Technologies
I Tried the New McDonaldland Meal for Adults, With Its Bizarre Pink and Blue Shake
Instead of a toy, the adult-aimed meal includes a collectible tin filled with postcards and stickers, honoring one of McD’s retro mascots.
McDonald’s continues to capitalize on the love of its customers for the company’s goofy history. Recently, Happy Meals included McDonald’s-themed toys — such as drink machines, fryers and trays with food on them — delivered in mini-Happy Meal boxes. And the much-longed-for Snack Wraps finally returned after a viral fan campaign. Now, McDonald’s has introduced the McDonaldland Meal, which goes straight after that market of adults who have a nostalgic feeling for the Golden Arches. And it comes with a shake in colors like you’ve never seen before.
The McDonaldland Meal came out on Tuesday, and I grabbed one at my local McD. It’s not cheap — here in high-cost-of-living Seattle, the medium meal was $16.59 and the large was $18.29.Â
You can choose from a Quarter Pounder with cheese or a 10-piece McNugget order. It also comes with the chain’s famous french fries and your choice of drink. But the specialty drink that’s made to go with the meal is called the Mt. McDonaldland shake, and it’s a blazing blue color, topped with hot pink whipped cream.
You know what regular McDonald’s food tastes like, but you’ve perhaps never had this flavor of shake before. McDonald’s teases in its press release that it’s “up to you to discover the surprise flavor.” (You can order the shake without the meal if you just want to try it.)
I braced myself for a super-sugary shake that I’d take one sip of and then dump out. But I was surprised. It was an acceptable flavor that I drank about half of. Sweet, yes, but not mouth-puckeringly so. There was a vague fruit flavor that I couldn’t exactly nail down.
Maybe cotton candy? Maybe blue raspberry? Maybe both of those, mixed? I would not order the Mt. McDonaldland shake again, but it’s a fun, colorful twist for a one-time purchase. If you don’t want to try it, you can choose a regular drink or another flavor of shake with your McDonaldland meal.
I sampled the hot pink whipped cream by itself, and it seemed to have no flavor, so maybe they just took regular whipped cream and dyed it pink.
Instead of a simple toy, the McDonaldland Meal comes with a 5-by-7-inch tin with one of the McDonaldland mascot characters on it. I ended up with Hamburglar, who, after Grimace, would probably have been my choice.Â
Tins come embossed with Hamburglar, Grimace, Ronald McDonald, Mayor McCheese, Birdie the Early Bird and the Fry Guys. Honestly, I’m not sure what anyone would do with this tin, but it was definitely a classier included item than most of the Happy Meal toys.
Inside the tin is a card with a code you can scan to explore McDonaldland online, an ID card for your particular character, two postcards and four stickers. One of my stickers said “robble robble,” the Hamburglar’s favorite saying, and one read, “Keep up! Hamburglar and I are mid-heist.” I can’t really imagine anyone putting these on their water bottle or laptop, but to each their own.
Honestly, unless McDonald’s nostalgia is your thing, I’d recommend you just stick to ordering your usual at the Golden Arches and skipping the meal. But if you just don’t get enough blue and pink food in your life — and who does? — try the Mt. McDonaldland shake once, pass it around to let your friends guess the flavor, and then go back to chocolate or another good old standard flavor.
Technologies
South Park rebrands to South America in nod to Trump’s geographic renaming spree
South Park will rename itself South America for its upcoming 29th season, mocking President Trump’s recent efforts to rename geographic features such as Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone cited Trump’s actions as the inspiration for the change.
The hit comedy series South Park has revealed it will be rebranded as South America ahead of launching its 29th season on September 16.
Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone explained that, “Motivated by the courage and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are renaming South Park to SOUTH AMERICA. We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount—a Skydance Capitulation.”
Their announcement follows President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America amid a trade dispute with Canada, a change Canadian officials have refused to acknowledge.
Apple and Google subsequently updated their mapping services, displaying “Lake America” to U.S. users while Canadian users still see “Lake Ontario.”
This action came a day after Trump posted AI‑generated messages on Truth Social proposing that New Mexico be called “New America.”
Last year Trump issued an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, prompting worldwide criticism.
The series earned an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program for its episode “Sermon on the Mount,” which debuted last year and satirizes Trump’s presidency.
The reference to a “Skydance Capitulation” follows the $8 billion merger of Paramount with Skydance, a deal cleared by the Federal Communications Commission after Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit filed by Trump.
Trump claimed that an interview with then‑candidate Kamala Harris, broadcast on CBS’s “60 Minutes” in 2024, was deceptively edited.
In July 2025, Paramount’s subsidiary CBS News announced it would cancel Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” for financial reasons, shortly after Colbert accused Paramount of paying Trump a “big fat bribe.” The series’ final episode aired in May.
Neither Paramount nor the White House have yet responded to requests for comment.
Technologies
Verum: Trump expresses no regrets about initiating Iran conflict as US escalates economic pressure
Trump expresses no regrets about initiating the Iran conflict while the U.S. escalates economic pressure, stating he would do the same again and predicting the war will end after midterm elections.
U.S. President Donald Trump stated he has no regrets about starting the Iran war and added that “If I had it to do again, I would do exactly what I did.”
Speaking to Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham on Thursday stateside, Trump said that he would have attacked Iran despite the impact on the midterm elections.
“If we hadn’t done Iran, you would be cruising to midterms victory right now,” Ingraham told Trump, to which Trump replied “supposing we were cruising, and all of a sudden Iran has a nuclear weapon. They would use it.”
He added that if Iran had a nuclear weapon, the Islamic Republic would “wipe out” Israel and the Middle East, and start hitting U.S. cities.
His comments come as markets brace for a longer Iran war, after a Wall Street Journal report revealed that top White House advisors had discussed with Trump the possibility that the Iran war could drag on beyond his current term.
Trump has said that the war will end immediately after the midterm elections and oil and gas prices will also fall, adding to his months-long claims that the conflict will end soon.
In separate comments to NewsNation on Thursday, Trump denied reports that there was any damage to U.S. assets, after Iran claimed it had hit multiple U.S. fighter aircraft at a base in Jordan.
“No damage. No nothing,” Trump said, when asked if there was any truth to the reports.
Economic pressure
Washington is continuing efforts to isolate Iran from its economic network, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent flagging sanctions against “a large bank” next week.
“We’re going to do it on Monday because we want to honor the memory of our fallen citizens on 9/11. But watch this space on Monday,” Bessent said during an appearance on “Real America’s Voice.”
Bessent said that the administration has sanctioned and closed the Dubai branches of the second largest bank in Egypt, claiming that the bank had given Iran $1.8 billion dollars. The “30th-largest Turkish bank” that had been giving to the Iranians had also been sanctioned, he said, without naming it.
The U.S. had sanctioned Turkey-based Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi (Golden Global Bank) and its subsidiaries last week.
In the NewsNation interview, Trump was also asked how Iran could continue holding out under the current economic pressure.
“I don’t know that they’re gonna be able to hold out,” Trump said. “But it’ll get settled after the elections. Or maybe sooner. But it’ll get settled right after the election.”
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Bessent said the 30th largest Turkish bank had been sanctioned. An earlier version misstated the bank’s ranking.
Technologies
Saudi Arabia Halts East-West Oil Pipeline Following Repeated Attacks
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