One of My Covid-19 Habits

During 2020, I started a few "projects". One was drinking coffee. I still do. But, another had a fixed length, I watched basketball games of a high school girl who was #1 in the country. Someone posted them to YouTube, so I watched.

About 15 minutes ago, she finished her college career by winning the National Championship with her University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskys. I hadn't watched much basketball in years, but I followed her team the whole way. There were some heart-breaking losses (very few), but some amazing wins too.

Paige Bueckers, of Minnesota. Is a 6' guard.

She was the national player of the year in her freshman year, then suffered injuries requiring surgeries. She carefully rehabilitated and came back to finish last year in the Final 4.  They lost that year to Caitlin Clark's Iowa team by 1 point. Then they lost two starters from the team, who turned pro. So, it didn't seem likely they would do well this year, and she would finish without the championship. But, their recruiting class was excellent, and they got an experienced grad-student transfer from Princeton and the team somehow fit perfectly. They lost a couple of games, but overcame hurdle after hurdle, in part because of her leadership.

They had lost a big game during the season to Tennessee, so everyone wondered if they could win "the big game". They got their act together and won game after game. In the NCAA tournament they won games by huge margins, even beating #1 ranked UCLA by 34 (a tournament record) in the semi-final game, and finishing by beating former champs S. Carolina by 82 - 59, a 23 pt. victory (they were up by 29 before taking the starting players out). They showed they could blow out everybody. This is one of the most amazing women's teams of all time.

Along the way, she broke record after record and entered the pantheon of UConn players. Her coach has also been the most dominant women's basketball coach in history, and this made the Husky's 12th national championship. 

Bueckers will be drafted into the WNBA in a week or two and is picked to be the #1 pick.

UConn Huskies, National Champions of the 2024-25 season

Experimental Mashup of YouTube videos

 Listen to the first (44 minutes) and simultaneously watch and listen to the other two in sequence. Altogether, the 2nd and 3rd are around 44 minutes.

 

This is an album of music by Patricia Taxxon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM5vtaR8qY8 

This is about the movement of Earth and all our solar system through the universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW2GT48ZLwA

 

This one is about the Cocoa Puffs Conspiracy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPtS_zEJKKI

 

Enjoy!

Are things getting better?

I doubt anyone believes these are the worst of times, but just where do things stand?

I'm copying graphs from my favorite stat geek, Kevin Drum. His blog has been the source of many interesting and important things. He's fighting cancer, so I wish him the best!

All those FAA regulations, and look at those blue and yellow lines drop.

 

All those regulations, and somehow fatalities are down. Here you can see the

specific thing introduced and then changes thereafter. It's a great record.

The workplace has also been a dangerous place. Is it safer today?

 

This is quite impressive too. Despite workplace safety rules by OSHA, there is no place on the curve with a big upswing. Only in 1974 (it seems) there was a small blip. Teddy Roosevelt would have loved it.

 

GDP volatility -- This one is really interesting because the "regulation" seems so uncertain.

Yes, it's that dramatically different. The "Free Market" era was a lot more volatile. There has been computerization since the 1980s (or at least 1990), and there have been a zillion changes to do with enabling the little guy retail customers in, but still, look at those graph lines. Clearly, a regulated economy and markets does work.

Conclusion

These reflect some macro changes to our economy since the 1940s or even the 1960s. It's a time which my siblings, and friends of a similar age, were part of. We participated, voted, argued for, and got a lot of the things which improved America. This is a lot of reason to be proud.