🐤 Keep on truckin'

🏦 Markets: Can Wall Street build on last week’s gains or will the market continue its longer-term downward trajectory? That all depends on a few key factors over the next few days, including the latest earnings reports from companies including Walt Disney, Honda, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Uber.

We’ll also get some important insight from the New York Fed regarding consumer debt and credit over the third quarter of 2023.

And the week will end with some data regarding consumer sentiment as part of a new report from researchers at the University of Michigan.

🏔️ Deadly quake: Initial reports indicate that the death toll following an earthquake in Nepal on Friday has topped 150. The devastating incident impacted a remote region of the country but could be felt as far away as the capital city of Kathmandu (more than 300 miles away) and several locations inside of neighboring India. In addition to those killed by the quake, reports indicate local hospitals have been inundated by the arrival of hundreds of injured patients.

📉 Korean crackdown: The investment method known as “short-selling,” which relies on borrowed shares of a stock by an investor who bets on its price going down, has been linked to market problems around the world. And now South Korea is taking aim at the strategy by imposing a ban that will extend until the end of June. As a top regulator explained: “It’s a grave situation where illegal short-selling undermines fair price formation and hurts market confidence.”

🐔 Nugget recall: It’s a favorite among kids everywhere, but Tyson Foods has recalled almost 30,000 pounds of its dinosaur-shaped Fun Nuggets due to the discovery of tiny metal fragments in the chicken. The impacted products include 29-ounce bags that were packaged on Sept. 5 and sold in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Officials say one “minor oral injury” was reported in connection with the issue.

👊 Training mishap: We still don’t know if or when we’ll get to see a cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, but the former is apparently serious about pursuing his pugilistic goals. The Meta CEO was reportedly training for his first mixed martial arts fight when he sustained an injury that required surgery. He confirmed that doctors were able to replace a torn ACL, but the setback means his first MMA match, which had been planned for early 2024, has been delayed.

Tesla has been hyping its Cybertruck for years, but anxious fans are still waiting for the arrival of the angular EV pickup truck. So far, its debut has been delayed no fewer than seven times, but billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now forecasting that as many as 250,000 Cybertrucks will be rolling off assembly lines per year starting in 2025.

While there’s a ton of excitement about the vehicle itself, many prospective buyers are also eager to customize the truck once they’re able to buy one. And one startup company is ready to help make that dream a reality.

Meet the “Space Camper”

The very first Cybertrucks should be sold later this year, and a company known as Space Campers has been waiting for that date to come for well over two years. Starting in May 2022, it has been building a list of pre-orders for an innovative camper extension designed specifically for this vehicle.

Here are a few of the features its customers can expect for the estimated cost of $24,000:

• A foam mattress that can convert from a bed into a couch
• A versatile platform that turns into a table, projector, and more
• An extension allowing for a bench and remote-work office space

Making it your own

Space Campers founder Lee Wilkerson said the prototype offers users a ton of ways to customize the product for their individual needs. There are options for kitchen, toilet, and shower extensions to essentially turn the truck into a Tesla RV.

Furthermore, he says it won’t take away from the functionality of the Cybertruck’s bed and doesn’t significantly impact its electric range.

Wilkerson explained: “We want to have all our ducks in a row, but we’re waiting to turn the ramp up back on until Cybertruck is definite.”

Bob Barker, the late long-time host of “The Price Is Right,” used to end every episode with a familiar plea: “Help control the pet population, have your pet spayed or neutered.”

While his advocacy reaped benefits in the States, there’s one country that has gone much further in its efforts to combat a serious problem involving stray dogs.

A monumental achievement

The Kingdom of Bhutan had long struggled with a huge population of street dogs that suffered from starvation, were frequently hit by vehicles, contracted devastating illnesses, and even spread diseases. But nearly 15 years ago, the government teamed up with the Humane Society International to create an ambitious program called the National Dog Population Management and Rabies Control Project.

And a recent ceremony celebrated the fact that Bhutan had achieved full vaccination and sterilization of more than 150,000 stray dogs while providing microchips to about 32,000 canine pets across the country.

A global effort continues

While Bhutan serves as clear evidence that coordinated programs to control the animal population can be effective, the problem is still rampant in much of the world. Estimates indicate that 300 million feral dogs roam the streets throughout the Asian continent, resulting in untold problems for humans, the environment, and the animals themselves.

According to the World Health Organization, about 59,000 people die each year from rabies, with dog bites constituting the cause of most of those cases.

Although Bhutan took a humane approach, too many regions resort to slaughtering the animals or keeping them in substandard shelters.

That’s why Dr. Lotay Tshering, the prime minister of Bhutan, touted the celebration of her country’s success as “a historic gathering, not just for the nation but globally.”

The search continues for an affordable, renewable form of energy that won’t pollute the environment. And while sources like wind and solar have clear benefits, there’s a growing belief that a more advantageous option lies within the universe’s most ubiquitous element: hydrogen.

America bets big

The White House confirmed that it would be allocating about $7 billion for ongoing projects that seek to create hydrogen production capabilities in several strategic locations across the country.

In addition to hopes that this would help establish a new, greener future for U.S. energy needs, the Biden administration also touted the possibility that these hubs will create lots of new jobs.

The first round of investments were approved in a recent bipartisan infrastructure bill and proponents of the project say it could eliminate as much as 25 million metric tons (the amount produced by more than 5 million gas-powered vehicles) annually.

Is it really that clean?

By harnessing the pent-up power within this very combustible gas, many experts say hydrogen could be the key to meeting energy needs while producing no emissions aside from good old-fashioned water.

But then there’s the pesky matter of producing hydrogen energy. Some forms — broadly referred to as “green hydrogen” — are made by renewable forms of electricity. Many others, however, rely on nuclear energy or even coal to produce the end product.

The majority comes from natural gas, which isn’t the dirtiest form but certainly falls short of the greenest standards. And critics say this reliance on fossil fuels might actually end up helping massive oil companies.

Basav Sen of the Institute for Policy Studies asserted that the current U.S. policy is misguided, asserting: “We need to see an end to fossil fuel subsidies rather than investing in inventing new ways to subsidize the fossil fuel industry.”