A number of you asked how the introduction of the RocaNews app changes things for the newsletter. The answer is that it doesn’t. In fact, the only changes the app could bring are positive since it will enable us to grow the company and ensure that you’re getting the highest-quality news — and lowest-quality puns. You might not think they’re funny, but we’re laughing our app off.

In all seriousness, we're going to use the app to launch an expanded newsletter for you all. Stay tuned for that! 

In today's edition:

• Federal Reserve gets into payments game

• People are actually doing Barbenheimer

• Case 1

 🔑 Key Stories

2 Wins for Microsoft/Activision

Microsoft scored back-to-back legal wins on Tuesday in its quest to buy Activision Blizzard

• Activision is the US video game company behind Call of Duty and Candy Crush. Last year, Microsoft, which owns Xbox, agreed to buy it for $75B

• US, EU, and UK regulators have since sued to block the deal, arguing it would give Microsoft too much power over the video game industry

• On Tuesday, a US judge ruled that the merger can proceed, although the government can appeal. Also on Tuesday, a UK regulator said it will pause legal action and negotiate a deal to let the merger occur

Dig Deeper

• To address antitrust concerns, Microsoft signed deals that guaranteed competitors – such as Sony, which makes Playstation, and Nintendo, which makes Switch – access to Activision games

FedNow Set for Launch

The Federal Reserve is preparing to launch a 24/7/365 instant payment service

• The Federal Reserve – “Fed” – is the US’ central bank.

• Although money transfer services are available 24/7, most US money transfers happen on networks that are only active during business hours. Payments can be sent whenever but take hours or days to process

• Many other countries already have 24/7/365 instant payment services, and the Fed is preparing to launch one – FedNow – later this month

Dig Deeper

• Proponents argue it will modernize the US’ banking system; critics say it could weaken financial stability. In 2022 just 1.4% of US payments took place on real-time banking systems, significantly lower than in the UK, Canada, China, Germany, and dozens of other countries

“Tylenol Murders” Suspect Dies

The prime suspect in the unsolved 1982 “Tylenol Murders” died on Sunday

• Between September 28 and 29, 1982, 7 Chicago residents died after taking Extra Strength Tylenol. Police later said they were laced with cyanide

• The incident caused a nationwide Tylenol recall & led to “tamper-proof” drug container designs

• Investigators identified James W. Lewis as the likely suspect after he wrote a letter to Tylenol’s maker demanding $1M “to stop the killing.” He went to jail for extortion but was never charged with murder. He died on Sunday at age 76

Dig Deeper

• “I was saddened to learn of James Lewis’ death,” a federal prosecutor told the Chicago Tribune in response to the news. “Not because he’s dead, but because he didn’t die in prison”

Jonah Hill Debate

Jonah Hill’s ex-girlfriend has continued to accuse him of emotional abuse and misogyny

• Hill – one of the world’s highest-grossing comedic actors – dated surfer Sarah Brady from 2021 to 2022

• Over the weekend, Brady posted screenshots on Instagram of alleged text conversations with Hill. In one, Hill asked Brady to take down pictures of her “ass in a thong”; in another he said, “If you need… surfing with men… to model… to post pictures of yourself in a bathing suit… I am not the right partner for you”

• The posts have sparked a debate about boundaries and dating abuse. Hill’s critics say his behavior was controlling and that he used “therapy talk” to gaslight Brady; Hill's supporters say he's just being upfront about his personal boundaries

Erase Yourself from the Web

Together with Incogni

Data brokers make money off your personal information every day. They buy your data – SSNs, DOB, home addresses, health information, contact details – and sell it to the highest bidder

• Incogni is a personal data removal service that scrubs your personal information from the web

• It contacts and follows up with data brokers around the world on your behalf. It can take hundreds of hours for an individual to do that

• With Incogni, you can kick back and worry less about identity theft, health insurers raising your rates based on info from data brokers, robo calls, scammers taking out loans in your name, and all the other terrible things bad actors do with personal data (we at Roca are certainly tired of spam calls!)

Dig Deeper

• While other personal data removal services only focus on one type of data broker, Incogni helps remove your personal information from all broker types, including People Search Sites. Roca readers exclusively get 55% off Incogni annual plans with code ‘ROCA10’

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• Coming Holmes soon: Elizabeth Holmes’ prison sentence was shortened by two years, from 11 years to nine. The Bureau of Prisons hasn’t explained the change

• Northwestern update: Northwestern University fired head football coach Pat Fitzgerald after a hazing investigation. The university says he failed to know about and stop hazing

• Mo money, mo problems: A Vice reporter said new bankruptcy filings show the company paid hefty salaries to executives while not paying its bills. Some executives were making $900k as the company failed

Wildcard

• Couch = valid: A jury validated a handwritten will found in singer Aretha Franklin’s couch. It had to pick between one from 2010 that was locked in a cabinet and the 2014 couch one

• Barbenheimer: AMC Theatres has announced that 20k+ moviegoers have bought tickets to see Oppenheimer and Barbie on the same day. Both hit theaters on July 21

• Fury v. Francis: Heavyweight boxing champ Tyson Fury and former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou will fight in Saudi Arabia on October 28

👇 What do you think?

Today's Discussion:

Invent a premise for a game show

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

In 1933, Donald Triplett was born into a well-off family in the small town of Forest, Mississippi. His parents quickly noticed something was different about him.

He seemed to function in a separate world, Donald’s parents said. He’d repeat actions or words and displayed intense interest in things like number patterns and music notes. He showed no interest in playing with other children, and if anyone interrupted his rituals, he’d have a meltdown.

He’d also display acts of intelligence that were unusual for his age. At age one, his father recalled, "He could hum and sing many tunes accurately.” By two, he could recite Biblical texts from memory. He could answer advanced multiplication questions without hesitation.

The behavior baffled his parents.

In 1937, just before Donald turned four, his parents sent him to a state-run children’s institution, only to pull him out after a year. They then took him to see one of the country’s most renowned child psychiatrists, Leo Kanner.

Kanner was born in Austria in 1894. He dreamed of becoming a poet, but when no one would publish his poetry, he pursued a medical degree instead. That decision eventually led him to the US in 1924, where he found work at a mental hospital in South Dakota – and likely avoided death as a Jew in World War II Europe.

Kanner focused on children’s mental health. His research soon caught the eye of Johns Hopkins Medical School, one of the world’s top medical institutes, where he transferred and established the US’ first child psychiatry clinic.

At Johns Hopkins, Kanner’s research turned into social activism. He said he was concerned that people treated mentally ill children as objects rather than human beings. He called for changing a society that ''causes the intellectual haves to look down on the intellectual have-nots.”

In 1937, Donald’s parents brought him to Kanner. When Kanner first met Donald, he didn’t know how to describe his condition but found it similar to behaviors he had seen in 10 other patients.

In 1943, Kanner wrote a paper based on those children with a new diagnosis: Autism. The very first diagnosis went to “Case 1” – Donald Triplett.

Dr. Kanner noted the children all exhibited obsessive repetitive habits, “excellent rote memory,” and an inability to relate “in the ordinary way” to other people. This condition, he noted, differed “markedly and uniquely from anything reported so far.”

He took an empathetic approach to care: ''With these extremely detached children,'' he wrote, ''you must give them the chance to relate to a limited number of people and to come into the world - to thaw out.”

That paper built the foundation of what is known today as “autism spectrum disorder” and how to care for those affected by it.

After the diagnosis, Donald returned to life in Forest and appeared to live remarkably better.

While he continued to exhibit his obsessive, repetitive behaviors, he built a life not too dissimilar from others around him, graduating from high school and college.

Triplett later worked as a bookkeeper in Forest and became a beloved member of his community. Donald passed away last month, on June 15, from cancer at age 89.

Donald’s life and diagnosis has helped define autism research and care ever since. Donald “left an indelible mark on our understanding of autism” as “something to be included, not ‘othered,’” the president of the US non-profit Autism Speaks recently said.

Today around one in 36 children in the US are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. While many questions about it remain, much of the care the children receive traces back to the work of Dr. Kanner and his very first patient, Donald Triplett.

If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Have you downloaded the Roca app?
Yes: 40%
No: 60%

Yesterday's Question:

Do you drink caffeine daily?

Jackie from Tonopah, Arizona: "Oh yea- only way to clear the fog.."

Nick from The Netherlands: “I start my day with caffeine in the form of a pre-workout for my early morning work out. Then two cups of coffee in the morning. No caffeine after 11 AM, though! It will deprive you from sleep, even at 11 PM”

Greta from Holliston, Massachusetts: “Yes, the delicious, delectable nectar … I have tried to quit drinking coffee on many occasions, only to give up and go back to drinking it!”

🧠 Final Thoughts

Happy Wednesday, Roca Nation. The amount of positive feedback you sent us yesterday was astounding. As mentioned, we can't wait to bring you the enhanced newsletter soon. We hope you have great Hump Days!

—Max and Max