b0b0b0b

reduced release sounds bad. but reduced reuptake sounds good!

Did it take 11 minutes to do a line count? This wasn't across a network, was it? If so, then do the work local to where the data resides. I have had success munging textual data by making sure it stays compressed (lzop & pigz are good).

tex makes them pretty

I think it depends also on what strengths you already have and how you are personally motivated to learn. For example, I have found java's h2 database to be easy to work with (and you never have to leave java). I don't think any db could be easier to get started with and have less administrative overhead than sqlite. If, to learn how to program computer games, one is advised to first write tetris, to learn programming with databases, you might write a message board.

They don't detail the number of trades nor do they account for commissions or slippage.

that's called face guarding, and this is a widely known legal maneuver. Perhaps it's not prevalent because you don't pad your stats with it, but I bet it's easy for the shooter to draw a foul from the defender.