rodrigtw's comments

Typically, you would train the algorithm on one set of data and then test it on another. So you might train it on data from FY 2010 and then test it out in a simulation of FY 2011.

The fear is that if you train it on FY 2010 and then it does well in a simulation of FY 2010, it might only be because it has stored some representation of a record of FY 2010 which is extremely predictive of FY 2010 but doesn't generalize well to any other year. Testing the algorithm against a simulation of FY 2011 would reveal this flaw.

There is definitely a lot of "orientalism" surrounding Buddhist practices. And yet, there are other ways to approach meditation. I entered meditation the same way I entered running: I saw people around me doing running and enjoying it, thought I would see if I enjoyed it too, did a little research, asked some questions, and tried it out. And yet running isn't for everyone.

If you were ever to try meditation, you sound like you might get the most out of Mindfulness in Plain English. The author presents meditation as a practice which serves a philosophy. The philosophy is that as a species we suffer from our emotional attachments to the outcomes of events, to the objects around us, etc. In geek parlance, we have stress responses that were appropriate in our evolutionary environment but are unadaptive to modern life. Meditation is a practice that helps us override these stress responses, and for many people meditation is a better tool than attempting to override those stress responses with thoughts. And even if you don't consider yourself particularly stressed, a Buddhist might suggest that overriding those responses can help remove the weight of attachment from your decision making process and make you into a more rational person.

Honestly, having a professional tell me that I was depressed was the turning point in my life. Suddenly the big problem in my life wasn't that I was such a loser, it was that I was inclined to think that I was such a loser. And this new problem was one that I could manage: finding new triggers to my depression and avoiding them; understanding when I'm being unreasonably demanding of myself or others because I've entered an episode; knowing how to help break the negative thought loops that sustain an episode of depression.

If you ask how to start a successful business, then I will give you advice on that. If you ask how to stop being a loser, then I will suggest that you are not a loser and you have some depression. In that case, what helped me was getting a diagnosis, reading books on psychological disorders, understanding CBT, and mindfulness meditation/vipassana.

And if you are both depressed and wanting to start a successful business, I suggest that the best place to start is in learning how to deal with your illness.