Tag Archives: performance

general

Johnson tri-op defeats East Brunswick tri-op – Boys ice hockey recap

Leave a comment

Sammy Zapotoka scored four goals and added an assist to lead Johnson-Dayton-Roselle Park to a 6-3 victory over East Brunswick-Spotswood-South River at ProSkate Arena in Monmouth Junction.

East Brunswick (1-6) jumped out to an early 2-1 lead in the first period with goals from James Garfinkle and Marcello Ferrari, both assisted by Joseph Hayes. However, Zapotoka scored twice in the second period, including the go-ahead goal, to put Johnson up 3-2 heading into the third.

Early in the third period, Logan Paskewich added a goal to extend Johnson’s lead to 4-2. Joseph Hayes responded with a power play goal for East Brunswick, cutting the deficit to 4-3. But Zapotoka answered back with two more goals, sealing the 6-3 win for Johnson (3-2-1).

In addition to Zapotoka’s impressive five-point performance, Paskewich finished with a goal and an assist, while Jack Kalikas contributed two assists for Johnson. Michael Neshimka also scored on the power play.

Hayes led the way for East Brunswick with a goal and two assists. Garfinkle and Ferrari each added a goal.

Riley Cwikla made 19 saves on 22 shots to earn the win in net for Johnson.

*Generative AI was used to write an early draft of this article, using data from NJ.com sports. It was reviewed and edited by NJ.com staff.*
https://www.nj.com/highschoolsports/2025/12/johnson-tri-op-defeats-east-brunswick-tri-op-boys-ice-hockey-recap.html

general

Great shows coming up this holiday season

Leave a comment

• “Christmas with C. S. Lewis,” a show in which British actor David Payne portrays the “Chronicles of Narnia” author and shares anecdotes about his friendship with J. R. R. Tolkien and subsequent embrace of Christianity, is at 2 and 7: 30 p. m. Dec. 5 and 6 at Marin Center’s Showcase Theater at 20 Avenue of the Flags in San Rafael. Admission is $64 to $75. Go to tickets. marincenter. org. • Dan Hoyle performs his new solo show, “Takes All Kinds,” described as “stories of American democracy in these tumultuous times,” at 7: 30 p. m. Dec. 6 at the Throckmorton Theatre at 142 Throckmorton Ave. in Mill Valley. Admission is $26 to $43. Go to throckmortontheatre. org. • Marin Theatre partners with Muttville Senior Dog Rescue to present the West Coast premiere of “The Gift of Nothing,” a musical based on Patrick McDonnell’s beloved 2005 holiday children’s book and starring characters from McDonnell’s “Mutts” comic strip, next month. It begins with a preview performance at 6 p. m. Dec. 13 before opening at 1 p. m. Dec. 14. The show runs through Dec. 23 at 397 Miller Ave. in Mill Valley. Admission is $25 to $44 for all shows. Go to marintheatre. org.
https://www.marinij.com/2025/11/26/great-shows-coming-up-this-holiday-season/

entertainment

Legendary actor Udo Kier passes away at 81

Leave a comment

An icon of television and movies, and a very familiar face from the classic world of real-time strategy gaming, Udo Kier was reported to have passed away this week. The German star was famous for stoic and eccentric delivery across more than 200 roles in TV, film, video games, and more. The cause was not given, but his partner, Delbert McBride reported that he was 81 at the time of his death on Sunday. Udo Kier’s passing was officially shared by Variety, who spoke with McBride on the matter. While much of Kier’s name was made in German arthouse films and prestige cinema, many of us will remember Kier as the face and voice of Yuri in Command & Conquer. He played the character in full-motion video cutscenes across Red Alert 2 and its expansion, Yuri’s Revenge. He also provided Yuri’s voice as a unit in-game, delivering a memorable psychic madman in his performance. Kier was working on another major appearance in video game media, as he was a leading actor in Hideo Kojima, Kojima Productions, and Xbox Game Studios’ upcoming OD. As such, Kojima himself was also shocked and saddened to hear of the legendary actor’s passing, offering condolences: It is unknown how much of OD was shot with Kier, or if Kier’s role will be preserved in the final product. However, it seems likely to be his last appearance and another feather in the cap of what looked like a long and illustrious career. Shacknews sends condolences to Kier’s friends.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146953/udo-kier-obituary-red-alert-2-kojima-od

general

Auburn’s Malcom Simmons helps ignite offense in blowout win

Leave a comment

Deuce Knight’s stellar performance in Auburn football’s 62-17 victory against Mercer would not have happened without the brilliance of wide receiver Malcom Simmons. Simmons put together 149 receiving yards on five receptions leading the receiving corps in yards. Cam Coleman also added five receptions for 53 yards and a touchdown right before halftime. “I thought Malcolm did tremendous on some of those scrambles coming back to the ball. Being a big-time receiver, coming back to his route and getting open for Deuce,” Durkin said postgame. “I thought that whole receiving group did a great job for him, and Deuce delivered the ball. The best part was Deuce was making the right decisions and delivering the ball where it was supposed to go. There’s a couple of those plays where it wasn’t quite how it was designed, but he just went and made a play,” Durkin added. On one of Knight’s six touchdowns, he connected with Simmons on a 91-yard touchdown, tying for the third longest touchdown pass in school history (Bo Nix to Anthony Schwartz vs. LSU in 2020). It was also Simmons’ first touchdown of the season. Knight broke down the play and how he and Simmons discussed it during pregame. “Malcolm, he the craziest athlete you will ever see in this world. Malcolm’s insane,” Knight said postgame. “So, you know, he just said, ‘Hey, just throw the ball up.’ He told me this in the hotel before we left. ‘Hey, just throw the ball up to me.’ I’m like, ‘I got you.’ And he said he was going to do that.” Simmons set a career high with 149 receiving yards, tying for 24th-most in a single game in Auburn history. It was the most receiving yards by a Tiger since KeAndre Lambert-Smith had 156 yards versus Arkansas on Sept. 21, 2024.
https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/2025/11/auburns-malcom-simmons-helps-ignite-offense-in-blowout-win.html

general

KISS pays tribute to Ace Frehley in emotional first performance since guitarist’s death

Leave a comment

KISS honored Ace Frehley in the band’s first performance since his death. The rock group performed its three-day KISS Kruise: Landlocked event in Las Vegas over the weekend and paid tribute to the guitarist, who died Oct. 16 at age 74 after suffering a fall in his studio. “Obviously, before we get going and we’re going to have an awesome time we just wanted to take a moment to think about somebody who was at the foundation of this band, and we’re talking about Ace,” frontman Paul Stanley told the crowd on Friday, as seen in a fan video from the concert. “We certainly had differences, but that’s what family is about,” Stanley, 73, added. The musician then led a moment of silence for Frehley, telling the crowd, “Why don’t we take a moment, little quiet, and think about him looking down on us, and let’s have a moment for Ace.” After the moment of silence, the audience chanted “Ace! Ace! Ace!” Stanley also encouraged everyone to hold plastic candles in the air in Frehley’s honor. The current members of KISS include Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. Frehley, dubbed the Spaceman and Space Ace, was a founding member of KISS. He departed the group in 1982 to pursue a successful solo career, but then rejoined KISS for a reunion tour in 1996 and stayed until 2002. Last month, Frehley was placed on life support with a brain bleed after a fall he suffered in his New Jersey studio weeks prior. Frehley appeared to mention the incident in September when he canceled a performance in California due to “a minor fall in his studio” that resulted in a visit to the hospital. He went on to call off the remaining dates of his 2025 tour because of “ongoing medical issues” following the fall. The rocker’s family confirmed his passing on Oct. 16. “We are completely devastated and heartbroken,” his loved ones said. “In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth.” Frehley’s fellow KISS members shared their own statement honoring their former bandmate. “We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley,” Stanley and Simmons, 76, wrote. “He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history.” The duo also noted that Frehley will “always be a part of Kiss’ legacy.”.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/17/entertainment/kiss-pays-tribute-to-ace-frehley-in-first-performance-since-his-death/

general

Uniswap (UNI) Surges 16.6% as Nearly All Assets Rise

Leave a comment

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 3,513.1, up 4.7% (+158.19) since 4 p.m. ET on Friday. Notably, nineteen of the twenty assets are trading higher, reflecting a broadly positive market sentiment.

Leading the gains are UNI, which surged by 16.6%, and HBAR, up 9.9%. On the other hand, the laggards include ICP, down 9.5%, and POL, which saw a modest increase of 0.8%.

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms across several regions globally, offering a comprehensive snapshot of the digital asset market’s performance.
https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/tech/uniswap-uni-surges-16-6-as-nearly-all-assets-rise/

general

Steelers HC Mike Tomlin on the loss: ‘We stunk it up tonight. We’ll be back.’

Leave a comment

There haven’t been many moments during Mike Tomlin’s tenure as the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach where he appeared as irritated as he was following Sunday’s blowout loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Tomlin declined to address specifics about the loss regarding individual players, but his confidence in the team remains intact. He firmly declared that the Steelers will be back.

Speaking candidly about the offensive struggles, Tomlin highlighted key issues, including the offense not converting a single third down until the middle of the fourth quarter. Overall, Pittsburgh’s offense managed just 221 passing yards, with running back Jaylen Warren accounting for 91 of those yards — 70 rushing and 21 receiving.

When reporters pressed Tomlin for details about quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ poor performance, he refused to engage. Instead, he snapped at the media, calling out their line of questioning.

Rodgers had his worst game of the season, throwing for only 161 yards. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked in the end zone for a safety, contributing to the team’s disappointing outing.
https://steelerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/steelers/2025/11/10/steelers-chargers-aaron-rodgers-nfl-mike-tomlin/87190655007/

general

WWE Star Karmen Petrovic Warns Fans About Contacting Her Family

Leave a comment

WWE NXT and Evolve star Karmen Petrovic has issued a public message to fans regarding personal boundaries.

Posting on X, Petrovic warned fans against trying to contact her through her family or friends, stating that doing so would have consequences. She wrote, “Hey friends! Usually I’m really good with responding to my squad & trying to be as engaging as possible, but if I don’t respond, please do not reach out to my family or friends through personal phone numbers in order to get in contact with me. That will get you blocked.”

Karmen Petrovic, whose real name is Monika Klisara, was born in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She moved to Canada in the 1990s as her family escaped the Bosnian War.

In November 2022, she signed with WWE as part of the WWE Performance Center Fall 2022 Rookie Class, becoming the first Bosnian to perform for the company.
https://wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/wwe-star-karmen-petrovic-warns-fans-about-contacting-her-family/

general

Microsoft breaks Task Manager in Windows 11, hard

Leave a comment

Let’s take a look at how things are going at Microsoft, whose CEO claimed a few months ago that 30% of their code was generated by AI.

After installing Windows Updates released on or after October 28, 2025 (KB5067036), you might encounter an issue where closing Task Manager using the Close (X) button does not fully terminate the process. When you reopen Task Manager, the previous instance continues running in the background even though no window is visible.

This results in multiple lingering instances of taskmgr.exe, consuming system resources and potentially degrading device performance. Additional instances appear as “Task Manager” in the Processes tab and as “Taskmgr.exe” in the Details tab.

Although the impact is less noticeable if Task Manager is opened and closed a few times, many instances accumulated over time can cause noticeable slowdowns in other applications.

For more details, refer to the Windows Health Dashboard.
https://www.osnews.com/story/143694/microsoft-breaks-task-manager-in-windows-11-hard/

culture, economy, education, entertainment, sports

Nutley’s Meya Ranges takes third in Essex XC Championships

Leave a comment

Up until last week, Meya Ranges’ senior season has been all about pacing and patience. Throughout the offseason, Ranges focused on improving her pacing on the course to ensure she could finish races stronger. During the regular season, she was strategically held out of some of Nutley’s dual meets, keeping bigger goals in mind—namely the Essex County and upcoming NJSIAA state and sectional championships.

On Friday at Cedar Grove Park, that training and approach paid off in a big way. Ranges smashed her previous career best by running a 19:09.07 to claim third place at the Essex County Championships. Her medal-winning performance earned her The Observer Athlete of the Week honors.

For Ranges, this marked her second consecutive third-place finish at the Essex County Championships. Last fall, she took third with a time of 19:41.50.

“Going into Friday, I was really confident in myself, and now I have more experience running a 5K,” Ranges said. “I knew how to pace it, and I pretty much ran my own race. I definitely think I’m hitting my stride right now. I think a lot of the credit goes to my training and my coaches. At the beginning of the year, I didn’t run as many dual meets as I did before, just to save my legs for the championship season. I’ve been doing a lot of tempo runs during the dual meets, and that has definitely helped.”

Head coach Kara McNish added, “With Meya, we kind of mapped out the whole season, looking at invitationals and recovery time. I gave her certain days that she wasn’t going to race, like the Essex County Invitational and some dual meets. Last year, we didn’t do that at all, which I think, in the end, weighed heavy on her legs. By the time we got to sectionals and groups, she was feeling it.”

For Ranges, sitting out those dual meets wasn’t always easy. She admitted to feeling a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) as she did her work separately from her teammates.

“I want to save my legs, but I want to be running. I want to be with them,” Ranges said, also crediting swimming and cross-training for helping her get stronger heading into the season. “But I know it’s for the better because Cedar Grove is all concrete, so it’s definitely harsh on your legs. Saving my energy, going to the track, and doing a tempo workout really did help. I felt really fresh on Friday.”

With her legs fresh and another year of experience under her belt, Ranges felt much more comfortable heading into this year’s county meet. Just ten days earlier, at the Super Essex Conference Championships, she set a then-personal best with a time of 19:19.40 at Cedar Grove.

According to Ranges, she didn’t start with the front pack in the field of 106 runners. Instead, she gradually made her way toward the front while saving a strong kick for the end.

“I definitely wanted to go under 19:20, but I really had no idea what was going to happen because everybody in Essex County is so good—everyone’s improving,” Ranges said. “So I just wanted to stay up, run my own race, try to catch up to the lead pack, and then kick at the end. That was my goal, and I executed it pretty well.”
https://www.theobserver.com/2025/10/29/nutleys-meya-ranges-takes-third-in-essex-xc-championships/