💬 Quoted… “[It] satisfied [my] urge to win without feeling like [I was] doing anything to anybody else and causing rage.”

• The reason Erryn Rhoden, a 48-year-old mother of three from Ohio, gives for why she avidly plays Candy Crush, a free mobile game with over 250 million monthly users. And this motivation appears to be working – the Ohio mom recently became an esports icon after she mistakenly entered a Candy Crush tournament with a $250,000 prize pool… and then reached the semi-finals.

💰☢️ Stat of the Day: To date, nuclear fusion startups have raised more than $5 billion from investors including Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Bill Gates, and Marc Benioff. Though much like a rich-person fidget spinner, these investments have only become popular in recent years – around 75% of the industry’s total funding, or ~$3.75 billion, has been committed since 2021. ​

🤯 Did You Know?... The marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics – which took place on a sweltering 90°F day – had a grand total of one water station across the entire 25-mile course. Not surprisingly, just 14 of the 32 men who began the race ended up crossing the finish line, including the initial winner, Fred Lorz, who was later disqualified since he had hitched a ride in a car for part of the race. Meanwhile, the runner-up-turned-winner, Thomas Hicks, purposely ate rat poison for its supposed performance-enhancing effects – and that’s just the tip of the 1904 Summer Olympics marathon iceberg.

📖 Worth a Read: The American Spy Who Surrendered to the Nazis to Save Civilians → (Smithsonian Magazine)