I agree with you 99%. The only exception is that I like biometrics, which is why I hung around and did my PhD.
I didn't really start collecting data to predict market shifts. I was really trying to understand some of the factors which appear to influence price. That is more of a "timeless" exercise. As I say, I may have just got lucky with the timing of GFC mark 1 and 2 which may show an effect which is replicated across many different cymbal models. We'll see.
And I've got just the sort of data I wanted to use for the development of some new techniques of analysis. Now if markets would kindly stop changing I could stop collecting more data and just enjoy my model fitting research. Coffee Break2