MONIMEGA – Page 5

McDonald's Grinch Meal or Burger King's SpongeBob Menu? We Pick a Winner

December 2, 2025

Hardware

Whos down in Whoville, and underwater residents of Bikini Bottom, there’s news for both of you: McDonald’s and Burger King, longtime fast-food rivals, are going head-to-head. Or, to be more accurate, scary red-wigged, face-painted clown head against equally frightening red-bearded crown-wearing head.

On Tuesday, McDonald’s introduced The Grinch Meal, and on the same day, Burger King rolled out its SpongeBob SquarePants menu. So if you’re sick of Thanksgiving leftovers and want some fast food instead, you can decide if your taste buds resonate with the crabby green Grinch or the always cheerful SpongeBob.

Both are limited-edition offerings, so get to your local McDonald’s or Burger King soon if you want to try out the meals.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Honestly, McDonald’s Grinch Meal isn’t as creative as BK’s offerings — where are the green-dyed buns, the green shake or the McRoast Beast burger? Essentially, the Grinch Meal is an adult Happy Meal, consisting of your choice of a regular Big Mac or a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, fries and a medium drink.

Fries with Grinch Salt (dill-pickle seasoning)

My review: How did they taste? Pretty good! I’m a pickle fan, and once I shook them up, the fries were sour and salty and overall delightful. Two green, furry thumbs up. I wish there was a pickle-flavored dipping sauce too.

No Grinch toy, but … socks?

Happy Meals always come with an extra toy or prize of some kind. But there’s no Grinch stuffed animal or Cindy Lou Who figurine with McDonald’s Grinch Meal, although the box it all comes in is cute and Grinchy-themed.

The blue socks read: “These socks stink.”

The yellow socks read: “Nose Hazard.”

My review: I ended up with the yellow pair of socks. They seem to be of decent quality, and considering how lame some fast-food prizes are, this was a score for me. I might actually wear them.

Burger King SpongeBob SquarePants menu

If McDonald’s kind of went Grinch-appropriate stingy on its Grinch offerings, Burger King went Sponge Bob-overboard with the generous SpongeBob SquarePants menu. SpongeBob fans, you might as well go all out and order the Bikini Bottom Bundle, which gives you all four of the themed items in a pineapple-shaped box.

My review: My toy was a figurine of SpongeBob wearing a pirate’s cap and clutching a ship’s wheel. There was supposed to be a Burger King SpongeBob crown too, but my location must’ve forgotten to give those out. The SpongeBob toy was pretty cool as kids’ toys go, though. And the pineapple box is cute.

Krabby Patty? Almost!

As every SpongeBob fan knows, the cheerful sponge is a fry cook at The Krusty Krab, serving up Krabby Patties all day long, so he knows his fast food. Burger King has plenty of themed menu items, way more than the McDonald’s Grinch offerings.

SpongeBob’s Krabby Whopper

Mr. Krabs’ Cheesy Bacon Tots

Mr. Krabs’ Cheesy Bacon Tots are crispy, coin-shaped potato tots filled with cheese, bacon bits and potatoes, served in a treasure chest-themed carton.

Grade: C-

Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie review

Patrick Star is SpongeBob’s best friend, and in his honor, you can order Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie. It’s a strawberry shortcake pie slice featuring strawberry and vanilla-flavored creamy layers, a crunchy cookie crumb crust, shortcake cookie crumbles and pink star-shaped sprinkles.

Grade: A
Bryan Johnson Has Discovered Shrooms, and He Really Wants You to Know It

December 2, 2025

Technology

trip balls,” declared Bryan Johnson, the “Don’t Die” longevity entrepreneur, on X a couple of days before he livestreamed himself consuming a high dose of psychedelic mushrooms at a psilocybin center in Oregon on Sunday.

It marked the second act of his stunty new investigation into whether using psilocybin can improve almost 250 wellness biomarkers, including various measures of brain connectivity, cortisol levels, and testosterone.

“There’s a potential for psychedelics to play a more important role in all of our lives, and wouldn’t it be amazing if it was also a longevity therapy,” Johnson proclaimed on the stream. Prior to consuming the shrooms Sunday—which has been legal at licensed facilities in Oregon since 2023—Johnson measured his brain activity with a $50,000 helmet produced by Kernel, a neuroimaging company founded by the 48-year-old. He also took saliva samples and temperature readings. (After his November 9 trip, he shared a lot of information about the state of his erections, but more on that later.)

Then he drank more than five grams of powdered mushrooms mixed with lemon juice, for extra potency. Johnson grimaced, and a bizarre new era of live celebrity psychedelic exhibitionism was born—one that is arguably counter to the introspective nature of the drug. The five-and-a-half-hour livestream, which has been viewed more than 1.1 million times, also featured Johnson’s 20-year-old son Talmage, whose blood he has injected in his efforts to stay young, journalist Ashlee Vance, a DJ set from Grimes, and Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff. YouTuber MrBeast, while pictured on a cartoonish poster advertising the event, did not show up, which most extremely high people would probably count as a blessing.

Observers noted that livestreaming an intense psychedelic trip might not be beneficial, since it can lead to fragmented attention and performance stress. Johnson appeared to acknowledge this before taking the mushrooms, saying, “I guess the biggest question is, can I not go off the rails?”

“Having the whole world being able to watch you may not facilitate the best outcome,” says Rayyan Zafar, a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Psychedelic Research and Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London. “Bryan’s setup speaks more to ego enrichment than ego dissolution and is characteristic of many of his pseudoscientific pursuits. These sorts of experiences are often best held with an introspective and internal focus.” (Ego death, where one’s sense of self dissolves, is an experience some people seek when taking various psychedelics.) Jamie Wheal, the author of Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex, and Death in a World That’s Lost Its Mind, was more brutal in his assessment, telling WIRED the project is “a circus of self-indulgence” and an exercise in “digital narcissism.” He asked: “Is this the psychedelic renaissance that all the supposed freedom fighters and prisoners of conscience have been stumping for?” (Asked if he would like to respond to critiques of his methods, Johnson told WIRED: “Whoever said this, I wish them well.”)

But while someone tripping balls on camera might seem performative and not particularly riveting—at one point Johnson plays with a slinky after declaring “everything is alive”—his broadcast could also help reduce stigma around drug use. “I think it’s fine and good to show people what the experience [of taking psychedelics] looks like, to demystify it to some extent, to show that it can be beneficial,” said journalist and former psychedelics industry consultant Hamilton Morris on the livestream; Morris hosted the Vice show Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, which depicted him doing drugs on camera.

Source: Wired.
More FDA drama: Top drug regulator calls it quits after 3 weeks

December 2, 2025

Hardware

The top drug regulator at the Food and Drug Administration, Richard Pazdur, has decided to retire from the agency just three weeks after taking the leading position, according to multiple media outlets.

Pazdur, an oncologist who has worked at the FDA since 1999, was seen as a stabilizing force for an agency that has been mired in turmoil during the second Trump administration. He took over the role of leading the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research on November 11, after the previous leader, George Tidmarsh, left the agency amid an investigation and a lawsuit regarding allegations that he used his position to exact petty revenge on a former business partner. In light of the scandal, one venture capital investor called the agency a “clown show.” Drug industry groups, meanwhile, called the FDA erratic and unpredictable.

Pazdur’s selection was seen as a positive sign by agency insiders, drug industry representatives, and patient advocacy groups, according to reporting by The Washington Post.

Read full article

Comments

Source: Ars Technica.
Comune Catanzaro, se dopo Consiglio ieri Veraldi non… svela prendono corpo nostre paure su poteri oscuri (più che occulti) in città. Intanto, sul piano politico, potrebbe nascere La Cosa con già 2 big dentro

December 2, 2025

Italy

Succedono cose ai limiti del credibile (o dell’incredibile, decidete voi, cari amici lettori) in Comune. In cui, soprattutto in occasione dei Consigli, ci si rende conto di come i primi a non tenere in alcun conto quanto dicano i politici in Aula non siamo noi, che oltretutto contiamo poco o niente, bensì i magistrati. Non fosse altro perché in appena 4-5 giorni prima Gianni Parisi venerdì scorso ha parlato di bilanci falsi in Catanzaro Servizi (o parzialmente tali, ma nulla cambia ai fini del ragionamento, leggi qui: https://irriverentemente.com/?p=24963) e poi il suo collega Stefano Veraldi, appena una manciata di ore fa, ha addirittura fatto cenno a… minacce subite da poteri forti capaci di “condizionare” il Comune. Una roba che in un Paese normale dovrebbe indurre stamani i magistrati a precipitarsi a convocare gli stessi consiglieri per chiedere loro chiarimenti urgenti su quanto affermato ai microfoni dell’Aula Rossa. Frasi che, se non appartenessero al… lessico della politica, sarebbero inquietanti. E forse lo sono comunque. Ma, purtroppo, nell’indifferenza generale. Di una città acquiescente o distratta!

Il giallo di Veraldi

Se di Parisi abbiamo già diffusamente parlato nel weekend (leggi qui: https://irriverentemente.com/?p=24969 e qui: https://irriverentemente.com/?p=25006), di Veraldi lo facciamo, come ovvio, in questo pezzo. In cui però, diciamolo subito, emergono molti più interrogativi e dubbi (inquietanti, peraltro, lo ribadiamo!) che risposte e certezze. Perché le parole del medesimo consigliere sono la riprova di come le preoccupazioni di https://irriverentemente.com/, sulla critica situazione in cui versa la città, ahinoi da tempo, non sono i deliri di un… pazzo; il portato di una caccia serrata ai click sul blog o una sorta di mitomania. Bensì la consapevolezza dell’esistenza nel capoluogo di “forze oscure”, più che occulte, di cui la politica è connivente. In nome di quella che smpre noi chiamiamo, con un termine poco forbito e gergale ma… emblematico e onnicomprensivo, mazzicogna! Il punto, però, è che Veraldi “denuncia” (per ora al microfono, tuttavia parlando anche dell’intenzione di farlo in Procura) tentativi, velati, di intimidazione nei suoi confronti. Da parte di non meglio precisati “poteri forti” che starebbero per querelarlo o comunque vorrebbero intimidirlo in altro modo. Tanto che conclude il suo accorato intervento, esclamando: “Sappiate che io non mi fermo!”.

Ecco perché Veraldi, e forse anche Parisi, potrebbero essere nel mirino di “poteri forti” che starebbero condizionando il Comune?

Abbiamo già scritto che, Sergio Costanzo a parte comunque soggetto agli ordini di scuderia del suo partito (Fi) pur da… irregolare qual è, l’unica vera opposizione in Comune è rappresentata da Parisi e Veraldi, nella scia di un dirigente politico quale Roberto Guerriero. Di cui peraltro ci occuperemo a breve, unitamente a un altro big della politica locale, raccontandovi de La Cosa di dalemiana memoria in salsa catanzarese. E, forse, del connesso tentativo di allestire una sorta di fortissima aggregazione di destra-sinistra-centro per le prossime Comunali della città. Ma questa è un’altra storia, perché intanto c’è da dire della morente minoranza al De Nobili con l’ex capo di Azione (e Rinascita) Valerio Donato di fatto tornato al vecchio e per lui legittimamente intramontabile amore comunista. Un ritorno, quindi, per lui alla “casa madre” del Pd, sebbene ancora non ufficialmente.

E che è giusto, del resto. Non essendo lo stesso prof un politico, bensì un eccellente tecnico (di area Democrat) a cui i Dem possono riprendere a dare, come in passato, incarichi di primissimo piano. Ma se non c’è più lui a fare opposizione, c’è ormai ancor meno un Antonello Talerico che ha finalmente capito di essere marginalissimo in una Fi locale con un Marco Polimeni sempre più vicino al lìder maximo Roberto Occhiuto e un citato Costanzo vicino a Polimeni.

Una consapevolezza che ha spinto il politicamente isolato e poco competente in materia (seppur tanto votato) Talerico a… consegnarsi a Filippo Mancuso. Il quale, però, del sindaco attuale è un grande amico; un ex “grande elettore” nel ballottaggio del 2022 e, in caso di mancata successione personale, anche un futuro grande sostenitore occulto. Figurarsi che opposizione a Nick è rimasta, quindi, Parisi e Veraldi esclusi.

Torniamo (e chiudiamo) a… bomba!

A chi sta allora mandando il suo… messaggio il buon Stefano? A gruppi economici, o per meglio dire, affaristici, magari interessati alla lucrosa, sebbene inutile e perfino dannosa per il resto della città, area Sud con Marina a fare la parte della leonessa… mangiatutto? O, invece, a potenti e trasversali organizzazioni come la massoneria a cui alcuni membri di Palazzo De Nobili, a tutti i livelli, sono certamente legati in modo diretto o indiretto? O, ancora, addirittura ad ambienti dell’illegalità riferita a entità appartenenti alla sfera criminale? Beh, noi questo come ovvio non lo sappiamo. Ma simili affermazioni meriterebbero di sicuro che la montagna non partorisse sempre il classico topolino come in quasi tutti gli altri casi. E quindi l’opinione pubblica e i cittadini catanzaresi conoscessero, in modo chiaro, da chi sono composti eventuali gruppi in grado di esercitare indebite pressioni in Comune. Fatto non grave, ma gravissimo! E da cui possono scaturire tante illazioni, se non… interverrà appunto un immediato chiarimento.

Source: Irriverentemente.
This Chinese company could become the country’s first to land a reusable rocket

December 2, 2025

Hardware

There’s a race in China among several companies vying to become the next to launch and land an orbital-class rocket, and the starting gun could go off as soon as tonight.

LandSpace, one of several maturing Chinese rocket startups, is about to launch the first flight of its medium-lift Zhuque-3 rocket. Liftoff could happen around 11 pm EST tonight (04:00 UTC Wednesday), or noon local time at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

Airspace warning notices advising pilots to steer clear of the rocket’s flight path suggest LandSpace has a launch window of about two hours. When it lifts off, the Zhuque-3 (Vermillion Bird-3) rocket will become the largest commercial launch vehicle ever flown in China. What’s more, LandSpace will become the first Chinese launch provider to attempt a landing of its first stage booster, using the same tried-and-true return method pioneered by SpaceX and, more recently, Blue Origin in the United States.

Read full article

Comments

Source: Ars Technica.
The Polaroid Flip, my favorite retro instant camera, is cheaper than ever

December 2, 2025

Hardware
I love instant cameras because of how they help me slow down and be creative without the distractions of a phone. Holding a real print also feels grounding in a screen-dominated age, which is why I think a lot of people these days are drawn to them — and why models with old-school vibes like the Polaroid Flip make such great gifts. It’s usually pricey, but today you can buy the Flip for $184.99 ($35 off) directly from Polaroid, which is its best price to date. Amazon is also selling the camera with two packs of film for $212.49 ($37 off), which marks a new low too.
Polaroid Flip

Where to Buy:
Polaroid cameras offer the most charming, old-fashioned instant-film experience of any I’ve tested, and the Flip is no exception. It sports a classic, retro-inspired design with a flip-up lid and prints vintage-style square I-Type photos with Polaroid’s iconic white frame. Yet at the same time it’s got the perfect amount of subtle modern conveniences baked in, like Bluetooth, USB-C charging, and a beginner-friendly companion app that lets you adjust saturation and exposure.

But what makes it really stand out is its picture quality, which outshines other Polaroid models in this price range. The Flip has the most powerful flash of any Polaroid camera, and paired with its unique sonar autofocus and four-lens hyperfocal system, it produces sharper, more consistently in-focus images than any model Polaroid offers at this price. You can manually tweak exposure, too, and the camera even sends warnings you when a shot is likely to be over- or underexposed. These are all features that go a long way toward reducing the number of wasted shots, which is helpful given I-Type film costs a whopping $18.99 for just eight prints.

That said, the instant camera’s not for everyone. Fujifilm’s cheaper Instax Mini 12 develops prints much faster and looks more true-to-life while struggling less in low light. Still, the Flip’s dreamy, vintage aesthetic has its own appeal, especially if you prefer a more artistic, old-fashioned look.

Source: The Verge.
OpenAI CEO declares “code red” as Gemini gains 200 million users in 3 months

December 2, 2025

Hardware

The shoe is most certainly on the other foot. On Monday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly declared a “code red” at the company to improve ChatGPT, delaying advertising plans and other products in the process, The Information reported based on a leaked internal memo. The move follows Google’s release of its Gemini 3 model last month, which has outperformed ChatGPT on some industry benchmark tests and sparked high-profile praise on social media.

In the memo, Altman wrote, “We are at a critical time for ChatGPT.” The company will push back work on advertising integration, AI agents for health and shopping, and a personal assistant feature called Pulse. Altman encouraged temporary team transfers and established daily calls for employees responsible for enhancing the chatbot.

The directive creates an odd symmetry with events from December 2022, when Google management declared its own “code red” internal emergency after ChatGPT launched and rapidly gained in popularity. At the time, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reassigned teams across the company to develop AI prototypes and products to compete with OpenAI’s chatbot. Now, three years later, the AI industry is in a very different place.

Read full article

Comments

Source: Ars Technica.
Indiegogo is launching ‘Express Crowdfunding’ so creators can ship things sooner

December 2, 2025

Hardware

Indiegogo is planning to launch a new “Express Crowdfunding” campaign format that lets creators ship things while the campaign is on-going instead of forcing creators to wait until the campaign is over.

Indiegogo spokesperson Maciej Kuc tells The Verge that the change was spurred by Indiegogo’s recent move to the infrastructure from its new owner, board game crowdfunding company Gamefound:

Switching to an entirely new technology is always a major challenge. The technology Indiegogo is currently working on was originally created for Gamefound – a slightly more “typical” crowdfunding platform. Its core assumption was that creators run a campaign to raise funds in order to bring a product to life. The technology expected that at least two weeks would pass between the crowdfunding campaign and the pledge manager phase – the moment when orders are finalized, new ones are added, and shipping addresses are collected.

One prominent example of the current system’s delays, which was reported on by Android Authority, was Ayaneo’s campaign for its new Pocket AIR Mini retro gaming handheld. Ayaneo originally planned to begin shipping the handheld by the end of November, but because of “platform policy requirements,” the company says it can’t collect addresses for shipping until December 5th. Specifically, Ayaneo says it can’t request to move the campaign into the Pledge Manager phase, where shipping addresses are collected, until December 2nd, and that request takes approximately three days to be reviewed. Shipments will now begin “around” December 10th, according to Ayaneo.

Indiegogo’s new Express Crowdfunding format “should be available” in early February, Kuc says.

Source: The Verge.
Learn NestJS for Beginners

December 2, 2025

Software
NestJS is a progressive Node.js framework for building efficient and reliable server-side applications. It uses TypeScript by default and encourages clean, modular code with concepts including controllers, services, and dependency injection.

We just published a NestJS course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will help you harness it’s modular architecture, TypeScript support, and built-in tools to create clean, testable, code.

In this course, you’ll explore controllers, services, modules, decorators, pipes, guards, and exception handling – all while building the profile feature for DevMatch, a dating app for developers.

You’ll implement profile creation, updates, and data retrieval while exploring the full lifecycle of a NestJS backend. By the end, you’ll have a solid foundation in NestJS fundamentals, plus the confidence to apply these skills to your own APIs and applications.

The course covers:
- Understand NestJS fundamentals: modules, decorators, and structure.
- Build controllers to handle GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE requests.
- Connect controllers to services to manage application logic.
- Implement validation and transformation with pipes.
- Handle errors gracefully with exception filters.
- Use guards to manage application security and access control.
- Solve hands-on challenges that reinforce each concept.
Watch the full course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel (2-hour watch).

Source: freeCodeCamp Programming Tutorials: Python, JavaScript, Git & More.
Google is experimentally replacing news headlines with AI clickbait nonsense

December 2, 2025

Hardware

“BG3 players exploit children,” reads a Google AI-generated headline. | Image: Google

Did you know that BG3 players exploit children? Are you aware that Qi2 slows older Pixels? If we wrote those misleading headlines, readers would rip us a new one – but Google is experimentally beginning to replace the original headlines on stories it serves with AI nonsense like that.

I read a lot of my bedtime news via Google Discover, aka “swipe right on your Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel homescreen until you see a news feed appear,” and that’s where these new AI headlines are beginning to show up.

They’re not all bad. For example, “Origami model wins prize” and “Hyundai, Kia gain share” seem fine, even if not remotely as interesting as …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Source: The Verge.