIY isn’t a ensure of savings. Depending on how much you have to spend and your desired specs, a pre-built computer sometimes wins the financial battle.

For example, take a basic productivity PC—a machine you’ll only use for browsing the web, document editing, simple photo editing, and other lightweight tasks. You might think that assembling such a modest PC would cost less than an equivalent pre-built, but the opposite is true. In this scenario, the pre-built will often undercut the DIY alternative on price.

On the flip side, the more generous your budget, the greater your opportunities for shopping smart (especially if you can buy parts on a slower schedule). Websites like PCPartPicker will help with forming your components list and comparison shopping, and retailers like Newegg, Amazon, B&H, and Best Buy often discount parts. With smart shopping, you can end up shaving hundreds off the most expensive PC builds.

As for mid-range DIY projects (say, $800 to $1,200), whether you’ll come in under or over a similar pre-built PC can be a toss-up. It’s the range most affected by market conditions, since you have less cushion for cost-cutting while targeting parts above budget range. Generally, you can save a hundred bucks or more if you shop smart (particularly if you play your cards right during big sale periods), but fairly priced pre-builts are pretty competitive.

The outcome for your particular scenario will entirely depend on when you choose to build. Right now at the start of 2023, things are more normal again—at least, relative to the painful experience of 2020, 2021, and much of 2022. But only time will tell if this fragile calm will last, what with CPU price increases, fierce but fragile competition between AMD, Intel, and Nvidia, and a continuing lack of budget-friendly parts.

What’s your plan for upgrades?

HP

With a DIY PC, you have complete freedom to replace anything and everything. You can also build in leeway for future changes—like buying a higher-wattage power supply in anticipation of later upgrades to more powerful (and power-hungry) parts.

In contrast, if you buy a pre-built PC from a big vendor like Dell, HP, or Lenovo, you often can’t swap out its components. Occasionally you’ll run into specific models compatible with off-the-shelf parts, but proprietary parts are generally the norm. And so with this kind of pre-built, you’re more stuck with what you buy; you have to content yourself with small upgrades like adding more memory, replacing your boot drive, and maybe installing an extra storage drive. In gaming PCs, you can also exchange the graphics card for a newer model, but the power supply’s specs will limit your options.

The middle-ground option is one many PC buyers aren’t aware of—pre-built PCs from system integrators like CyberPowerPC and iBuyPower, or PC component vendors like NZXT. Computers purchased from these kinds of companies use off-the-shelf parts compatible with DIY upgrades down the road. The main drawback here is that available configurations are more limited than DIY building—especially if cost is a factor.

How much time do you have?

PCWorld

DIY can save you cash, but you’ll pay the difference with your time. Expect to invest extra hours into researching and planning your list of components—not just specs, but component compatibility and what will set you up best for any planned future upgrades. Also account for looking up known quirks or issues for parts you’re considering if you’re a diligent researcher, as well as advice on how to build a PC if you’re a first-timer or returning after a long hiatus.

Then there’s the build itself, which can be fun but still eats into your schedule. For every person in YouTube comments boasting they assembled their PC in 15 minutes, most people treat a PC build more like gardening—you don’t aim to finish as fast as possible, but instead enjoy the process as you get everything just right. On average, a simple build with just a few non-RGB fans takes between 45 to 90 minutes with no interruptions and no mistakes. Seasoned builders will fall on the faster side of that range, while newer folks and those meticulous about cable management will be on the slower side. (If you take longer, don’t sweat it; PC building can feel meditative. Enjoy it.)

You’ll also spend more time on maintenance as well. Pre-builts often come with software that handles driver and other updates, but not so with a DIY build. Keeping on top of all those issues is your job alone. Also, if a part starts acting funny or needs replacement, you must deal with each retailer or manufacturer separately—there’s no all-in-one customer support line to contact. Basically, if you build it yourself, you’re also your own IT department. Which brings us to…

What’s your tolerance for troubleshooting?

PCWorld

Assembling your own PC can be a source of pride and entertainment. It can also be a royal pain in the rear when the computer doesn’t behave—whether that’s at first boot or months into use. You can’t call a tech support line for help; Google and Reddit are all you got for insight into what’s gone wrong. And sometimes that advice doesn’t always pan out, even after trying multiple fixes.

You can spend anywhere from minutes to hours (or even days, sigh) trying to resolve an issue. Sometimes the process is satisfying and teaches you a lot. Other times you’ll want to bash your head against a wall because the problem won’t respond to anything you throw at it.

If you can’t stomach the ups and downs of servicing your own PC, a pre-built will be more compatible with your lifestyle—you can pawn off the thinking part of troubleshooting on to the company that sold you the machine. Or at least a lot of it.

How good is your organization?

Willis Lai / Foundry

PC building is a heck of a lot easier when you buy tools suited for the job. You’ll also need to store the accessories that come with your components, like the CPU socket cover for LGA processors, spare SATA cables, extra screws, modular power supply cables you’re not using, thermal paste, cooler brackets, and the like.

You should have a good place to these bits and bobbles after the initial build, since you’ll need them again for maintenance or troubleshooting—and a good system for remembering what piece goes with which part. Sure, you can toss them all into a single bag and then shove that into the back of a drawer, but trust me, that strategy is a headache in the making.

If you lose things easily, having to catalog (and remember) these important leftovers could beyond your tolerance levels for such things. You can’t always assume you’ll be able to freely find and swap in replacements, either—for example, modular power supplies aren’t interchangeable between different models, not just manufacturers. Plug in a different set and you could fry a key component in your PC. And that CPU socket cover? If you need it, that means your motherboard is unresponsive. Having to delay to find a replacement is going to keep your computer out of commission even longer.

Overall, staying organized isn’t hard—it’s just more work. But a specific, more tedious form that can feel like physical pain for some of us. (Don’t ask me why I still like to build PCs.)

We can help

Now that you know the pros and cons of DIY and prebuilts, hopefully you feel better equipped to invest in a new PC. No matter which route you prefer, PCWorld can help. We maintain an updated list of the best desktop computer deals available, so you don’t spend more than you need to, while our roundups of the best CPUs, graphics cards, SSDs, monitors, and other hardware can point you towards the DIY components that are worth your money if you decide to roll your own. Happy computing!

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Feb 19, 2023 (The Expresswire) -- "Data Center and Network Third-Party Hardware Maintenance Service Market" Report covers specified competitive outlook consisting of the market proportion and company profiles of the Important thing individuals working within the international market. Key players Profiled in the Report are [AIMS DATA CENTRE, Service Express, CDS (Computer Data Source), Cxtec, Equinix, DataSpan, Park Place Technologies] and others. Company profile consists of assign including Organization summary, Financial Summary, Business Strategy and Planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.

What is the projected market size and growth rate of the Data Center and Network Third-Party Hardware Maintenance Service Market?

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Feb 17, 2023 (The Expresswire) -- "Wind Turbine Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Market" Report covers specified competitive outlook consisting of the market proportion and company profiles of the Important thing individuals working within the international market. Key players Profiled in the Report are [General Electric Company, Integrated Power Services, LLC, Siemens Gamesa, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Mistras Group, Stork (a Fluor Company), ABB Ltd] and others. Company profile consists of assign including Organization summary, Financial Summary, Business Strategy and Planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.

What is the projected market size and growth rate of the Wind Turbine Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Market?

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Patrick Badolato, CPA, is an associate professor at McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches accounting and financial statement analysis.

Badolato joined Motley Fool producer Ricky Mulvey to discuss:

• How Walmart, Rent the Runway, and Peloton Interactive adjust earnings (and what it means for shareholders).
• Why investors should follow a company's operating income.
• The pros and pitfalls of GAAP metrics.
• A better way to count stock-based compensation.

To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. To get started investing, check out our quick-start guide to investing in stocks. A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on February 11, 2023.

Patrick Badolato: I just want to slow us all down for a second. This is a company that buys and then rents out fashionable clothing. But they also wanted us to effectively ignore the cost of their clothes by ignoring their depreciation on all of these items that clearly depreciate quite quickly and are a constant recurring use of cash to stay in business.

Chris Hill: I'm Chris Hill and that's Patrick Badolato, a professor at the UT Austin McCombs School of Business, Ricky Mulvey caught up with him to gain some insights from an genuine MBA classroom and discuss whether artificial intelligence can take a financial analyst's job, why investors should pay close attention to operating income and how Rent the Runway made an interesting adjustment to its earnings.

Ricky Mulvey: One point in Howard Marks' memo, sea changes that investors have this moving sidewalk for the past 13 years, and that a lot of fundamental analysis wasn't really worth one's time. Now in a more normalized interest rate environment, it might be worth your time. Walk me through this why is it worth it for investors to dig into the weeds in financial statements?

Patrick Badolato: Ricky, I think one of the reasons is just that slowly and surely computers and AI and all that will replace what we do. As a result, what I trie to do in class is just to deliver a moment to slow things down, to have a chance to digest the information. As you said, read the footnotes and think carefully about what the business is doing. Alongside that, we're definitely to use and talk about financial metrics. But financial metrics can be very limited where they deliver a snapshot of a company, they deliver a general overview, but there usually is much more behind the scenes that you can get from memorizing the management discussion analysis, looking through different parts of the footnotes or the rest of the financial filing.

Ricky Mulvey: I thought about this, why can't a computer program just screen for metrics and then pick stocks for me, look for companies with high returns on invested capital, low P/E, deliver me some examples and then let's go.

Patrick Badolato: At one point this might be possible and I love your question because we were recently talking in class about ChatGPT. I'm actually excited about this because I feel like there's a great opportunity for using more and more machine learning and AI to do the mindless mechanical stuff and then enable us as humans to continue to do the synthesis, do the analysis weave together the qualitative with the quantitative. My belief is that that should really open up the door for more nuanced and thoughtful conversations around businesses, instead of just trying to look for P/E ratios or whatever else quick and dirty metric that we can find.

Ricky Mulvey: I want to dig in to some of the metrics now because I know there's a lot you've brought up in previous discussions that in your class with even MBA students, there's a lot of confusion about the difference between something like EBITDA and operating income. That difference is very important, not just for your students but for investors.

Patrick Badolato: Yes, great point, Ricky in that, I think with students of all backgrounds and professionals as well, we're very colloquial with a bunch of our terms and I don't mean to in any way imply that like the person using it, doesn't understand what they're doing, but I'm not certain we're always on the same page as you mentioned, with metrics like EBIT, earnings before interest and taxes, operating income, or EBITDA. I try to orient the conversation to talking about what do we want to get, what's the metric we're trying to analyze? Usually, that is the core performance of the business, which would be revenue minus operating expenses.

Commonly, people will call that EBIT, earnings before interests and taxes, but realistically speaking with companies, they're not going to be the same particularly because there usually are other items between operating income and net income other than interest and taxes that you'd also want to consider or make adjustments for. Operating income lets us directly focus on the company's operations, but EBIT is really more constrained and may only deliver us the chance to make two adjustments for interest and taxes. Those are adjustments we may want to make in certain cases, but we might actually be including a variety of other items that we may not want to consider or would not be a part of operating income.

Ricky Mulvey: Yeah. What are some examples then where EBIT doesn't deliver you a great picture of the company's financial picture?

Patrick Badolato: I'm going to talk about Walmart a little bit, but if you take Walmart over the last couple of years and you calculate their EBIT in a literal sense, earnings and then you make an adjustment for interest and taxes, and that's it. They've had a host of other items in there, like other gains and losses. They had a loss on extinguishment of their debt. You can have a variety of factors that companies will encounter -- gains, losses, commonly non-recurring items that will fall on the income statement between their net income and their operating income.

Just calling it operating income and focusing on what it literally is may just help that conversation move forward. I'll just deliver one example I've seen in class where I'll start with asking my students, hey, can you calculate EBIT for this particular company? If I ask 100 students, what does EBIT for in this case, actually I did Walmart, you get about 40 different answers. You get a lot more consensus if you ask that same question with operating income. We do have some confusion with how we calculate EBIT, and we have less of that with operating income.

Ricky Mulvey: The benefit of operating income is that it's extraordinarily clear: revenue minus expenses, then you get your answer?

Patrick Badolato: That's one specific benefit I like of operating income. It's literal, it's direct, it's very clear about what we're after and the end result are naturally matched together.

Ricky Mulvey: When people are talking about EBIT, they figuratively mean operating income. Then what's the benefit of finding that?

Patrick Badolato: Yeah, Ricky, I think that's really it is that EBIT is usually defined to just mean operating income even though it doesn't literally represent that. But it's still a useful metric to focus on operating income, particularly because it does a few things. One, it enables us to include all of the operating expenses, and two, it does allow us to strip out things that just might not be related to the company's core performance, such as interest, taxes, and importantly, other gains and losses, or potentially one-time items that fall between operating income and net income.

Ricky Mulvey: If you're talking about stripping out expenses then it sounds like you're just talking about EBITDA. What are the differences? Why are they important?

Patrick Badolato: Ricky I'm glad you asked. I think that's a good point here that we mix EBITDA in with conversations around operating income and EBIT and EBITDA, such a common metric, it's absolutely worth trying to understand and unpack. But major difference here is that EBITDA starts to add back operating expenses such as depreciation and amortization. As a result, it may have some issues and we definitely want to be careful with using this very common metric.

Ricky Mulvey: One reason that it's difficult to compare different companies' EBITDA and then come to a conclusion is because of a stuff like depreciation which different companies use it very differently.

Patrick Badolato: Sure, I think it's definitely worth examining the role of depreciation which we're adjusting out or adding back in EBITDA. Here's one way to think about it. Companies that stay in business must constantly spend cash on maintenance capex to basically maintain the revenues and their expenses, the position that they're in. Say I run a grocery store and we have a refrigerator that no longer works. I need to spend cash to replace that equipment not to grow my revenue, but just to maintain my current revenue.

If we consider a major retailer like Walmart or even a smaller one with just dozens of stores, they're surely spending cash to replace those assets that get used up just to maintain revenue on a weekly if not daily basis. This is a constant use of cash in running a business. Recently your show covered this point in a fascinating conversation with Warren Buffett's owner earnings, where he basically talks about the importance of removing all maintenance capex, which is the amount when you spend on property plant equipment to maintain our revenue. This owners earnings metric is absolutely great, excellent metric.

But there's a big challenge for most of us, which is that we may not have the industry-specific knowledge to estimate maintenance capex, but I'd argue that not all is lost, like so what do we do if we're not the Warren Buffetts of the world. What if we don't have the experience that Berkshire brings to the table? We actually have an excellent proxy for the recurring cash that our company has to spend to maintain its position. That is a depreciation expense. We have an option here. Basically, we can treat depreciation expense in a manner that's consistent with its economic basis. It's a core recurring operating expense that relates to recurring cash outflows and just leave it in there.

Ricky Mulvey: Outside of depreciation, there's some issues with comparability with that EBITDA number, too, right?

Patrick Badolato: Yeah. Another issue you may find with EBITDA is that it actually can, in relatively common cases, impair comparability. Let me set it up with an example that just covers a basic idea. Say you have two companies. One, basically these are the same companies. I'm going to argue, in fact, all else is held equal. One company owns all of its stores. The other one rents all of its stores. If you calculate their EBITDA, the company that owns all of its stores is going to have a significantly higher EBITDA.

The reason it'll be significantly higher is that they're able to ignore the effect, the cost of the stores that they own because they get to add back all of their appreciation. The EBITDA of the company that owns all the stores, it's going to look better. But in many ways, these companies are the same. One just happens to rent and one happens to own. As long as we're not talking about a real estate holding company, which would render this not very useful, these companies are the same company and should be evaluated in a similar way, but EBITDA impairs comparability because it makes the one that owns look significantly better than the one that rents.

Ricky Mulvey: Operating income would strip out that depreciation expense comparison.

Patrick Badolato: Yeah, and that's an important benefit of the lens that operating income can offer us when we're looking at a company's core business, is that whether a company owns or it rents, either of those expenses are going to be reflected in operating income. Effectively, the company is going to be held accountable for owning or renting as a core recurring operating expense.

Ricky Mulvey: One issue too with depreciation is that companies can often choose the useful life for their assets and that can be gamed with their balance sheets. Is that an issue too with looking at EBITDA?

Patrick Badolato: It's a really common idea that depreciation, choice with useful life can, company can manipulate what they're doing with depreciation expense. First, I want to acknowledge that's totally valid if we're looking at a single asset or a single project, not a collection of assets or a larger company. But mathematically that issue is significantly mitigated once you go to the company level. Because companies have large collections of assets and their useful life, or the amount of depreciation expense each year when it's done across the portfolio is going to greatly offset any impact they could make with respect to their choice of useful life. It's a somewhat technical calculation. I think it might be hard to do in a podcast.

But effectively, one way to look at it is as long as the company has more assets than their average useful lives. Let's take Walmart. Walmart's average useful life is between one and 40 years on its latest 10-K filing. We just need Walmart to have greater than 40. Let's take the highest one. Greater than 40 assets and any choice they make with useful life will be effectively mitigated. Walmart has over 10,000 stores and over 500 in the state of Texas. I'm fully confident that they're going to have such a large portfolio or bundle of assets that the argument about useful life, which does make sense with a single asset and totally works, is not going to be an item that affects the total company annual depreciation expense for Walmart or really any company with a collection of assets at its disposal.

Ricky Mulvey: But depreciation can get a little tricky once you start counting it as your cost of goods sold. We'll get to that in a sec. We've thrown a lot of words salad at you. What's the big takeaway, Patrick?

Patrick Badolato: I love that example, Ricky, and we'll get into it. But here's my intentionally tongue in cheek version of it all. While EBITDA may violate the maintenance of finance by ignoring core recurring cash flows or overstating our operating income, it definitely still abides by the main tenants of humanity. Whether you go back to Plato's allegory of the cave or facetune that we use today or check out Warren Buffett's appendix in his 1986 letter, there always is an incentive for us to embellish, to be involved in marketing. EBITDA is common and will continue to be common because it enables us effectively to ignore expenses and in different ways embellish overall performance.

Ricky Mulvey: Companies have the ability to add back certain expenses and there is a set of rules that they're supposed to follow with their income statements. It's called GAAP and something that I've thought is wouldn't it just be easier if all these companies followed the same rules?

Patrick Badolato: Ricky, that's a great point and first, just to be clear, all these companies do follow the same rules. They have GAAP financial statements and there are never allowed to remove those. But what they are allowed to do, and I'm going to count it faster and I'm such a huge fan of, is to offer in addition to that non-GAAP metrics, where they're allowed in that case to supplement the GAAP financial statement information with additional metrics and this is an opportunity for management to show their lens of the incremental information they have that might be better than we get from a purely standardized version with GAAP.

One of the reasons this is particularly valuable is that in valuation in different applications, we actually don't want to treat each component of earnings or cash flows to be the same. There's a couple of academic papers that show this, but the basic idea is we as outsiders like set aside management, we want to focus on core earnings like the recurring ability for a company to continue to operate and to generate performance that last over time, meaning stripping out one-time items.

Ricky Mulvey: What's the time that an adjustment has been useful? What's an example of a useful adjustment that offers clear insights for investors?

Patrick Badolato: I'm going to use an example with Walmart's latest 2022 fiscal year-end, they have what they call adjusted earnings per share and this would probably be easier with a slide, but let's deliver it a shot in this format. Walmart adds back four items and I want to talk about them and then deliver a discussion around each of those items. First, the loss on the sale of their operations in the U.K. and Japan. Second, their loss on extinguishment of debt. Third, their unrealized gains and losses on equity investments. Fourth, their business restructuring charges.

Ricky Mulvey: Why are these important?

Patrick Badolato: One at a time, I would say that these are the first one, the last one is the sale of operations in the U.K. and Japan. This is such a classic and great example in a classroom setting or anything else of non-recurring items. If they sell these operations, they can really only sell them once. The second one, they could theoretically have another loss on the extinguishment of debt, and think of this for us is like refinancing our mortgage. You could technically do this multiple times, although that would likely be rare and in their case, they're getting out of that debt. This is a good example of an item that's likely not recurring often and certainly, I think more importantly, not a part of their operations.

Third, the unrealized gains and losses is actually an item that they have every year. But what they do and I value their decision here, is they remove both gains and losses. When this position is a net gain, there are adjusting that out. When it's a net loss, they're adjusting that out, so they're offering some insight into the idea that this is outside of their core operations. The fourth one is, I think a great opportunity for us as humans to be involved in this process in a way that AI might not be there yet and it's the restructuring expense. On one hand, you could argue, this restructuring project is done, it's completed and it can't recur.

But on the other hand, if you take a big conglomerate like Walmart, it's very likely that they'll engage in restructuring in the future. In fact, in some ways, you may want that to happen because the company needs to change and adapt across time. So it's small, it's by far the smallest of all four. I think it adds $0.06 in total to the earnings per share and the rest collectively are $1.53. But I would personally say that I'm less hurry on ignoring that one and I might want to leave it in earnings with the assumption that restructuring may recur often enough that we want to evaluate their performance with some amount of restructuring expense in each year.

So of the four items in my worldview, three of them makes sense because they're one-time outside of operations, or at least they're being balanced. The fourth one I think, is up for debate and you can take it in either direction. Do you want to let them adjust out restructuring or not? I think any human can have that conversation and use the information available and read what Walmart has to say about why they did it and what else is going on to make an assessment of whether or not that will occur. But collectively, I really like and value what Walmart's doing because they're basically enabling us as outsiders to get at a better version of core earnings, which is like the recurring component of their earnings per share, the ones that we would expect to recur in the future and can naturally build a new forecast to remodel or anything else.

Ricky Mulvey: Plus restructuring keeps companies like McKinsey in business. We always love to see small businesses excel. There are ways that these adjustments can be used though, and it's not always a debate about whether or not this is a one-time expense.

Patrick Badolato: Non-GAAP definitely opens up the door for almost anything. So we'd be fairly naive to not expect some absurd embellishments to go on in this area.

Ricky Mulvey: So what are some of the less credible ways that you've seen companies adjust their earnings?

Patrick Badolato: There's lots of versions and I'm going to potentially find one that I've used in class, which I'll offer particularly fun to do. So Rent the Runway is a company that rents out its high-fashion clothing, usually for major significant events in people's lives. What they did is they basically followed generally accepted embellishments of EBITDA and they added back their rental product depreciation in their non-GAAP metrics. Again, this is non-GAAP, it's certainly allowed, it a perspective they are able to offer. But I just want to slow us down for a second. This is a company that buys and then rents out fashionable clothing. But they also wanted us to effectively ignore the cost of their clothes by ignoring their depreciation on all of these items that clearly depreciate quite quickly and are a constant recurring use of cash to stay in business.

Ricky Mulvey: So how should Rent the Runway count the purchase of these high-fashion items?

Patrick Badolato: They're ignoring the depreciation on these. But I'd argue, if we step back and think about what depreciation is for them, it's effectively their cost of goods sold. Like they're renting, they're not literally selling, but depreciation expense is effectively their cost of goods sold. I think it'd be crazy for any other company. Let's jump back to Walmart because we've been talking about them to make an argument to outsiders and investors that we should evaluate them independent of or adjusting out their cost of goods sold.

Ricky Mulvey: Fair enough. I can see why investors might want to pay attention to that. Before we wrap up are there any other examples of companies adjusting earnings in ways that make you raise your eyebrows?

Patrick Badolato: Ricky there's lots of examples and there's one that we've chatted about and you guys covered on your show. So it's gotten a lot of time and media attention. I just want to bring up quickly, which is Peloton, uses a version of adjusted EBITDA. In general, what they do seems very similar to others, but I just want to make one point here -- in their adjusted EBITDA, they're effectively removing, ignoring the effects of depreciation like many others.

But a question I ask is whether an incremental push toward a metric like EBITDA or adjusted EBITDA can change the framework that management makes when they think about deploying capital. In 2021, Peloton added a massive new factory which will come on board in 2023. If they're managing to a metric like EBITDA, which lets them ignore depreciation, it's just worth considering whether or not that incrementally pushes toward the deployment of capital, but doesn't actually create value in the long run. Effectively, if they're not being held accountable for the capital they deploy in additional factories or warehouses or the overall production.

Ricky Mulvey: The biggest adjustment that a lot of companies make to that EBITDA is stock-based compensation. What's your take on the ways that companies adjust for that?

Patrick Badolato: So especially as we've moved toward more of a human capital intensive economy, we've seen the rise of salaries and wages basically being just a bigger part of companies' overall expenses. Alongside that, a rise of stock-based compensation. One common reason stock-based compensation is at a bag is actually the same as depreciation. We argue it's a non-cash expense, while it definitely is non-cash in the sense of a journal entry as in we don't credit the cash account we recorded. But that's true of basically all expenses where we debit cost of goods sold and credit inventory, or we debit wages expense and we credit wages payable. Most expenses don't have a literal direct credit to the cash account.

So stock compensation is very much similar to compensation expense itself, except that the impact on the company may come later. So it's an expense that's commonly ignored and it's just one we may want to take a little bit more careful look at specifically because what it will naturally do is create dilution down the road. So that as you're giving out a bunch of shares of compensation to your employees, your number of shares outstanding is going to increase. If I can use a quick numerical example, if I have $100 company value and 20 shares outstanding, my price per share is $5. But if I deliver out an incremental five shares, then I'll have 25 shares outstanding. With 25 shares outstanding instead of 20 now I price per share all else held equal is going to drop to $4.

So stock-based compensation is a great example of an expense that's going to have an impact on the company's value. Particularly it's going to increase the number of shares outstanding. We could try to model this in by adjusting for the expected increase in the shares outstanding. But that might be a very hard task. Another way to look at this is to examine stock-based compensation expense effectively as a regular expense, salary and wage expense that companies incur, representing resources consumed in order to run their business in that particular period. Even if the cash flows are slightly delayed or even if the impact on valuation's slightly delayed, it's still a representation of resources consumed to run the business in that particular period.

Ricky Mulvey: Patrick Badolato, he is an accounting professor at the University of Texas, McCombs School of Business. Stay warm down there in Austin, and I appreciate your time and for joining us on Motley Fool Money.

Patrick Badolato: Thank you, Ricky.

Chris Hill: As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about and the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. I'm Chris Hill. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

Put your film knowledge to the test and see how many movie trivia questions you can get right. Plus, learn bonus facts about your favorite movies!

How many of these movie trivia questions can you answer correctly?

Consider yourself a film aficionado? If so, these trivia questions are for you. There’s a wide range of trivia questions here, from specific movie questions (including some Star Wars trivia) to general movie knowledge. Sit back, grab the popcorn, and see how many movie trivia questions you get right—no peeking at the answers! Don’t forget to check out these trivia questions for kids—they’ll liven up your family game night.

Ronald Siemoneit/Getty Images

The code in The Matrix comes from what food recipes?

A. Sushi recipes

B. Dumpling recipes

C. Stir-fry recipes

D. Pad thai recipes

Answer: Sushi recipes

Bonus fact: A production designer scanned symbols from his wife’s sushi cookbooks, then manipulated them to create the iconic “code.”

What’s the name of Meatloaf’s character in The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

A. Henry

B. Eddie

C. Chuck

D. Al

Answer: Eddie

Who actually drew the sketch of Rose in Titanic?

A. Leonardo DiCaprio

B. Billy Zane

C. James Cameron

D. Kathy Bates

Answer: James Cameron

Bonus fact: Unlike Jack’s French girls, Kate Winslet wore a bathing suit while Cameron sketched the picture.

Who voices Joy in Pixar’s Inside Out?

A. Tina Fey

B. Kathryn Hahn

C. Ellen DeGeneres

D. Amy Poehler

Answer: Amy Poehler

RELATED: Disney Trivia: How Well Do You Know Your Favorite Disney Movies?

Where were The Lord of the Rings movies filmed?

A. Ireland

B. Iceland

C. New Zealand

D. Australia

Answer: New Zealand

RELATED: 13 Hidden Messages in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy You Never Noticed

Which country does Forrest Gump travel to as part of the All-American Ping-Pong Team?

A. Vietnam

B. China

C. Sweden

D. France

Answer: China

Which famous Pulp Fiction scene was filmed backward?

A. Vincent and Mia’s dance scene

B. Mia’s overdose scene

C. The royale with cheese scene

D. The Ezekiel 25:17 scene

Answer: Mia’s overdose scene

Bonus fact: When Uma Thurman’s character is having an overdose, it looks like John Travolta sticks a needle in her to revive her. Actually, Travolta pulled the needle out, and the film was run backward to reverse the action.

Which actor was in the following movies: The Outsiders, Wayne’s World, and Tommy Boy?

A. Tom Cruise

B. Matt Dillon

C. Rob Lowe

D. C. Thomas Howell

Answer: Rob Lowe

Who was the first Black person to win an Oscar?

A. Hattie McDaniel

B. Sidney Poitier

C. Dorothy Dandridge

D. James Earl Jones

Answer: Hattie McDaniel

Bonus Fact: McDaniel won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1939 for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. 

Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Which is not the name of a child selected to tour the Wonka factory in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

A. Billy Warp

B. Veruca Salt

C. Mike Teavee

D. Charlie Bucket

Answer: Billy Warp

Freddy Krueger wears a striped sweater that is which colors?

A. Red and blue

B. Orange and green

C. Red and green

D. Orange and brown

Answer: Red and green

RELATED: The 35 Scariest Movies of All Time

Who did the cat in The Godfather belong to?

A. Francis Ford Coppola

B. Diane Keaton

C. Al Pachino

D. No one—the cat was a stray

Answer: No one—the cat was a stray.

Bonus fact: Director Francis Ford Coppola found the cat in the studio and handed it to Marlon Brando before the shot. The cat loved the actor so much that it stayed in his lap and purred so loudly that the crew was afraid the noise would drown out the dialogue.

RELATED: Can You Answer These 14 Dictionary Questions from Jeopardy?

What is the name of the fictional land where Frozen takes place?

A. Arendelle

B. Naples

C. Florin

D. Grimm

Answer: Arendelle

Getty Images/Getty Images

What score did Elle Woods get on her LSAT in Legally Blonde?

A. 155

B. 166

C. 170

D. 179

Answer: 179

Which movie is this famous line from: “I wish I knew how to quit you.”

A. Love Actually

B. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

C. Brokeback Mountain

D. The Notebook 

Answer: Brokeback Mountain

RELATED: 50 of the Most Famous Movie Quotes of All Time

What was the top-grossing movie of 2014?

A. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

B. The Lego Movie

C. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 

D. Guardians of the Galaxy

Answer: Guardians of the Galaxy

True or false: Sean Connery wore a toupee in every James Bond movie

Answer: True

Bonus fact: If you think the dreamy 007 seemed too good to be true, you’re right. Sean Connery started balding at age 17.

RELATED: The 12 Best Spy Movies You Should Watch Again

How old was Stockard Channing when she played high school student Rizzo in Grease?

A. 27

B. 33

C. 35

D. 20

Answer: 33

Who directed the hit 2017 movie Get Out?

A. James Wan

B. Jordan Peele

C. Guillermo del Toro

D. Tim Story

Answer: Jordan Peele

What item is in every Fight Club scene?

A. A Coca-Cola can

B. A Starbucks cup

C. A Dunkin’ donut

D. A Pepsi bottle

Answer: A Starbucks cup

Bonus fact: Director David Fincher thought the Starbucks shops popping up on every block of LA in the late ‘90s was “too much of a good thing,” so he poked fun of the coffee chain in Fight Club. He’s claimed to have sneaked a Starbucks cup into every shot, with the permission of the chain—with one exception. Starbucks didn’t want its shop destroyed on film, so that scene uses the made-up Gratifico Coffee instead.

If you watch the Marvel movies in chronological order, which movie would you watch first?

A. Iron Man

B. Captain America: The First Avenger 

C. Doctor Strange

D. Captain Marvel

Answer: Captain America: The First Avenger 

New Line Cinema/Getty Images

Which is the first movie in the Austin Powers franchise?

A. Austin Powers: Spy of the World 

B. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 

C. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery 

D. Austin Powers in Goldmember 

Answer: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery 

Which movie is this quote from: “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

A. Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

B. Citizen Kane

C. Casablanca 

D. Notorious 

Answer: Casablanca 

What is the name of the camp where counselors are terrorized by a slasher in Friday the 13th?

A. Camp Holland Lake

B. Camp Crystal Lake

C. Camp Diamond Lake

D. Camp Green Lake

Answer: Camp Crystal Lake

Some of the velociraptor noises in Jurassic Park are actually which animals mating?

A. Tortoises

B. Frogs

C. Lizards

D. Crocodiles

Answer: Tortoises

Bonus fact: At least that’s what the sound designer used when the raptors were communicating. Other scenes of the species used horse breathing and goose hisses.

Which actor hasn’t played the Joker?

A. Jack Nicholson

B. Sean Penn

C. Jared Leto

D. Mark Hamil

Answer: Sean Penn

Which country was the 2017 movie Call Me By Your Name filmed?

A. France

B. Italy

C. Greece

D. Morocco

Answer: Italy

RELATED: 40 Best LGBTQ Movies Everyone Should Watch

Archive Photos/Stringer/Getty Images

The dog in The Sandlot is nicknamed “The Beast.” What’s the dog’s genuine name?

A. Hercules

B. Goliath

C. Atlas

D. Zeus

Answer: Hercules

RELATED: 75 Classic Family Movies Everyone Will Enjoy

Which singer starred alongside Steve Martin in 2006’s remake of The Pink Panther?

A. Beyoncé

B. Britney Spears

C. Rihanna

D. Mariah Carey

Answer: Beyoncé

Which two movies started from the same script?

A. Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind 

B. E.T. and Poltergeist 

C. The Goonies and Indiana Jones

D. Jurassic Park and The Land Before Time

Answer: E.T. and Poltergeist 

Bonus fact: Steven Spielberg was going to produce filmmaker John Sayles’ Night Skies script about a rural family invaded by aliens that could kill with a touch of the finger but decided to go a more family-friendly route with the story by creating E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. Sayles wouldn’t rewrite the script, but Spielberg kept the idea for Poltergeist.

VALERIE MACON/Getty Images

How many Oscars has Halle Berry won?

A. 2

B. 1

C. 0

D. 4

Answer: 1

True or false: Speed is the only movie Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves have starred in together

Answer: False

Bonus fact: They also starred in 2006’s The Lake House together.

Which movie is this quote from: “What’s in the box?”

A. Speed 

B. Reservoir Dogs

C. The Boondock Saints 

D. Se7en 

Answer: Se7en 

In Mean Girls, Cady moves to Illinois from which continent?

A. Australia

B. Europe

C. Africa

D. Asia

Answer: Africa

Michael Myers’ mask in Halloween is which actor’s face?

A. Clint Eastwood

B. Marlon Brando

C. Paul Newman

D. William Shatner

Answer: William Shatner

Bonus fact: Specifically, it was his Star Trek character, Captain Kirk. There wasn’t money in the 1978 horror film’s budget to create a custom mask, so the art director bought a clown and a Captain Kirk mask. The crew spray-painted it white and adjusted the eyes and hair to create the terrifying mask.

Which movie was not directed by Tim Burton?

A. The Witches 

B. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure 

C. Corpse Bride

D. Big Fish

Answer: The Witches 

Which movie does not feature Emma Stone?

A. Superbad

B. Easy A

C. The Help

D. No Strings Attached

Answer: No Strings Attached

What object was Toy Story’s Woody originally?

A. A ventriloquist dummy

B. A puppet

C. A clown doll

D. A nesting doll

Answer: A ventriloquist dummy

Bonus fact: Even in later versions, Woody was written as a “sarcastic bully” trying to rally the other toys against Buzz. Luckily, the studio decided to transform him into a more lovable character.

Who directed Silence of the Lambs?

A. Wes Anderson

B. Jonathan Demme

C. Oliver Stone

D. Christopher Nolan

Answer: Jonathan Demme

Which isn’t a core rule for handling a Mogwai in Gremlins?

A. Do not feed it after midnight

B. Do not expose it to bright lights

C. Do not let it get wet

D. Do not let it get cold

Answer: Do not let it get cold

Which professional athlete was considered for the lead in The Terminator?

A. Dan Marino

B. Mike Tyson

C. O.J. Simpson

D. Wayne Gretzky

Answer: O.J. Simpson

Bonus fact: Director James Cameron rejected the choice because he didn’t think the “this likable, goofy, kind of innocent guy” could pull off a cyborg assassin.

True or false: The Shining was Stephen King’s first novel to be adapted into a movie

Answer: False

Bonus Fact: 1976’s Carrie was actually the first movie to be adapted from a Stephen King novel.

RELATED: The Best Stephen King Quotes

How old was the voice actress of Monster Inc.’s Boo at the time of production?

A. Four

B. Two and a half

C. Six

D. Ten

Answer: Two and a half

Bonus fact: At two and a half, Mary Gibbs had trouble sitting still through the scenes, so the crew would follow her around with a microphone. They’d tickle her or take candy away to make her laugh or cry, so the emotions are as real as they sound.

Who took home an Oscar for Best Actor in 1998?

A. Matt Damon

B. Jack Nicholson

C. Liam Neeson

D. Sean Penn

Answer: Jack Nicholson

Bonus fact: Nicholson won the award for his performance in As Good as It Gets. 

Which Star Wars characters appear in Indiana Jones?

A. R2-D2 and C-3PO

B. Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia

C. Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi

D. Han Solo and Chewbacca

Answer: R2-D2 and C-3PO

Bonus fact: Look closely at the scenery in Raiders of the Lost Ark and you’ll notice hieroglyphics with the robots’ likeness in two scenes.

Who plays lawyer-turned-youth-hockey-coach Gordon Bombay in The Mighty Ducks franchise?

A. Denzel Washington

B. Charlie Sheen

C. Emilio Estevez

D. Tim Allen

Answer: Emilio Estevez

True or false: Gone With the Wind’s fire scene is old sets being burned

Answer: True

Bonus fact: The filmmakers had to get rid of the old sets to make room for the new movie’s scenery anyway, so burning them and filming it as “Atlanta” going down in flames accomplished both. The filmmakers are lucky it worked—they shot the blaze even before the movie’s cast was confirmed.

In The Ring, how long do people have to live after they watch a cursed videotape?

A. Three days

B. Seven days

C. Five days

D. One day

Answer: Seven days

Which famous line from Jaws was ad-libbed?

A. “I used to hate the water.”

B. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

C. “All this machine does is swim, and eat, and make little sharks.”

D. “You know, a thing about a shark, he’s got…lifeless eyes. Black eyes, like a doll’s eyes!”

Answer: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

Bonus fact: First of all, the line was “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” not “we’re,” as it’s often misquoted. The line wasn’t in the original script but was an inside joke among the Jaws crew, teasing the stingy producers for picking a support boat that was too small to hold the equipment. Actor Roy Scheider ad-libbed the line throughout filming, but the one kept in the final cut became one of the most remembered movie quotes of all time.

RELATED: 15 Famous Movie Quotes Everyone Gets Wrong

True or False: James Earl Jones voices Mufasa in 1994’s The Lion King

Answer: True

RELATED: The Surprising Reason Mufasa and Scar Weren’t Actually Brothers

A Harry Potter stunt double was paralyzed on the job. Which actor did the stunt double do stunts for?

A. Rupert Grint

B. Emma Watson

C. Alan Rickman

D. Daniel Radcliffe

Answer: Daniel Radcliffe

Bonus fact: David Holmes did the stunt doubles for Daniel Radcliffe in every Harry Potter movie, but an accident during a flying broomstick scene in the last movie left him paralyzed from the neck down. Radcliffe organized a celebrity charity auction to pay for his medical bills, and Holmes now runs a production company with two other quadriplegic friends.

What song plays in the tunnel scene in Perks of Being a Wallflower?

A. “Heroes” by David Bowie

B. “Imagine” by John Lennon

C. “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” by The Smiths

D. “High and Dry” by Radiohead

Answer: “Heroes” by David Bowie

True or false: Toto was paid more than the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz

Answer: True

Bonus fact: The Munchkin actors received $50 a week—which was a good wage at the time—while the dog earned $125 a week.

Who plays Captain Steven Hiller in 1996’s blockbuster movie Independence Day?

A. Will Smith

B. Samuel L. Jackson

C. Denzel Washington

D. Terry Crews

Answer: Will Smith

The set for which movie was buried underground for decades?

A. Nosferatu

B. The Ten Commandments

C. The Great Train Robbery

D. Stagecoach 

Answer: The Ten Commandments

Bonus fact: Cecil B. DeMille, director of the 1923 silent film The Ten Commandments, thought the movie set—including 21 Sphinx replicas—was too valuable to let other filmmakers get their hands on it. He figured it was cheaper to bury the set than to move it, and the artifacts remained underground near the California coast for 94 years before archaeologists found the 300-pound head in 2017.

Archive Photos/Getty Images

Who played Wendy Torrance in The Shining?

A. Cher

B. Shelley Duvall

C. Sissy Spacek

D. Linda Ronstadt

Answer: Shelley Duvall

Which was the first movie to show a toilet flushing?

A. Psycho

B. Citizen Kane

C. The Graduate 

D. Vertigo 

Answer: Psycho

Bonus fact: At the time, the Motion Picture Production Code banned flushing toilets because it was considered filthy. Psycho was a key to putting the censoring code to an end.

Which movie was Spike Lee’s first feature film?

A. She’s Gotta Have It 

B. Do The Right Thing 

C. School Daze

D. Malcolm X

Answer: She’s Gotta Have It 

True or false: In Django Unchained, Leonardo DiCaprio intentionally cut his hand during a scene

Answer: False

Bonus fact: During one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s big scenes in Django Unchained, his racist rant is heightened when he slams down on a table and cuts his hand on a glass. It might look like special effects, but it wasn’t in the script. The actor really did hurt his hand without stopping the scene, and the blood you see is real.

Which word completes this quote from Apocalypse Now: “I love the smell of ___ in the morning.”

A. Surrender

B. Napalm

C. Gunfire

D. Victory

Answer: Napalm

Dracula was filmed in English during the day, and in what other language at night?

A. German

B. Swedish

C. French

D. Spanish

Answer: Spanish

Bonus fact: When the 1931 movie Dracula was being shot, it was common for foreign-language films to take over the set at night and shoot their own versions instead of dubbing over them later. The Spanish-language version—which used the same script and set—wrapped up in about half the time and earned way better reviews than its English-language counterpart.

What karaoke song does Cameron Diaz’s character sing in My Best Friend’s Wedding?

A. “I Just Don’t Know What I’d Do With Myself”

B. “I Will Always Love You”

C. “Stay”

D. “Could This Be Love”

Answer: “I Just Don’t Know What I’d Do With Myself”

True or false: Jimmy Stewart did not want to do It’s a Wonderful Life

Answer: True

Bonus fact: The lead actor had returned from spending 15 months in World War II combat as a pilot and was considering quitting acting. He initially said a film about suicide was the last thing the country (and he, as someone dealing with PTSD) needed, but he reluctantly agreed. It’s a Wonderful Live ended up re-launching his acting career.

Which actor plays Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryan?

A. Tom Hanks

B. Vin Disel

C. Edward Burns

D. Matt Damon

Answer: Matt Damon

Who is the youngest person to win an Oscar?

A. Jennifer Lawrence

B. Mickey Rooney

C. Haley Joel Osment

D. Tatum O’Neal

Answer: Tatum O’Neal

Bonus fact: O’Neal was just 10 years old when she won the Oscar for Best Support Actress in 1974 for her performance in Paper Moon.

RELATED: Why Are the Academy Awards Also Called the Oscars?

True or false: Bradley Cooper’s first movie role was in 2005’s Wedding Crashers

Answer: False

Bonus fact: Cooper’s first movie role was actually in 2001’s Wet Hot American Summer. 

Murray Close/Getty Images

What is the name of Jeff Goldblum’s character in Jurassic Park?

A. Dr. Ian Malcolm

B. Dr. Malcolm Stevens

C. Dr. Evan Malcolm

D. Dr. Michael Ian

Answer: Dr. Ian Malcolm

RELATED: Pop Culture Trivia Questions People Always Get Wrong

What is the highest-grossing movie of all time?

A. Titanic 

B. Avatar 

C. Avengers: Endgame 

D. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Answer: Avatar 

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Which movie was Corey Feldman not in?

A. Stand By Me

B. Fast Times at Ridgemont High

C. The Goonies

D. The Lost Boys

Answer: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Who was originally cast to voice Shrek?

A. Bill Murray

B. Chris Farley

C. David Spade

D. Chris Rock

Answer: Chris Farley

Bonus Fact: After Farley passed away, Nicholas Cage was considered for the role of the beloved green ogre but turned it down.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth first met on the set of which film?

A. Hannah Montana: The Movie

B. The Last Song

C. The Hunger Games 

D. Safe Haven

Answer: The Last Song

Which is the first movie in the Bourne franchise?

A. The Bourne Legacy

B. The Bourne Supremacy 

C. Jason Bourne 

D. The Bourne Identity 

Answer: The Bourne Identity 

True or false: Mickey Mouse has five fingers

Answer: False—Mickey Mouse has four fingers.

Evan Agostini/Getty Images

Which actor isn’t in Anchorman?

A. Paul Rudd

B. Seth Rogen

C. David Koechner

D. Adam Scott

Answer: Adam Scott

Bonus fun fact: Even though Scott wasn’t featured in this Will Ferrell movie, he does act alongside Ferrell in 2008’s Step Brothers.

RELATED: The Best 100 Funny Movies of All Time

What are the names of the two people behind Ghostface in Scream?

A. Billy and Steve

B. Bobby and Stu

C. Bobby and Steve

D. Billy and Stu

Answer: Billy and Stu

Archive Photos/Getty Images

What year was the first Die Hard movie released?

A. 1986

B. 1988

C. 1990

D. 1991

Answer: 1988

RELATED: 21 Movies That Have Hilarious Titles in Other Countries

What are the names of the two people behind Ghostface in Scream?

A. Billy and Steve

B. Bobby and Stu

C. Bobby and Steve

D. Billy and Stu

Answer: Billy and Stu

Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Which movie does not feature Catherine O’Hara?

A. Nothing Personal 

B. The Nightmare Before Christmas

C. Beetlejuice 

D. City of Angels 

Answer: City of Angels

Who plays the convenience store clerk seen at the beginning of Juno?

A. Bill Hader

B. Rainn Wilson

C. Andy Samberg

D. Jonah Hill

Answer: Rainn Wilson

Bettmann/Getty Images

True or false: The first Academy Awards were handed out in 1925

Answer: False.

Bonus fact: They were first handed out in 1929.

Which movie stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as a broken up couple who seek to erase memories of one another?

A. Memories 

B. It Had to Be You

C. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

D. Equals

Answer: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

What was the highest-grossing movie of 2005?

A. War of the Worlds

B. Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

C. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

D. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe 

Answer: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

RELATED: The Most Popular Movie the Year You Were Born

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Which actress has the most Oscar wins?

A. Katharine Hepburn

B. Meryl Streep

C. Ingrid Bergman

D. Elizabeth Taylor

Answer: Katharine Hepburn

When was the first Mission: Impossible movie released?

A. 1993

B. 1996

C. 1997

D. 1999

Answer: 1996

Bettmann/Getty Images

How many movies did Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers do together?

A. 7

B. 9

C. 10

D. 12

Answer: 10

Bonus fact: They were first cast together in the 1933 movie Flying Down to Rio.

Who voices Lenny the shark in 2004’s Shark Tale?

A. Adam Sandler

B. Will Ferrell

C. Jack Black

D. Jimmy Fallon

Answer: Jack Black

What movie is this famous quote from: “You can’t handle the truth!”

A. Training Day

B. Saving Private Ryan

C. A Few Good Men

D. Armageddon

Answer: A Few Good Men

Jason Mendez/Getty Images

Which romantic movie does not feature Ryan Reynolds?

A. The Proposal

B. Definitely, Maybe

C. Just Friends 

D. He’s Just Not That Into You

Answer: He’s Just Not That Into You

Which character in The Godfather is nicknamed “The Turk”?

A. Emilio Barzini

B. Sonny Corleone

C. Virgil Sollozzo

D. Salvatore Tessio

Answer: Virgil Sollozzo

Which comedian makes a zombie cameo in Zombieland?

A. Dan Aykroyd

B. Chevy Chase

C. Steve Martin

D. Bill Murray

Answer: Bill Murray

Archive Photos/Getty Images

How many times has A Star is Born, which was originally released in 1937, been remade?

A. 2 times

B. 3 times

C. 4 times

D. 5 times

Answer: 4 times

Bonus fact: Here is the list of remakes: The 1951 television adaptation starring Kathleen Crowley and Conrad Nagel, the 1954 movie starring Judy Garland and James Mason, the 1976 movie starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, and the 2018 movie starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

Which actress plays Julia Child in Julia & Julia?

A. Meryl Streep

B. Diane Keaton

C. Jane Fonda

D. Joan Cusack

Answer: Meryl Streep

RELATED: 15 Must-Watch Movies That Will Make You Want to Cook

Rolf Konow/Getty Images

Which movie does not feature Winona Ryder?

A. Lucas

B. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

C. Bram Stoker’s Dracula

D. Girl, Interrupted

Answer: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Which movie does not star Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore?

A. The Wedding Singer

B. Fever Pitch

C. Blended

D. 50 First Dates

Answer: Fever Pitch

Bonus fact: Barrymore actually does star in 2005’s Fever Pitch, but she stars opposite of Jimmy Fallon.

Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images

True or false: Han Solo’s classic “I know” line in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was improvised by Harrison Ford

Answer: True

What was Tyler Perry’s first movie as Madea?

A. Madea’s Family Reunion 

B. Meet The Browns

C. Diary of a Mad Black Woman

D. Madea Goes To Jail

Answer: Diary of a Mad Black Woman

In Passengers, Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star as voyagers to a new planet who awaken decades too early in their trip. Why does Lawrence’s character wake up?

A. Her hibernation pod malfunctions

B. The captain of the ship wakes her up so she can participate in an experiment with Pratt’s character

C. Pratt’s character wakes her up because he wants a companion

D. She has a medical emergency

Answer: Pratt’s character wakes her up because he wants a companion

Which phrase completes this famous quote from The Princess Bride: “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. ______.”

A. “And now, you will pay.”

B. “Face me now, coward.”

C. “Prepare to die.”

D. “Tell me, why?”

Answer: “Prepare to die.”

RELATED: Can You Guess the Movies That Made These Quotes Famous?

Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images

Around how long did it take to make The Nightmare Before Christmas?

A. Two years

B. Three years

C. Five years

D. Six years

Answer: Three years

Don’t forget to test your holiday film knowledge with these Christmas movie trivia questions.

What’s the name of the planet Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker duel on in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith?

A. Hoth

B. Mustafar

C. Yavin

D. Tatooine

Answer: Mustafar

RELATED: How to Watch the Star Wars Movies in Order

Where was The Notebook filmed?

A. Savannah, Georgia

B. Wilmington, North Carolina

C. Richmond, Virginia

D. Charleston, South Carolina

Answer: Charleston, South Carolina

So, how many did you get right? If you want to keep the trivia train going, test your knowledge with this book trivia quiz.

© Provided by Hagerty Media

In our last installment of According to You, you shared with us your personal thoughts on some of the worst engines you’ve ever experienced. Some answers were expected, but others took many of us by surprise. Hopefully, today’s installment stokes a similar passion—albeit on the positive side of things. We asked for the best engines you’ve experienced, and the answers you gave us were fantastic.

Truly fantastic, to the point we often bundled multiple engine votes into their respective families. Let’s get to it.

Ford inline-six (300 and 200 cu in)

The amount of positive feedback for the 300-cubic-inch Ford inline six-cylinder was a welcome but expected byproduct of our question. These motors get the job done and are very, very hard to kill, endearing themselves to many of you. We also threw in a shoutout for the smaller 200-cu-in version:

Sam: “Ford 300 I6 Dependable and reliable. Very long lasting.”

Sajeev Mehta: “An excellent choice. I loved the 300 once they added port fuel injection and an overdrive automatic transmission to it, that made it perfect for so many uses.”

Wesley: “I’ll add a 3rd vote to that… Still running a 300 6cyl today. She’s untouched other than careful maintenance for the past 31 years.”

James: “Yep the Ford 300 six. Grandad bought a 68 F100 with it and I now have it and it just keeps on running.”

Cday: “My ’65 Mustang has the 200 I6 with 5 main bearings. Bulletproof bottom end and the engine will never die. Easy to work on with easy-to-find parts make it a home run.”

Volvo “Red Block” B21 slant-four

The Volvo Redblock is a legendary motor that lived a long, successful life. Hagerty Community Member Forty2 had a bittersweet moment to share with us, as we apparently asked our question at the right time. RIP to this Volvo 240:

“My ’91 240 was hauled off to the boneyard today (still running but with a smushed-in rear) due to a crash last week, but after a quarter-million miles that engine (and everything else containing oils) never leaked a drop, ran strong (as much as it could anyway), no smoke, fired within one crank of the starter, and will hopefully live on under another Volvo hood.”

Cummins B-series/Dodge 5.9-liter diesel

D. Dewald offered a diesel engine whose longevity has played a big part in its well-deserved reputation:

“The best engine experience for me has been the 5.9L Cummins 24VHO turbodiesel in my 2001 Dodge 2500. Day after day of efficient operation; pulling trailers as needed in the summer and pushing snow through Upper Peninsula winters. After 21 years it still has the original pump and injectors at 230k miles, still runs like new and will probably go to 500k as long as the rest of the truck doesn’t rust away.”

Nissan VQ V-6

Hagerty Community member Det gave us a late-model Japanese motor with an unforgettable naturally-aspirated sound and classic performance traits:

“Various versions of the Nissan VQ (3.0, 3.5, 3.7) in the U.S: I even enjoyed the 3.7L in the last gen NISMO Z even though it lacked high-revving smoothness.”

Small-block Chevy V-8 (especially the 327)

Don’t get me wrong, the small block Chevrolets that are smaller than 327 cubic inches have nothing to be ashamed of. But our readers offered wonderful feedback on the later, larger, more powerful, and subsequently more popular versions of this world-famous engine from Chevrolet.

Marvin: “327 chevy in a 1964 Corvette, 365 hp with a close ratio transmission and 3.70 gears. Redline was 6500 rpm and it would do 65 mph in 1st, 85 in 2nd, 105 in 3rd, and top out at 125-130. Strong engine and very quick!”

Rick: “1969 Z/28 302 bad to the bone back in high school.”

9K2164S: “Chevy 327 with solid lifters, big Holley and single plane intake rowing through a four speed at 7,000 RPM. I’ve owned most all the common Chevy small blocks from 283 through 400 and the 327 was, like the Three Little Bears, “just right”.”

Stephen: “I’m old school and I really enjoy the 302 in my 69 Z28.”

Ken_L: “All of the older small block Chevy engines I owned have been good to me. Current 48 year old one with 90,000 original miles runs great, but will need new valve seals sometime.”

Greg Ingold: “The GM 5.7 “Vortec” engine is really good. Have a close friend with over 300,000 on his 5.7 equipped truck and I’ve had two GMT400 trucks with it that I sold with 250,000 miles on the clock and I still see one of those trucks driving around town today. Only real flaws I’ve experienced is that the intake gaskets leak coolant eventually, but the upgraded ones the aftermarket sells permanently fix that and the funky distributor cap is corrosion prone, so buying the expensive OEM-grade caps upon replacement are an absolute must. They might be low on power by today’s truck standards, but unless you actively try to kill one, they just last.”

BMW inline-six

BMW made so many delightful inline-six motors that you simply have to recognize multiple versions in a single post. I love them all, as they are so expertly balanced that they often feel as smooth at redline as they do at idle.

Audiocage: “A couple of favorites: The inline-6 in an E36 M3. Smooth as silk, and rubber-band-like pull.”

James: “I test drove a euro spec/grey market M635CSi in 1997. It was the only time I’ve ever spontaneously thought “that’s a mechanical symphony I’m hearing”.”

Isaiah: “I had a E46 M3. The motor in it was awesome.”

Paul: “I LOVED my E46 M3 and that S54 motor that went along with it. Absolutely bulletproof and sung like an angel. I wish I had kept it longer!”

Byron: “BMW S38 3.6L (US market) DOHC 24 valve inline-6. De-tuned naturally aspirated F1 engine w/ individual throttle-bodies: 345hp (chipped) in my 92 M5, but it could reliably deliver up to 1,000hp on a turbo. Ran like a watch for 180k miles under my ownership. “Right now” throttle response. Sounded so nice, I would often turn off the stereo when alone on the interstate. Perfectly tolerant of endless Boston “stop & go” traffic jams.”

Julian: “M88/3 in my BMW M635. Stock they are a little more powerful than when fitted to the original M1. Mine has had some Dinan work to further enhance it.”

Chrysler Pentastar V-6

Base model engines don’t get nearly enough love in our society! The Pentastar V-6 makes 292 horsepower which, since this is SAE net calculations, is likely more oomph than the majority of vintage muscle cars. They move well, and they get the job done. As MPH302 put it:

“Just traded my 2012 Challenger at 205K and only because I wanted another one before they stop making them. Absolutely nothing done to the motor except spark plugs and religious preventive maintenance.”

Mazda K-series V-6

The Mazda K-series was a finesse player on par with the BMW inline-sixes mentioned above. But they met a demand for cheaper cars that normal people could afford right off the showroom floor. Be it the tiny 1.8-liter in an MX3 or a 2.5-liter in a Ford Probe GT, these engines provided countless hours of fun for countless people. Or, as Robert put it:

“1995 Mazda 626 DOHC 2.5-liter V-6 with 5-speed: this jewel of an engine had a dual powerband, only fairly strong at the bottom, but came on the cams at 4000 RPM and screamed to a 7000 RPM redline. Incredibly smooth, sounded great, totally reliable (and, in the 626, a sleeper that didn’t attract police attention). Not suited to the automatic transmission as low-end wasn’t strong enough, but with the excellent-shifting 5-speed it came alive. The car cruised at 100 MPH effortlessly but served just as well as a grocery-getter.”

Jaguar inline-six

The Jaguar XK twin-cam inline-six was a beauty to see, hear, and experience from behind the wheel. Denying this is to deny oneself the joy of automotive perfection, or as Leo put it:

“The smooth power, the wonderful sounds and the beauty early on of polished cam covers and porcelain coated exhaust manifolds still uplift me after more than 45 years of working with them.”

Small-block Chrysler V-8

Hagerty Community member Rick recommends the small block 318 and 340 V-8s from Chrysler, which have actually taken hold with a new generation of fans in Japan. The “Dajiban” (a Japanese colloquialism for “Dodge Van”) in Japan is usually powered by the 318 cid small block and it’s wonderful to see a non-HEMI Chrysler cut out a unique slice of the world’s shared love for American V-8s. Plenty of you expressed your love for these awesome eights in the replies to our question:

Audiocage: “And a Dodge 318 that Simply. Wouldn’t. Quit. It’s probably still running strong.”

Tom: “My choice, late 60’s early 70’s Mopar 340 small block. I put 95000 miles on my ’70 Challenger, 4 speed, which I reluctantly sold during the oil embargo. Every mile with that high revving small block was music to my ears. I missed it so much I got another in 1985 which I still have to this day.”

Spike: “My ’70 Duster 340 was an awesome, sweet ride! It could beat many GM & Ford 5.7L powered vehicles. Only problem was the hydraulic valves began to float at about 135mph.”

Raymond: “Dodge Van 318 V8. I don’t know if they are still made yet. I’ve had six of them in my work vans and religiously change the oil and they never failed me. Can’t even say they never got me to work or I had to miss a job. Just routine maintenance and ready to roll.”

GM LS-series V-8

Of course we had to include the iconic LS-series engine from General Motors. Luckily, the Hagerty Community had plenty to say about this workhorse:

BMD4800: “My favorite is my turbo LS3 based 416 stroker. Previously procharged, it is a lesson in absurdity. With a (relatively) mild cam, (relatively) decent idle quality and the ability to pass tailpipe test if needed, it’s pretty streetable. But it is infinitely more brutal than a solid roller cam 540 big block Chevy with a nitrous hit out of the hole. Diesel engine torque with so much under the curve it is borderline excessive. It pulls like a F4 off a carrier deck, just plain brutal torque. It is the quintessential American Car: too much power, too little handling ability. It is goofy without traction control, but I’m not a big race in traffic kind of guy.”

You sound like our kind of crazy, BMD4800.—Ed.

MJ: “Been around long enough to have driven cars with most of my favorite engines. But the best so far is in my 2006 Z06. That 7.0-liter motor is just a wall of power everywhere and in such a light chassis (especially by today’s sports car standards). It boggles my mind that all you need to own one of these is a valid driver’s license.”

Porsche Flat Six (Air and Water cooled)

Porsche’s flat-six, be it air- or water-cooled, is easy to fall in love with. You don’t have to be a kid on the sidewalk to understand it, and the Hagerty Community came out strong for flat-sixes of all kinds:

Franko: “Porsche/VW flat 6 (and 4!) cylinder engines are air-cooled delights. It’s surprising how they have lasted the test of time. Racing, daily drivers, off road, etc. they have done it all & excelled! Even aircraft & boat power!”

Clint: “Best engine with the best sound I’ve ever experienced was the 2-liter carbureted flat-six in my old 1966 Porsche 911 with sport exhaust and K&N-type un-silenced air cleaners. Foot to the floor from a stop, up to the 7200 RPM redline, it sounds like ripping canvas, with an overlay of hollow metallic “pop-pop” sounds from the six-barrel Webers. It was as tough as a little anvil, and with a heart of pure gold.”

Michael: “I was fortunate enough to drive a Porsche GT3 RS (991.2) on a race track. Four-liter flat 6 with over 500 horsepower and a 9 thousand RPM redline. As the RPM’s climb, the mechanical melody and rapid acceleration rise with it. Between 8 and 9 thousand RPM sounds like a muffled Porsche cup car. The entire powertrain worked flawlessly.”

Oldsmobile Aurora V-8

The 1990s came up with some amazing engines that were the perfect blend of old-school muscle and modern refinement. Here’s Hagerty Community member Rhodent’s take on the matter:

“I think my favorite engine in combination with the car was a ’95 Olds Aurora 4.4, all aluminum, DOHC, fuel injected. Wonderful, comfortable, stable cruiser. It would cruise from Austin to San Antonio at 90 and it was like sitting in my recliner.”

Detroit Diesel 6V71

Not all great engines come in cars, or as Joe put it:

“Detroit Diesel 6V71 2 stroke: used in many buses and other commercial vehicles back in the day. Very simple and reliable, the sound is unmistakable!”

GM 60-degree V-6

The 60-degree V-6 from General Motors had a great run, starting off as a premium motor for GM’s front-wheel drive vehicles in the 1980s (and the Pontiac Fiero!) and a mid-level upgrade for the early 3rd-gen F-bodies. Towards the end of its thirty year production run, the 60-degree mill was reborn as the “high value” V-6, with a 40 percent bump in size that gave its more advanced replacement (GM’s High Feature, 3.6-liter, V-6) a run for its money. For less money, which speaks volumes about its impressive design. Hagerty Community members far and wide came to respect this mill for what its worth:

Mike: “2.8 V-6 from my 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme International. Loved the look of the intake manifold. Really miss that car!”

Jack Burton: “The 2.8 Fieros are great, as are the 2.5 Iron Duke cars, despite what the internet would have you believe. Both tremendously reliable engines, wrapped in a vastly underrated, and fun, package.”

hyperv6: “Note too my 2.8 HO in my Fiero. While it is nothing radical, it has been fully reliable and moves the car along well but sounds like an exotic engine. Many question if it is a V8. Pontiac did well on the exhaust on that one.”

Buick 3800 V-6

Not to be outdone by its smaller sibling, the Buick 3800 V-6 really came into its element as a premium engine for all things less-than-Cadillac. Be it supercharged or naturally aspirated, it had several fans in the Hagerty Community:

ap41563: “My vote would be for the Buick 3800 Series II. It has needed nothing for 18 years other than oil changes and regular service items. It runs smooth and has nice power off the line. At 70 to 75 mph it returns over 30 mpg. It never skips or misses a beat and it’s not overly complicated. It follows the KISS principle and I think I will probably still be daily driving it 10 years from now.”

TG: “I would say #1 is the 231/3.8/3800 Buick V6. After having owned several examples, they are robust, capable of north of 200K miles, and deliver decent power for a V6.”

Ford/Yamaha “SHO” V-6

Since we are on the subject of 1980s-era V-6 engines from Detroit, perhaps the most famous mill is the monster made by Yamaha from the blueprint of Ford’s 60-degree Vulcan V-6. Comparing a mere 3.0-liter pushrod Vulcan to the one in the Taurus SHO is like measuring ground beef against sirloin steak, but Mike gave us even more reasons to love the Super High Output V-6:

“Had three Taurus SHO manuals, 90, 93 and 95. Loved the Yamaha engine–and the castings are beautiful. I was in the aluminum casting business then. MN State Patrol let me out of a 105 in a 55 in NW MN in my ’93. I was just at Arctic Cat engineering and I was let off in exchange for a bit of info about their new engine … then the following winter the same patrolman saw me in the local restaurant. “Are you being a good boy?” he asked lol.”

Big-block Chrysler V-8 (Wedge & Hemi)

Have we been spending too much time on “wimpy” V-6s for your taste? If so, can we make it up to you?

C.J: “Many years ago I installed a 426 Dodge wedge into street rod, a bulletproof engine along with the 727 torque flight, drove to all the street rod nationals from 1974 to 1982,never a problem, street raced it, lost very few races, it pissed off a lot of Chevrolet guys because my 426 was in a 1935 Chevrolet master two door sedan.”

Paul Kafer: “I am in my 70s and have had many cars and built most of them up for better performance. One of the ones I remember best, was a ’69 Roadrunner that originally came with a 383-ci engine and A833 4-speed and 3.23:1 rear gear. Of course, that wasn’t good enough. I pulled the engine and rebuilt it with 0.030″ over 12.5:1 forged pistons, polished crank, H beam rods, ported heads, adjustable rockers and HD push rods to accommodate the biggest solid lifter cam Iskenderian could fit into that engine. It was all balanced for high rpm use. I had a tunnel ram with a pair of Holley center squirters on top of it and Hooker SuperComp headers channeling the exhaust out through a set of 3.5 in pipes. I installed a set of 4.56:1 gears in the back and went hunting every Saturday night. That thing was really too radical for everyday use, but I drove it anyway. It wouldn’t hit on all cylinders until it was above 4000 rpm. The cam powerband was listed as 6500 to 8000 rpm, but it sounded so good getting there. It also fouled the plugs in short order driving on the street. I had to carry extra plugs with me in case I actually got an offer to race later. Totally impractical, but totally fun and wonderful to hear going WOT down the strip or an empty rural road. Yes, times were different then.”

Honda Motorcycles

Motorcycles make some fantastic noises and put down power like no car ever could. So what do you think of these Hondas, offered up by the Hagerty Community?

Tinge of Ginge: “The 919 4-cyl in my old CB919. Torque like a twin, but better top end. And with the right exhaust, sounded amazing. One of the only bikes I regret selling.”

Robert: “1999 Honda CBR1100XX, the engine would pull cleanly from 1500 to the 9500 redline in 6th gear. (About 35mph to 185 or so). Smooth, quiet and reliable. Able to get 50 mpg just poking along on a back road.”

Toyota 22RE four-cylinder

The Toyota R engine family has made life-long friends around the world, which is why Hagerty Community member Joseph said,:

“The Toyota 22REs I have had in both 4Runners and Hilux pickups have NEVER disappointed me!”

Chrysler Slant Six

How could we not include the Slant Six? That said, Hagerty Community member Rob mentioned its predecessor, as he knows you could “never kill” the 1946–1955 Dodge/Plymouth six-cylinder flathead. But the motor that replaced that one? Let’s say that it had big shoes to fill, and did that very well. Perhaps Luther said all that’s needed about the Slant Six:

“1972 Slant Six in a Dodge Demon: Indestructible, several times went way past the 120 mph mark, and still wish I had the little car.”

Suzuki Tl1000 twin

Let’s get back to motorcycles again, as this Suzuki clearly deserves our attention:

TalkingPie: “I haven’t personally experienced much in the way of impressive car engines, but I did enjoy a couple of stirring motorcycle powerplants. My Suzuki TL1000S was a characterful twin – the rumble of a twin at low RPM, but it also spun to over 9,000 RPM. I like stock exhausts and you didn’t need noisy mufflers for that bike to sound distinctive. 125 hp isn’t much in the bike world but it was still good enough for high 10 second quarter mile times in the hands of pros.”

Nissan QR 2.5-liter inline-four

I’d like to end this episode of According to You on a more thought-provoking note. A Nissan Versa Note, perhaps? Dad jokes aside, consider the workhorse Nissan Altima, a car that is truly the Rodney Dangerfield of the automotive industry. Well, at least one member of the Hagerty Community understands:

Brian: “This may not be common, but I had a 2011 Nissan Altima 2.5L 4 cylinder with over 275,000 miles on it when it got rear ended and totaled. It was still running strong. My first experience with CVT tranny, which also amazingly lasted for 201,000 miles. I did like the smoothness of the ride without the usual shift points. It also had a manual shift gate which actually made it a rather peppy car, considering.”

The post According to you: The best engines you’ve ever experienced appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Australia's Santos Ltd (STO.AX) said on Thursday that gas production from its John Brookes platform in Western Australia has resumed, following an over two-month long outage, with operations expected to ramp up to full rates in the coming days.

Around late November last year, production at its facility was suspended as an equipment failure caused the temporary shut-down for a repair and maintenance haul.

The company, which merged with Oil Search in 2021, earlier this year trimmed its forecast for 2023 overall output owing to the suspension of the John Brookes platform and a delay in starting production at the Spartan field due to repair work.

Australia's No. 2 independent gas producer said a small leak on the main gas trunkline connecting John Brookes to the Varanus Island gas processing facilities has been fixed.

Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

There has been some good news on climate change. Not enough. But good news nonetheless.

First of all, over the past decade or so, several major economies including the United States have shifted away from burning coal to generate electricity. Coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels, and historically speaking a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

There are still coal power plants being built in the world, but the overall trend away from coal toward cleaner options, like solar, is progress. The cost to build solar power plants has fallen enough that, in some cases, it is now one of the most price-competitive options for generating electricity. This is a significant financial milestone.

Cars that burn gas are a major contributor to planet-warming greenhouse emissions, but in the past few years some of the world’s largest automakers have launched aggressive efforts to pivot to making more electric vehicles while phasing out gasoline models. The importance of a significant polluting industry embracing this change, and competing with one another to be better at it, can’t be underestimated.

Car buyers have been responding. As recently as a half-decade or so ago, electric-car sales were negligible in many parts of the world, but have risen rapidly since. Electric vehicles aren’t perfect of course, but as a general rule they’re cleaner than gasoline cars. (If you’re interested in memorizing more about that, try searching this F.A.Q. for “How green are electric cars?”)

The spread of electric vehicles also means that some of the difficulties of owning one (for example, finding charging stations nearby) will likely resolve themselves more quickly as demand grows from drivers. That, in turn, could encourage sales.

In 2022 the United States passed new legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, that is widely considered the most important legislative effort to fight climate change in the nation’s history by encouraging a transition to cleaner energy and offering a range of incentives to businesses and individuals to clean up their act.

(This Times guide explains how you might be able to claim some of that money by, for instance, buying an electric car or installing a heat pump.)

Lastly, here’s a big one: For reasons like the above, in the past decade or so the world has made significant progress toward slowing global warming and avoiding particularly extreme consequences from climate change. Not nearly enough progress, mind you, but significant nonetheless.

Specifically, before the 2015 Paris Agreement, some estimates put the world on track to warm in the range of 3.6 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times. Scientists widely agree that if average global temperatures were to increase that much, it would be devastating socially and economically. Now, however, according to a United Nations report in 2022, the world is on track to heat between 2.1 degrees and 2.9 degrees by 2100.

That’s still very dangerous.

However, if the nations of the world act as aggressively as they promise, there remains a chance to hold that increase to below 2 degrees Celsius, according to scientists. That’s a big “if,” of course. It would require a tremendous amount of work by the nations of the world, on an extremely swift timetable over the next decade or two, to hit the lower targets for limiting global warming.

However, since you asked about good news, let’s keep it positive. Even if there’s a lot of hard work to do, progress has been made on important fronts.

There’s now even a movement, “OK Doomer,” that basically says, stop it with the gloomy takes and focus on things that will fix the problem.

I'm Dr. Brian Kopell, neurosurgeon.

Today I'll be answering questions from Twitter.

This is Brain Surgery Support.

[energetic drum music]

@ekenta_ifeanyl asks,

What does the brain feel like to the touch?

If tofu and jello had a baby, that's how the brain feels.

There's a deliver to it.

As a patient breathes or the heart pumps blood,

the brain pulsates accordingly.

@st0neyp asks,

Did y'all know that you gotta be awake for brain surgery?

When you're operating on areas,

especially related to language,

we literally ask them questions.

Some patients have played instruments

to demonstrate that they are doing okay.

I have had a patient play a guitar in my operating room.

We wanna see when we're trying to do a surgery for tremor,

which is a rhythmic oscillation of the hands or the feet,

the patient be able to drink from a cup

or sign their name,

which are things that they were not able to do.

And if you stimulate, and the patient's

still able to respond, they can repeat a question,

they can repeat a phrase,

that tells us that it's safe to go forward.

Aren't they screaming in pain?

The answer is no.

The brain in of itself has no pain receptors.

@BlakemBand asks,

What is harder, rocket science or brain surgery?

Well, that's an easy one to answer.

Brain surgery is harder.

Consider that there are a hundred billion neurons

in the brain.

The amount of connections

between those a hundred billion neurons

are greater than all of the stars estimated in the universe.

That's why it's harder.

@LightningAnthony asks,

Do brain surgeons practice on fake rubber brains

before having a crack at the real thing?

No, we learn on the job.

The very first time I walked into an operating room,

I was struck by the smell.

We use electrocautery, that is electricity,

in order to control bleeding in the brain.

In essence, what you're doing is cooking flesh

and well, human beings have a very particular smell

when they are being cooked.

That is a pretty eye opening or nose opening experience

the first time you go into an operating room.

It would be very hard to replicate it.

Even the best simulation technology isn't quite the same,

at least currently, than the operating room itself.

@ElikemV asks,

Just watch the resection of a brain tumor.

Bro, how do neurosurgeons do it?

And it was done perfectly. The skill must be crazy.

Nature has inconveniently placed the brain

inside a box called your skull,

and trying to get into that skull

is like pulling off a heist.

You have to get into the brain, not cause any damage,

remove the tumor and get out,

leaving the patient no worse than you found them.

Depending on the tumor, it can look very, very similar

to normal and healthy brain

and it takes an experienced eye and some new technologies

for us to see in the operating room

where tumor ends and where normal brain begins.

Sometimes, because the tumor is particularly soft,

we would take it out piecemeal by suction.

A suction is essentially a metal instrument

that's a straw,

that also has ultrasonic energy applied to its tip

that helps the suction along.

Once all the bleeding is stopped,

we essentially then close the covering on the brain,

which is called the dura,

fix the bone flap back to the skull,

then we close the scalp, then we get lunch.

@LydiaBoheya asks,

What happens if you need to sneeze

during awake brain surgery?

Or do they deliver you something so you don't sneeze?

Sneezing is often accompanied

by something called a valsalva maneuver,

where the pressure inside the brain

temporarily spikes and then goes down again.

I do deep brain stimulation.

There's a relatively small hole that's made in the skull,

about the size of a dime.

Sometimes when a patient sneezes or coughs,

you can actually see the brain pulsate up a little bit.

That can potentially be a problem,

but it's pretty rare.

@willmiam asks,

How do they fill the hole in your skull

after brain surgery?

The most common way that we fill that hole

is with the patient's own skull.

We usually affix that piece of skull called a bone flap

back to the rest of the skull with titanium mini plates.

Sometimes we have to remove a piece of skull permanently.

Very often this can be in the setting of trauma.

We used to do this with titanium mesh,

so we would get a essentially like a screen door

bend it into place, and affix it

to the rest of the skull to cover the hole.

More recently, we can get a CAT scan of a patient

and computers can design a perfect plastic replacement

for what we removed that looks just about as good

as the real thing.

@darkwise asks,

Why do most brain tumors triggers food smells?

Are brain tumors delicious?

Sometimes tumors can create seizures in the brain,

and depending on where the seizures arise from,

can involve smell associated or olfaction associated

areas of the brain.

Very often these smells are actually bad smells,

so it is very, very unusual to elicit

a hallucination that is a good smell, but it can happen.

@Kazoodingus asks,

If I was doing brain surgery, I would swirl my finger

through the guy's brain just to see what happens.

Dear lord, really?

Running a finger over the surface of the brain,

if you're very, very gentle, will do very little.

If there is pathology near the surface,

the brain's surface can be fryable,

where just the nearest touch can cause bleeding.

But a healthy brain can be touched

with very little recourse.

@zeldafitzlauryn asks,

Why were lobotomies ever a thing?

Lobotomies were not only a thing,

they are the only instance where neurosurgery

ever won the Nobel Prize.

In the early days of the 20th century,

psychiatric care was extremely rudimentary.

There were many, many, many patients institutionalized.

It was a huge burden for families.

John Fulton, a physiologist at Yale, discovered

that the frontal lobe was really important

in creating the manifestations that we associate

with psychiatric disease.

Igatz Monet speculated that,

if we were to interrupt certain fibers

inside that frontal lobe,

that we could in fact help patients.

An instrument called a leucotome

was inserted into the brain and then a hole was made

inside the deep portions of the frontal lobe.

Once Thorazine was invented, the use of lobotomy

as a treatment for psychiatric disease fell out of favor.

But the whole process actually helped mankind

really truly understand the physiology

of psychiatric disease for the very first time,

that psychiatric disease was not a weakness

in a patient's soul, but a real disease,

like diabetes, and actually led to a lot of

understanding and treatment that we are using today.

@dibsondebs asks,

Hearing the term neurosurgery seems to have

such a different connotation than brain surgery.

Do they have the same meaning

or are they entirely different entities?

The term neurosurgery encompasses brain surgery.

So when we all become neurosurgeons,

we actually learn the entire surgical technique

of treating surgical conditions of the brain,

the spine, and the peripheral nerve,

which is the entire nervous system.

Brain surgery is just a segment of neurosurgery itself.

@GoBlueTsunami asks, What is a craniotomy?

A craniotomy is a temporary window

that we make in the skull in order to allow us

to access the inner contents of the brain.

To remove a brain tumor, or to clip an aneurysm,

we start off by placing bur holes or small holes

around the periphery of the window that we intend to make.

We then take a type of saw called a craniotome,

and we essentially connect the dots or the holes

and we create a window called the craniotomy itself.

Do not try this at home.

@GLADSTONEWRITER asks,

More brain surgery on the way for me.

This time my neurosurgeon is going

to go through my nostrils.

It's a procedure known as endoscopic endonasal surgery.

So one of the areas that we encounter

tumors and other types of pathologies

is in the pituitary gland,

at the very, very bottom of the brain.

And it sits inside this little bony pocket

called the pituitary fossa.

At the very back of the nose

sits these pockets called air cells inside the skull itself.

And so, by inserting a tube and a camera through the tube,

we can unroof this air cell and we are right

at the pituitary base, and we can take out a tumor

without having to disrupt normal anatomy of the skull.

One of the more common restrictions is

limiting the use of things like straws

that can develop a lot of suction inside the air cells

while the healing process is occurring.

And yes, also don't blow your nose.

@chrisconwayy asks, What clothes do brain surgeons wear?

Cerebral gore-tex ha ha ha.

I start off by wearing my surgical scrub hat.

I also wear my scrubs.

Over the scrubs are the sterile layer of our garb,

which involves an operative gown

and a pair of surgical gloves.

And this whole process of gowning us up

in a sterile fashion is assisted

by either a scrub nurse or an OR tech.

Once we are garbed completely,

we can begin the operation.

@peggytrill asks,

Did you know when they do brain surgery

and need to remove part of your skull

for an extended period of time,

they just cut an incision in your abdomen

and put it in there?

Sometimes there is so much swelling in the brain,

we have to deliver it room

so that patients can survive the injury.

We have to remove the entire side

of a patient's skull for a long period of time.

Ultimately, if you wanna be able to put that skull back,

it's gotta remain sterile.

And what's the most sterile place for a patient's body part?

Their own body.

What you're referencing is something that is

falling out of favor but is still done.

Neurosurgeons would make an incision in the abdomen

and place the bone flap inside this temporary pocket

and close it up.

And as long as there was no infection of the wound,

that bone flap remained absolutely sterile.

@DatRickyDude asks,

So I heard somewhere in random conversation

and I'm not sure if it's true.

He was having brain surgery and the doctor

poked something and he remembered being at a party

many years before in vivid detail.

Well, in fact, this did happen,

during an operation called deep brain stimulation.

The electrode was going to be placed

in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus.

The trajectory went through a structure connecting

areas of the brain involving memory, called the fornix.

A patient, being awake on the table,

recalled a series of events from their childhood.

And the amount of detail was so striking

to both the patient and the investigators and the surgeons,

they developed a technique to stimulate this particular area

of the brain and have created trials looking to

help patients with Alzheimer's disease.

@rockcock64 asks, You know

how during brain surgery doctors will have

the patient play the violin if they're violinist

or whatever, so that they don't [beep] up their brain?

Do you think that they would have a gamer

speed run Super Mario 64 during brain surgery?

If they're a famous video game athlete, I suppose why not?

We could do that. Sure, no problem.

@illionaire asks,

I just seen a billboard for gamma knife brain surgery

where apparently they operate on your brain

without cutting anything open. The [beep]?

The gamma knife is a type of

what we call stereotactic radiosurgery.

Pinpoint beams of radiation are focused

deep inside the brain,

and wherever these beams of radiation intersect,

they deposit a therapeutic dose of radiation.

It's an very important tool, especially

in the realm of certain vascular disorders,

brain tumors, and certain functional disorders.

@producerdani asks, Hi yes,

can a brain surgeon weigh in here

and tell me which part of my brain is responsible

for getting the Jurassic Park theme song stuck in my head?

I'd like to remove it, please.

Well, that would be a really bad idea,

because the controller of attention is called the thalamus.

It's a deep area of gray matter inside the brain,

and it actually acts as a gate

as to what is grabbing our attention

from moment to moment to moment.

I highly recommend keeping your thalamus.

@Daniellebabe26 asks,

Is deep brain stimulation surgery worth the risk?

So like the heart, the brain is an electrical organ.

Everything that we do, from writing a sonata

to hitting a baseball, is the result

of an electrical pattern of activity in the brain.

Diseases such as Parkinson's disease,

or dystonia, or things even like depression

and obsessive compulsive disorder, are the result

of abnormal electrical patterns of activity in the brain.

What is deep brain stimulation?

Essentially what it is, is a pacemaker for the brain.

We can place an electrode through a very, very tiny hole

at the top of the skull into deep structures of the brain.

What we are trying to do is take a one millimeter electrode

and hit a one millimeter target inside the brain.

So it's really, really, really super precise.

By regulating that electrical activity,

we can actually make patients' symptoms much, much better.

The scariest risk is bleeding in the brain or stroke.

Generally around 1%.

@BigDaddyonair asks,

A robot which can perform brain surgery

was showcased at the hashtag World Robot Conference.

How good are you at your job?

Robots are coming to take it away.

Well, believe it or not,

robots are already in the operating room.

There are some limitations.

One, the skull itself.

In other areas of the body where robots are used,

such as the abdomen, robots have a lot of access

because the abdomen can be temporarily inflated with air

and there's a lot of room for robots to move around.

The skull's inconvenient.

There's a skull, and then there's a brain,

and not much else.

And so, robots to really become very useful

for brain surgery, they're gonna have to be

miniaturized to a huge degree.

Furthermore, somebody's gotta tell the robots where to go

and that still will likely be a human process

for many years to come.

@fiend_mrs, The brain does not feel pain

as it has no pain receptors.

If that is the case, why do we experience headaches?

I have severe migraines and feel like I have

an ax in my brain sometimes.

In the case of migraines, the blood cells constrict,

and then as the blood cells begin to relax,

that physical relaxation stimulates the pain receptors

and causes the pain.

@lemurgxrl asks, Can a brain surgeon cut open my head

and take out the pieces with ADHD, please? Thanks.

There are some non-invasive brain stimulation

techniques called transcranial magnetic stimulation

that people have explored for ADHD,

but not neurosurgically as of yet.

@QwetzalCohete asks, How do you choose the area

of the brain where the electrodes are implanted?

We place an electrode inside the brain

to interact with networks of the brain,

and networks of the brain are distributed

pockets of neurons that are all working together

to create a behavior.

If we're talking about a network function

that's related to movement, we are interested in

placing these electrodes in movement associated areas

of the brain, deep gray structures

called the basal ganglia, which can be seen over here.

Other avenues of research are looking at

placing electrodes along the surface of the brain

to stimulate the network along the cortex,

because everything is connected.

Even though you're stimulating locally,

you're affecting things globally.

@PristineMartian asks, How far away

is superhuman intelligence with a brain-computer interface?

I think currently we are fairly close

to having brain-computer interfaces really help

a process called neuroplasticity in the brain,

and neuroplasticity is the brain's normal process

to learn and adapt to the outside world.

I think that's something that we're going to likely see

within the next several years.

The idea of having a Bluetooth implant in the brain

that helps you Google something on the fly,

we are talking decades upon decades

before we would see something like that occurring.

So those are all the questions we have today.

Great questions.

Thanks for watching Brain Surgery Support.