Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
On the one hand, true. On the other hand, bollocks.

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Days Since Hitler Was Mentioned Here

Similar to those "87 days without an accident" signs in factories.
  (+8, -2)
(+8, -2)
  [vote for,
against]

Hitler seems to pop up a lot here. There's the occasional political discussion so those inevitably lead to Adolph being invoked up as a way for people having a friendly discussion to guage the opponent they're chatting with, let them know where they rank on the mass murdering dictator scale. The idea is to put up an update when the H man gets mentioned to guage how long we went without him in our lives. The way it would work would be:

1) Somebody says "Hey, I think dogs should have lights on their collars so people can see them at night."

2) Somebody says "That's just what Hitler would have said."

3) They go to the "Days Since Hitler Was Mentioned" post, see the date of the last post, do the math of how many days it's been (or hours, minutes, seconds) and post the new starting point.

So it would look like

Jan 1st 2021: "Happy New Year everyody!" "Screw you Hitler!" (26 days)

Jan 15th: "I like donuts." "So did Hitler." (15 days)

By the way, not suggesting this as a tool to help mention Hitler less, I've suggested that debates might consist of two people just calling each other Hitler as fast as possible which would be much more entertaining than most politcal debates.

doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2020

In honor of the great Mr Godwin https://en.wikipedi...g/wiki/Godwin's_law
Gotta praise him for pointing out the patently obvious and somehow getting his name attached to it. [doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2020]

Hitler Nutcracker https://www.cast-ir.../Hitler_nut_cracker
[xenzag, Oct 16 2020]

The North Minehead Byelection https://www.youtube...watch?v=JTLeBybJhSo
"I am a retired Ouindowcleaner.. und pacifist" [bhumphrys, Oct 29 2020]

Former Nazi Chancellor of Germany mention #1 _22Duck_22_20and_20...ssor_20Verification
Last line of the idea post by doctorremulac3 on 23-NOV-2020 [doctorremulac3, Dec 14 2020]

Former Nazi Chancellor of Germany mention: #2 befriend_20reason
Line #35 by DrBob in thread "befriend reason" on 11-DEC-2020 [doctorremulac3, Dec 14 2020]

Former Nazi Chancellor of Germany mention #3 Calm_20the_20extremists
Line #19 by wjt in thread "Calm the extremists" on 13-DEC-2020 [doctorremulac3, Dec 15 2020]

Fürst annual HalfBakery “Wo ist der Führer ?” programming competition. F_fcrst_20annual_20...ng_20competition_2e
Related idea. [8th of 7, Dec 16 2020]

Fighting monsters https://www.goodrea...t-take-care-lest-he
Beware ... [8th of 7, Dec 19 2020]

Hitler in Trump mode, or is it the other way round? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b6rTu-pJFnw
[xenzag, Dec 29 2020]

StackOverflow: Get current time in seconds since the Epoch on Linux, Bash https://stackoverfl...epoch-on-linux-bash
[zen_tom, Jan 03 2021]

4.10.2023! A new record!!! Ciao_2c_20chatbots!
[doctorremulac3, Apr 10 2023]

[link]






       October 10   

       -Hitler was a vegetarian, you know.   

       -Pol Pot ate loads of meat, so what? Your love of Trump places you in the Hitler camp.   

       -Ahh, the Hitler line. Is there any argument it can't win?   

       (6) days without Hitler being mentioned.
doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2020
  

       This is just the sort of idea that Stalin would have come up with.   

       [+]
8th of 7, Oct 11 2020
  

       Oct 11   

       -Hitler proposed something similar for the Autobahn but to thwart aerial attack while troops and equipment maneuvered around. Tanks would have torn up the roads and they moved fine on dirt so the idea was abandoned.   

       (1) Day without Hitler being mentioned.
doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2020
  

       Why not "Days Since Godwin's Law Was Mentioned Here"?
hippo, Oct 11 2020
  

       Could be a sub category.
doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2020
  

       // sub category //   

       What, like the Class VII C U-boat or something ... ?
8th of 7, Oct 11 2020
  

       Yes, exactly like that.
doctorremulac3, Oct 11 2020
  

       You know those TV quizzes, 'Did Hitler or Trump Say It...'?   

       It's just a matter of time before modern Trump starts to make Hitler look bad.
4and20, Oct 12 2020
  

       Ha - Gump is the new "Godwin character" for many years to come as he replaces a forgotten Hitler.
xenzag, Oct 12 2020
  

       Isn't there a paradox inherent in this idea, in that churning this thread will automatically mention Hitler ?
8th of 7, Oct 12 2020
  

       //Why not "Days Since Godwin's Law Was Mentioned Here"?// Agreed, I might not have been paying attention, my subjective hunch is that you'd find a higher Godwin to Führer ratio than you might expect.   

       When did anyone mention him last? I've not seen any references for a while. Maybe they're so common I've just filtered them out.
zen_tom, Oct 12 2020
  

       Or minutes. Maybe seconds.   

       Anyway, here it is. We're currently at:   

       (0) Days Since Hitler Was Mentioned   

       I'm actually curious what we can get that number up to. The information is out there. Somebody could download all the ideas and annotations from the Halfbakery and using a simple formula see what the biggest time between mentions was.   

       This was just a joke but now I'm kind of interested.
doctorremulac3, Oct 12 2020
  

       We have the technology. Since The Great Outage of 2018, we routinely scan and download incremental chunks of the latest stuff, largely pages where our username appears - we try to keep the bandwidth demand as low as possible.   

       Getting a bit of shell script to scan the text and squawk when it notes a mention of Der Führer ... it's not even programming, it's just grep and a few arguments.   

       The usual brown envelope of used currency in the usual place will ensure prompt and accurate fulfillment of your request ...
8th of 7, Oct 12 2020
  

       I think Hitler warrants his own Halfbakery category. It would be a subheading of Despot, so that there could be "Despot - Hitler", but also "Despot - Moron" to include The Gump, and The Bozo from Brazil
xenzag, Oct 12 2020
  

       We want 8th Hitler of 7 or we're not playing ...
8th of 7, Oct 12 2020
  

       I do wonder what my employers would think if they ever did a keyword search on what I visit. I imagine some anonymous window in a Covid-abandoned skyscraper somewhere, blinking with red and amber warning lights and a muffled Führalert audible only to ambling passers by.
zen_tom, Oct 12 2020
  

       //I do wonder what my employers would think if they ever did a keyword search on what I visit// - they might have already done this and are now too scared to fire you.
hippo, Oct 12 2020
  

       We can confirm that that actually does work (even though we are technically self-employed).   

       Being scary, yet polite, is the ideal way of maintaining good relationships with the client, and yet ensuring that all invoices are settled promptly. If you have a cash flow problem this month, then it's best to make sure that we get paid before anyone else; otherwise, for you, their might not be a next month.   

       And it would look like an "accident", too.
8th of 7, Oct 12 2020
  

       Would it count if someone mentioned Chenjerai Hunzvi?
pertinax, Oct 12 2020
  

       And just like that, with a few clicks of the keyboard, I learned all about Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi.
doctorremulac3, Oct 12 2020
  

       Or Nick Lowe? You people are loco. Another beer, please. And pass the nuts.
whatrock, Oct 12 2020
  

       "Hitler negative space"   

       (0) days without Hitler being mentioned.
8th of 7, Oct 14 2020
  

       Ah, but you see, that was an anti-Hitler, which makes the count (-1).   

       [edit] Or was it an un-mention?
spidermother, Oct 14 2020
  

       I was going to post an idea for a Hitler Boot Camp, where you can go and "learn the ways of Hitler". This would include a make over; a range of clothing; classes in how to carry out Hitler gestures and your chance to feature as Himself at a Nuremberg Rally reinactment.
xenzag, Oct 14 2020
  

       I'll be waving to you from the Chaplin boot camp. (An anti-Hitler could be called a Chaplin. It seems that they were mutually fascinated, and were both very similar and very opposite.)
spidermother, Oct 14 2020
  

       I'm looking forward to posting the first "(1) Day since Hitler was mentioned."   

       I've come to the conclusion that Hitler seems to be the external defibrillator (heart shock paddles) of conversation and without the invocation of his name all conversations would have a finite life span.   

       "The conversation is getting boring! Quick, hit it with the Hitler analogies!".   

       I've suggested before that all political debates should just be the two candidates calling each other "Hitler!" as fast as possible, the numbers being tallied by computer and once one candidate gets a full "Hitler!" ahead of the other, the buzzer sounds, the "debate" stops and a moderator comes out and attaches one piece of Hitler style grooming or clothing to the loser of that round before the bell sounds and the "debate" begins again.
doctorremulac3, Oct 14 2020
  

       We had a tutor at college who taught on the typesetting trade course. He was known to be dictatorial in nature and sported a small moustache. His name was Alfie McC_ _ _ _ He was naturally known to us as Alf-dolf.... it still makes me laugh as it was so appropriate.
xenzag, Oct 14 2020
  

       [DrRem] serious and genuine question - can you point at the most recent time this actually happened please?   

       I know the scenario is a kind of cliche - having even earned its own "Law", and whilst I recognise the scenario, to be honest, I've not come across it all that much, here, or elsewhere. I'd like to know if that's because of something I'm doing, or just a differing experience of social/internet media.   

       And while there are other ideas up here right now ironically sporting the H-word, I'm more interested in the actual situation you refer to where a point of view is negatively characterised as being Adolphian in some way. Out of curiosity, can you link to the most recent instance here?   

       [edit] Aha found it - Putty de foie gras - Oct 10 2020 - that's 4 days I guess (though to be honest, I think the reference was used in a ribbing jesticular fashion, and seemed fairly in context having been thematically raised immediately prior)
zen_tom, Oct 14 2020
  

       Gotta admit, I won't be spending a lot of time making sure my updates are accurate. Perfectly acceptable to view this as a bad joke, or at least a joke in bad taste.
doctorremulac3, Oct 14 2020
  

       Hitlaws, the most chased in physics. Chappenlines not so much.   

       Cassel's milk is a good drop.
wjt, Oct 16 2020
  

       Some research reveals many "Hitler products" including this gem. (see link) I do believe however that there's always room for one more...
xenzag, Oct 16 2020
  

       Thankyou, [xenzag], for drawing our attention to that superlative product.
8th of 7, Oct 16 2020
  

       It doesn't say what sort of damage ... is it the case that after successfully cracking a number of small nuts, it gets overconfident and invades Russia ?   

       We have refined our algorithm slightly to ensure that only new instantiations of a H-object will be flagged; merely churning an idea containing multiple instances will not trigger a report.
8th of 7, Oct 16 2020
  

       Y'know... I don't think I've ever once mentioned Hitler here.   

       ...   

       fuck   

       And now, practise not thinking of a white horse ...   

       ... or possibly a Unicorn running through water ...   

       Do you dream of electric sheep ... ?   

       <Regards [2fries] thoughtfully/>   

       <Aside>   

       "How can it not know what it is ?"   

       </Aside>
8th of 7, Oct 16 2020
  

       it ?   

       "More human than human" ....
8th of 7, Oct 17 2020
  

       Hitler/Gump comparisons are a bit passé after last night. It's #crazy uncle everyone needs to watch out for now. Restart the calendar.
xenzag, Oct 17 2020
  

       What changed last night?
pertinax, Oct 17 2020
  

       The Gump became no 1 Crazy Uncle.
xenzag, Oct 17 2020
  

       //The second question is this: Is there a "Hitler version" that instead of floating around, grips the person with locked arms, then takes them to the bottom as it rapidly sinks?//   

       (3) Days Since Hitler Was Mentioned   

       A new record!
doctorremulac3, Oct 20 2020
  

       No, that's why we did the algorithm testing.
8th of 7, Oct 20 2020
  

       Seen, inspected, rejected...   

       Retrospective edits are ignored; only instantiations since the last scan are actioned.   

       There's even a greylist for users who might try to trip up the system (There are corresponding blacklists and whitelists - which is very short, just us and SWMBO).
8th of 7, Oct 20 2020
  

       Hitler was last metioned by user:[xenzag]in threadHitler Key on 27-OCT-2020   

       Link: putfmt(_lvalue required /n/n   

       0Days have elapsed since the previous mention of Der Fuhrer.
8th of 7, Oct 27 2020
  

       YAY ! It works ! (sort of).   

       <Fires up editor to fix minor bugs/>
8th of 7, Oct 27 2020
  

       Hitler was last mentioned by user:[xenzag]in thread " Zombie Toast "\n on 28-OCT-2020 0x0D 0x0A   

       Link: https://www.halfbakery.com /idea/Zombie_20Toast #1603912092   

       01.00 Days have elapsed since the previous mention of der Führer .
8th of 7, Oct 28 2020
  

       It would be more in keeping with the purpose of this idea if this automated script didn't itself keep mentioning H****r.
hippo, Oct 28 2020
  

       Fixed.
8th of 7, Oct 28 2020
  

       How to cope with the Pythons stealth references (Link)?
bhumphrys, Oct 29 2020
  

       I'm friends with Mike Godwin on Facebook.   

       He's an interesting character.
UnaBubba, Oct 29 2020
  

       Hey, UnaBubba, welcome back!
doctorremulac3, Oct 29 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[RayfordSteele]in thread " Fibonacci birthdays "\n on 31-OCT-2020   

       03.00
  

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Oct 31 2020
  

       OK, three days is the current record.
doctorremulac3, Nov 01 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[spidermother]in thread " Terminator Soup "\n on 02-NOV-2020   

       02.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany
8th of 7, Nov 02 2020
  

       What's the Seinfeld/Hitler thing spidermother's referring to?   

       Wait, does mentioning him on this thread count? OH, I see what you're doing 8th, referring to him by another name so it doesn't throw off the tally, got it. Clever.   

       OK, so future posts I'll say "The former leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party".   

       So what's spidermother's "Seinfeld / former leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party" reference about?
doctorremulac3, Nov 02 2020
  

       doctorremulac3, it refers to the episode "the soup nazi".   

       An Adolphiform instant ramen would be another soup nazi.
spidermother, Nov 03 2020
  

       I'll check it out, thanks.
doctorremulac3, Nov 03 2020
  

       //03.00// ... //02.00//   

       Spurious precision, shirley?
pertinax, Nov 03 2020
  

       No, it's just a natural consequence of the "It just about works, sod it, it'll do" school of coding.   

       It will be revised into something tidier in the near future.
8th of 7, Nov 03 2020
  

       Well, we could generate that, but it would mean scanning the site to a much finer granularity and that would use a proportionately larger amount of bandwidth, which might incur the wrath of SWMBO <Knees tremble, whimpers, cowers in fear/>   

       So for the forseeable future, you'll just have to live with the date-only version. Don't sulk, and don't pout like that. It's not big, and it's not clever.
8th of 7, Nov 03 2020
  

       [DSHWMH]: 8 (for instance) might be a new initialism we use here.   

       Not to imply I see us ever getting to 8, just an example.
doctorremulac3, Nov 03 2020
  

       I'd like to see a meta-metric, giving the number of days since mentioning H****r was mentioned here
hippo, Nov 03 2020
  

       <Collective>   

       "Oh no it wouldn't !"   

       </Collective>   

       We've already addressed (haha) that issue in the exception processing.   

       Actually, looking at the code, it's mostly exception processing, or rather safeguards against one of you lot trying to mess it up.   

       Wouldn't it be nice if everyone was nice ? But no, your're all* a bunch of spiteful, bitter, twisted little misanthropic misfits with an irresistible compulsion to mischief-making.   

       No wonder we are so at home here ....   

       *except [blissmiss]
8th of 7, Nov 03 2020
  

       I'm not!
spidermother, Nov 03 2020
  

       Ah, you're Spartacus, right ?
8th of 7, Nov 03 2020
  

       No, _I'm_ Spart... wait...
spidermother, Nov 03 2020
  

       I think "days since..." IS the right metric. Mentions only occur on a timescale of every few days or so, so a more precise measure would be largely redundant. Equally, if a mention only occurred once every few months, "days since" would be overkill (yes, I know you are a big fan of "overkill"...).
neutrinos_shadow, Nov 03 2020
  

       Months would be a bit more tricky, in that the lengths vary and it would need some overly elaborate* coding to get it to spit out the right "months and days" figure, and if it went over a year ...   

       Hmmm. A possible tweak is that if the last mention of Herr Einkugel is more than 28 days previous, the annotation could be changed to display "The former Nazi Chancellor of Germany was last mentioned on DD-MMM-YYYY".   

       We can probably rob the "days, months, years" from someone else's code but even that sounds like it might involve too much effort, i.e. some effort ...   

       * "overly elaborate" = "anything a tiny bit more than trivially simple, that might involve some sort of actual effort"
8th of 7, Nov 03 2020
  

       //some effort//
sp. ANY effort. "I switched on the computer. What more do you want?"
neutrinos_shadow, Nov 04 2020
  

       The former; it was simply a handy starting point. You shouldn't be expecting sophistication, it's just rickety, patched-together expedient hacking in shell script, mauled about until it just about delivers the basic functionality (most of the time; haven't tested it across 31 Dec/1 Jan yet...)   

       But don't tell anyone, apple might try to sue us for copyright infringement...
8th of 7, Nov 23 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[doctorremulac3]in thread " "Duck" and "Ducking" Word Processor Verification "\n on 23-NOV-2020   

       021.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Nov 24 2020
  

       //Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.// - it's "had elapsed", not "have elapsed"!
hippo, Nov 24 2020
  

       Don't make the pluperfect the enemy of the good.
pertinax, Nov 24 2020
  

       Yeah, what's past is past. Don't get so tense about it.
spidermother, Nov 24 2020
  

       //it's "had elapsed", not "have elapsed"!// The “haves and the had nots“ are always with us. In this case, I’m with the “have‘s”.
xenzag, Nov 24 2020
  

       On the day the script generates the anno, it's "have", because it's the immediate present. If you ask "How many cars now ?" the response is "I have counted six cars.". But if you ask "How many cars did you count yesterday ?" it's "I had seen (or 'saw') eight cars by the time I stopped counting".   

       Both are correct; "have" at the time of annotation, and subsequently "had". Getting the script to go back and edit the previous anno is non-trivial, and therefore near-impossible.
8th of 7, Nov 24 2020
  

       "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher" Punctuation is everything.
xenzag, Nov 24 2020
  

       ^ And how would you punctuate that sentence properly? (Thinking about the age-old "The teacher said that that 'that', that that boy used, was used correctly.")
whatrock, Nov 24 2020
  

       With a 12-bore; small shot, both barrels.
8th of 7, Nov 24 2020
  

       The correct use of a string of "hads" is a well known punctuation challenge. The answer is simple.
xenzag, Nov 24 2020
  

       //The answer is simple//
Umm, strike-through at least 9 of them?
neutrinos_shadow, Nov 24 2020
  

       If you say it out loud with pauses in the right places, it will make sense and you will get the punctuation.
xenzag, Nov 24 2020
  

       Nope; you're going to need to go into great detail to convince me it wasn't a slip of the copy/paste.
neutrinos_shadow, Nov 24 2020
  

       There's a capitalization in there too.   

       James, while John had had "had had", had had "had". "Had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.
tatterdemalion, Nov 24 2020
  

       I'll give it a shot.   

       "James, while John had had Had, Had had had Had Had. Had Had had a better effect on the teacher"   

       They're cannibals. One guy named John, one guy named Had, the other guy named Had Had. Had is a teacher and when John ate him he got a tummy ache, but previously, when Had ate Had Had, he didn't get a tummy ache and could teach that day. Until John ate him. James is the guy listening to this story about cannibal teachers. Then he gets eaten too as a plot twist.   

       What do I win?
doctorremulac3, Nov 24 2020
  

       [doc], WHAT IS THE FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB ?
8th of 7, Nov 24 2020
  

       ...be sure to tell all your friends?
doctorremulac3, Nov 24 2020
  

       The tatter has it had!
xenzag, Nov 24 2020
  

       Here's a ten year old blast from the past, from a starry eyed young man named Intern Remulac the Third.   

       Two Word Limerick   

       "Bet better better bet better.   

       Better bet better bet better bet.   

       Better better bet better.   

       Bet bet better better...   

       bet better better better bet."   

       It makes sense, but got a 9 up 6 down vote so it really tore my heart out. I've been angry and bitter ever since.
doctorremulac3, Nov 24 2020
  

       I also know another sentence with 5 "ands" in a row.
xenzag, Nov 24 2020
  

       And, and and, and and?
doctorremulac3, Nov 24 2020
  

       And of course there's the buffalos.
tatterdemalion, Nov 25 2020
  

       Buffalos are nowhere near as useful as Bison, particularly if you're thirsty, or need to cook or wash.
8th of 7, Nov 25 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[DrBob]in thread "befriend reason"\n on 11-DEC-2020   

       018.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Dec 11 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[wjt]in thread "Calm the extremists"\n on 13-DEC-2020   

       002.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Dec 14 2020
  

       Looking like 18 days might stand as the record for a while.   

       I think I'll start posting the links and line numbers for reference.
doctorremulac3, Dec 14 2020
  

       What happens if you mention Hitler in this idea?
pocmloc, Dec 14 2020
  

       It's automatically excluded by the algorithm*.   

       It looks for "new" instantiations of Hitler (sorted by date) in all threads, but then specifically ignores this one, as that would be recursive.   

       So - as previously mentioned - going back and editing an anno from a previous date to include Hitler will be screened out. It's quite clever** that way.   

       *"Kludged-up lump of rickety shell script which just about works most days, but obviously hasn't been validated under all possible boundary and error conditions". Watch what happens on 01 Jan ... it may fall over.   

       **For a given value of "clever".
8th of 7, Dec 14 2020
  

       I'd like to see as an adjunct idea, "Annotate Days since the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany was obliquely referenced here" but don't expect the precision/recall stats to be much cop.
zen_tom, Dec 14 2020
  

       Go right ahead. Linux is a free download for personal use, and we'll email you the existing code. You'll need a machine that either runs 24/7 or boots up at least once a day.   

       C'mon, show us your coding skill. We won't judge you, or make snarky comments, or petty criticisms. Honestly, we won't. Promise. Scout's Honour.   

       (We'll leave that task to [kdf], because he enjoys it and has particular talents in that area.)
8th of 7, Dec 14 2020
  

       Have you got a github 8th? I've got a couple of weeks over the holidays so it might be fun to try something out. Otherwise yes - happy to receive emails, I'm myusernamealloneword (without underscores) @ gmail.com.   

       I've got a raspberrypi that's linux and always on (without costing too much on the electric) doing crontab jobs, which I assume is a reasonably close fit.
zen_tom, Dec 14 2020
  

       Yes, ideal.   

       We'll, er, tidy it up s bit first, tho.   

       <Wonders if exposing alleged programming "skill" to the harsh light of thr scrutiny of others is entirely wise/>
8th of 7, Dec 14 2020
  

       //we'll email you the existing code//   

       Would you be willing to copy me in on that (see my profile page for address)?
pertinax, Dec 15 2020
  

       //tidy it up s bit first, tho.// and don't worry about how tidy or otherwise it might be - personally, my code reads like a bad google translation of a transcription of a class of 4-year-old's joint birthday-parties hosted during an accident at a spaghetti factory during peak tornado season.   

       Also, on more important matters, are we tabs, or spaces? (It is tabs right.....right?)
zen_tom, Dec 15 2020
  

       Up to you.   

       But it definitely needs cleaning up before it's released into the wild.   

       Is there an opportunity here for a Hitler-spotting competition, [zen] vs. [pert], at dawn outside the hb, line editors at twenty paces ? Could be fun...   

       // Would you be willing to copy me in on that //   

       Sure.
8th of 7, Dec 15 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[pocmloc]in thread "Fürst annual HalfBakery “Wo ist der Führer ?” programming competition."\n on 15-DEC-2020   

       002.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Dec 15 2020
  

       //002.00 days// - I love the optimism inherent in this that allows three digits for the number of days, inviting the possibility of no mentions here of the notorious amateur artist for nearly three years. Also the two digits after the decimal point suggest future enhancements to the algorithm to monitor activity on the Halfbakery every 14 minutes.

(As an aside, when the script copies the idea title into an annotation, I hope it's parsing the text for characters that need to be sanitised. E.g., if I post an idea with the name "Idea title<br><br>with breaks" which also mentions H*tl*r, would these be rendered in the annotation on this page as "<br>" or as line breaks? Maybe this should be part of the competition test suite.)
hippo, Dec 16 2020
  

       // We'll, er, tidy it up s bit first, tho.   

       Yes, do get rid of the empty soda cans, half-eaten pizza and dirty underwear on the floor.
tatterdemalion, Dec 16 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[pocmloc]in thread "Hitler"\n on 16-DEC-2020   

       001.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Dec 16 2020
  

       Fame at last
pocmloc, Dec 17 2020
  

       "Notoriety" would be a much more appropriate term.
8th of 7, Dec 17 2020
  

       <KennethWilliams>"Infamy, infamy...!"</KennethWilliams>
hippo, Dec 17 2020
  

       Yes, [poc] would make a very good Hengist Pod ...
8th of 7, Dec 17 2020
  

       You don't get comedy writing of that quality any more.
8th of 7, Dec 17 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[zen_tom]in thread "Fishties"\n on 17-DEC-2020   

       001.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Dec 18 2020
  

       This idea needs an autosage. It's somewhat interesting but will be cluttering up the recent posts view forever.
Voice, Dec 19 2020
  

       I was trying to help 8 by adding links to the DSHWMH posts but it's kind of hard to keep up with.
doctorremulac3, Dec 19 2020
  

       Yes, we didn't get as far as adding links; just the annotations was enough effort. Hence instituting the competition.   

       Ideally it would be done by adding a strapline somewhere on the RECENT page, but that would mean editing the hb source code, and We Are Not Worthy ...
8th of 7, Dec 19 2020
  

       How about editing an existing annotation somewhere on a page (maybe this one) or a link perhaps where results can be posted without bumping stuff to the top of recent?
zen_tom, Dec 19 2020
  

       Go, do it ... be a hero. It's a good idea.   

       We just bodged something minimal together ... look, it was late and we were tired and it was the drink talking, "It's just shell script and html, c'mon, how hard can it be "?   

       And we found we'd created a monster.   

       Go forth, and strike down the monster. If you succeed, we'll shelve our version. But remember what Nietzsche wrote ...   

       <link>
8th of 7, Dec 19 2020
  

       Oh don't worry, I am being given a thorough checkup by the abyss right now, in fact, it's just putting on it's rubber gloves and asking me to lie on my side, and I don't like the look of it! I'm yet to start posting any results i) because I'm not convinced they're working properly quite yet and ii) between us all, it'd be a very bumpy bakery if we were all posting updates all the time. However, I did setup a github repo where the latest code resides, and there's nothing stopping us from using the more wiki-style features of that to collaboratively present results, talk script details and so on. Anyone pinging me with a request to collaborate is welcome, equally it's a free and open resource anyone can setup themselves if that's what they want to do.
zen_tom, Dec 19 2020
  

       I'm ashamed to admit I still dont know how to deal with Gits
Voice, Dec 19 2020
  

       The received wisdom is that random, violent beatings are a good starting point.   

       After all, it can't do any harm (unless you accidentally catch yourself with the baseball bat or rubber truncheon).
8th of 7, Dec 19 2020
  

       To be honest, I'm still getting the hang of it - first time I tried, I managed to inadvertently publish a bunch of stuff I didn't want to. You have to be pretty careful - we use an enterprise version at work, so this is my first crack at doing anything publically open- source; which I'm treating as a learning opportunity.   

       Interestingly, the name GitHub was coined by Linus Torvalds (linux man) who imagined a place where a load of curmudgeonly old bastards (gits) could come together and talk about and share their code (hub).   

       [Voice] your continued association with this website would suggest you're very well acquainted with a bunch of gits already, as I suppose we all are.
zen_tom, Dec 19 2020
  

       Yes, everyone on the hb is aware of [xenzag] and [kdf].
8th of 7, Dec 19 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[kdf]in thread "Custom made hearing protectors"\n on 20-DEC-2020   

       003.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Dec 21 2020
  

       //003.00// - still calculating this to a lot of decimal places I see (see my 16/12 anno)
hippo, Dec 21 2020
  

       It's not the calculation, it's the output formatting. Fear not, hopefully someone will come up with some better code soon, and then our version can be honourably retired.
8th of 7, Dec 21 2020
  

       Here's some output from today's run - to try and expand the use-case beyond being a "vegetarian dog lover" detector, I bunged in a couple of additional topics - the knowledge extracted to form the cache mentioned below only goes back to the origination date of this idea.   

       ------8<------------8< ------------8<------------8< ------------8<- -----   

       It has been 4 days since Hitler was last mentioned. anno found on Fishties by [zen_tom] //to Adolph Hitler caused me // on 17 Dec 2020   

       No mention of Idi Amin found in the cache.   

       No mention of Genghis Khan found in the cache.   

       It has been 5 days since Donald Trump was last mentioned. anno found on MentorBubbles; view the internet versions of the people who are doing well by [xenzag] //someone like Trump gets endless// on 16 Dec 2020   

       It has been 19 days since Brexit was last mentioned. idea found on Swap populations of Scotland and Northern Ireland by [hippo] //Post-Brexit, when the // on 02 Dec 2020   

       It has been 14 days since Political Correctness was last mentioned. anno found on Big Brother's Mind Numbing Tea Biscuits by [zen_tom] //compliance and political correctness, parroting// on 07 Dec 2020   

       ------>8------------>8 ------------>8------------>8 ------------>8- -----   

       //honourably retired// You know what, this has been tricky to piece together, lord knows how you managed to do this in shell script 8th.   

       The discrepancy between your last report 8th and [kdf]'s last mention of the struggle-inflicted pamphlet author, is that that anno got deleted. So we're retrospectively going back to 17th December (or I'm missing a hit).   

       Regards dates, I'm rounding down to nearest day - however that's scraped from the original page, and how the current system date is defined, subject to timezones etc.
zen_tom, Dec 21 2020
  

       // lord knows how you managed to do this in shell script 8th. //   

       Observational evidence tends to suggest that "Programming virtuosity, skill, experience, and sheer unalloyed genius" might be the answer to that question.   

       And you're surprised that we quit as soon as we had something that sort-of works most of the time ? And what happens ? Yes, you've guessed it, _lusers like [hippo] whinge endlessly about numeric formatting ... ungrateful, we call it.   

       Yes, [kdf] has - as advised - pulled that annotation from the thread.   

       Timezones are always going to be problematic, although if the application is always executed at the same time in the same local zone, the results shoulf be acceptably accurate. There's obviously some latency, because altho our version runs "just before midnight" and correctly spots any new instances on that "day", sometimes the actual annotation it generates is dated the next day. Interesting, but not important (at that level of temporal granularity).
8th of 7, Dec 21 2020
  

       Oh, so we did ... thanks for pointing that out.   

       "Programming virtuosity, skill, experience, modesty, and sheer unalloyed genius".   

       Modesty is a good thing; it stops you from becoming a smug, arrogant, misanthropic gloater. You want to watch out for that, [kdf] ... fortunately, we're not at risk.
8th of 7, Dec 21 2020
  

       ------8<------------8< ------------8<------------8< ------------8<- -----   

       It has been 5 days since Hitler was last mentioned. anno found on Fishties by [zen_tom] //to Adolph Hitler caused me // on 17 Dec 2020   

       No mention of Idi Amin found in the cache.   

       It has been 69 days since Genghis Khan was last mentioned. anno found on Hitler negative space by [xenzag] //posted the Genghis Khan-can as an // on 14 Oct 2020   

       It has been 6 days since Donald Trump was last mentioned. anno found on MentorBubbles; view the internet versions of the people who are doing well by [xenzag] //someone like Trump gets endless// on 16 Dec 2020   

       It has been 20 days since Brexit was last mentioned. idea found on Swap populations of Scotland and Northern Ireland by [hippo] //Post-Brexit, when the // on 02 Dec 2020   

       It has been 15 days since Political Correctness was last mentioned. anno found on Big Brother's Mind Numbing Tea Biscuits by [zen_tom] //compliance and political correctness, parroting// on 07 Dec 2020   

       ------>8------------>8 ------------>8------------>8 ------------>8- -----   

       I had a database error before - when I thought I was going back to back-fill my cache that was fine, and it was collecting ~300 ideas. But on making a second connection for the following run, it was forgetting all the content it had first stored - turns out I'd forgotten a couple of "commit" statements here and there. So after that fix, now some of those additional search terms are coming back positive as well now. Still no Idi Amin, but outside of excluded pages, we'd have to go back to 2017 for that - and this hasn't had that long to build up a cache that goes back that far (though...it ought to be possible)
zen_tom, Dec 22 2020
  

       OK I've just tweaked something relating to this competition to see it if shows up on participant scans... might not...
whatrock, Dec 25 2020
  

       Latest scan - after fixing a bug that meant I missed Dub's recent Brexit mention - now idea titles and descriptions are included in the search (previously it was only idea "copy", annos and link-text).   

       ------8<------------8< ------------8<------------8< ------------8<- -----   

       It has been 9 days since Hitler was last mentioned. anno found on Fishties by [zen_tom] //to Adolph Hitler caused me // on 17 Dec 2020   

       No mention of Idi Amin found in the cache.   

       It has been 73 days since Genghis Khan was last mentioned. anno found on Hitler negative space by [xenzag] //posted the Genghis Khan-can as an // on 14 Oct 2020   

       It has been 2 days since Donald Trump was last mentioned. anno found on Paper Shredder That Sounds Like It's Saying "YumYumYumYumYumYumYum" by [DenholmRicshaw] //If it eats Trump's tax returns// on 24 Dec 2020   

       It has been 1 days since Brexit was last mentioned. idea_title found on BREXIT Whoopie Cushion by [Dub] //BREXIT Whoopie Cushion// on 25 Dec 2020   

       It has been 19 days since Political Correctness was last mentioned. anno found on Big Brother's Mind Numbing Tea Biscuits by [zen_tom] //compliance and political correctness, parroting// on 07 Dec 2020   

       ------>8------------>8 ------------>8------------>8 ------------>8- -----
zen_tom, Dec 26 2020
  

       This is getting better fast
Voice, Dec 26 2020
  

       People are probably getting sick of this, but it's still 2020 and there's a great deal else to be sick of still:   

       ------8<------------8< ------------8<------------8< ------------8<- -----   

       It has been 1 days since Hitler was last mentioned. idea found on Museum of Dubious Delights by [xenzag] //Moustache With Hitler's Comb"// on 28 Dec 2020   

       No mention of Idi Amin found in the cache.   

       It has been 76 days since Genghis Khan was last mentioned. anno found on Hitler negative space by [xenzag] //posted the Genghis Khan-can as an // on 14 Oct 2020   

       It has been 5 days since Donald Trump was last mentioned. anno found on Paper Shredder That Sounds Like It's Saying "YumYumYumYumYumYumYum" by [DenholmRicshaw] //If it eats Trump's tax returns// on 24 Dec 2020   

       It has been 4 days since Brexit was last mentioned. idea_title found on BREXIT Whoopie Cushion by [Dub] //BREXIT Whoopie Cushion// on 25 Dec 2020   

       It has been 22 days since Political Correctness was last mentioned. anno found on Big Brother's Mind Numbing Tea Biscuits by [zen_tom] //compliance and political correctness, parroting// on 07 Dec 2020   

       ------>8------------>8 ------------>8------------>8 ------------>8- -----
zen_tom, Dec 29 2020
  

       Could we talk about Genghis Khan more that that other guy? Now THERE'S an interesting historical figure. Every bit as nasty as... that other guy.   

       Here's what the Gehgster did when he invaded a city.   

       1- Attack with low skill slave conscripts from previous city raids. 2- While they were massacred, the defending army getting a false since of superiority, Gingy's horse soldiers would encircle the battlefield and sweep in killing everybody. 3- They'd then kill everybody in the city. 4- They'd leave until people who were hiding either in the city or outside came back. 5- They'd ride in again and kill everybody who was left.   

       Won't get into some of the killing methods but they made that other guy look positivily humanitarian by comparison.
doctorremulac3, Dec 29 2020
  

       OK, on Dec 25 I amended an old idea, using the H-man in place of "Hillary". So the H-man scans are only for new ideas and posts but do not detect changes to existing content.
whatrock, Dec 29 2020
  

       There must be a way of adding Muammar Gaddafi ideas to the Hitler, Trump, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc list.
xenzag, Dec 29 2020
  

       Whoever you add, there will always be one more person who is almost as bad, and arguably equally as bad if not slightly more so.   

       The only logical conclusion is that every time anyone is mentioned anywhere, that fact has to be logged here.
pocmloc, Dec 29 2020
  

       Hi [xenzag] indeed there is, I'll see what I can do - I'd considered including him, but his names are numerous and spread across a distribution of westernised spelling norms.   

       Ideally, there'd be some standardised online resource containing commonly accepted western spellings of recognised bad dictators whose names can serve the function of being synonymous with ill thought and deed that could be downloaded and used for onward processing. If this list were ISO approved that would be even better.
zen_tom, Dec 29 2020
  

       So this has become kind of a dictator race. OK, that's interesting. So far it's not even close though.   

       I'm going to root for the Genghinator. More interesting that the meth head anyway, but there should probably be rules. You can't just bring up somebody you'd like to see discussed more, it has to happen via the dictates of the masses.   

       Thank you Zen. This is getting kind of interesting.
doctorremulac3, Dec 29 2020
  

       In that case Mao Zedong must also feature. See also Hitler/Trump link. Actually it's quite brilliant.
xenzag, Dec 29 2020
  

       Just to let everyone know, we have pulled wiesenthal from the crontab for now to give others a clear run at this thread.   

       It will be back for 31/12 and 01/01 to check for any year rollover issues.
8th of 7, Dec 29 2020
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[xenzag]in thread "Museum of Dubious Delights"\n on 28-DEC-2020   

       011.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Dec 31 2020
  

       (checks to see if anybody's into chatting about Ginghy)   

       Nope. Somewhere in Hell Adolph is laughing and pointing at Genghis. "Vere ist dere convasatuns bout you eh Genghis?"   

       Oh well, happy New Year anyway everybody.
doctorremulac3, Jan 01 2021
  

       ------8<------------8< ------------8<------------8< ------------8<- -----   

       It has been 4 days since Hitler was last mentioned. idea found on Museum of Dubious Delights by [xenzag] //Moustache With Hitler's Comb"// on 28 Dec 2020   

       No mention of Idi Amin found in the cache.   

       It has been 79 days since Genghis Khan was last mentioned. anno found on Hitler negative space by [xenzag] //posted the Genghis Khan-can as an // on 14 Oct 2020   

       No mention of Muammar Gaddafi found in the cache.   

       It has been 79 days since Joseph Stalin was last mentioned. anno found on Hitler negative space by [kdf] //theme. I think Stalin and Communism// on 14 Oct 2020   

       No mention of Pol Pot found in the cache.   

       No mention of Mao Zedong found in the cache.   

       No mention of Leopold II of Belgium found in the cache.   

       No mention of Vlad the Impaler found in the cache.   

       It has been 3 days since Donald Trump was last mentioned. anno found on Museum of Dubious Delights by [xenzag] //golf clubs Trump spent most// on 29 Dec 2020   

       ------>8------------>8 ------------>8------------>8 ------------>8- -----   

       Here's my last run for this, having added a couple of additional dictator types into the mix. I notice suddenly that my report differs from 8th's slightly in that his reports the timing of most recent, but also the *penultimate* mention of the amusingly recaptioned bespectacled shoutyman from Downfall, while mine only reveals the length of time passed since the most recent mention.
zen_tom, Jan 01 2021
  

       Yes, each time it notes a new instance, it records the date. On subsequent runs, irrespective of the date of that run, it compares any new instances with the last logged one.   

       It helped to deal with the issue of edited annotations, by only looking for instances with dates newer than the "previous most recent".   

       It still seems to be a valid approach, in that it displays the difference between the "most recent" and "previous most recent".   

       If it runs every day, then "days since last mentioned" will be the same as "days before today". But if run intermittently, it only shows the difference.   

       It's a not-entirely-unintended consequence.   

       We are open to suggestions as to whether it's "right" or not, as the User Requirements Specification is, well, more than a bit vague.
8th of 7, Jan 01 2021
  

       // unreasonable price //   

       We consider that unfair; in some contexts it might be considered expensive, but we dispute that it is actually unreasonable, and it's comparable with the offers from other service providers.
8th of 7, Jan 01 2021
  

       The true test for later edits (which I don't directly make either) is an imprecise art. There's no directly attributable "edit time", so the closest you can get is to try and do a diff on individual annos.   

       One problem with doing that is giving each anno a primary key. They don't have one. You can infer one using their sequence, and later compare which parts of anno n#22 on a particular idea, taken at two different snapshot times, are different to one another, and infer an edit sometime between those two snapshot dates - all well and good (assuming you're taking regular snapshots) Until someone deletes annotation n#8, and now anno n#22 is now showing up as anno n#21, throwing off your key and making comparisons all look like crazy edits. You might be able to tighten that up by assigning your sequence key broken down by user id, so anno n#22 becomes [zen_tom]'s anno n#3, this would make the keys more stable, but still be prone to cases where a user deletes their own earlier annotations, screwing up the sequencing (this might be infrequent enough to accept perhaps - but it's a lot of effort, resting on a rather arbitrary set of assumptions, for not much experienced benefit - since you're already only picking up edits that also coincided with an additional anno or link that would "bump" the idea back into your fetch window)   

       The second consideration is figuring out what the edit did. Commonly, you can break down parts of an edit into a series of additions and deletions, there's a command called "diff" and associated methodology that does this, but if an anno initially contained the text "Add old photos Harold, it's leaning over!", and you deleted the sequence "d ", "d ", "arold, ", "'s ", "aning ove", you'd arrive at a matching phrase, having not added anything at all. Does performing nothing more than a series of strategic deletions count as mentioning old AH? (Probably the intention was there, and assuming this isn't some cosmic coincidence, is the mention to be attributed to the first or second edit? All this is of course stretching the realms of what's likely as an extreme example - but goes to show the twisty rabbit holes you can fall into if you don't draw a line somewhere in the sand of sanity)   

       More simple might be to just scan the latest version of an annotation to see if it contains a matching phrase, marking off that annotation (using its generated primary key for later retrieval) as a success or failure. That then leaves the problem of assigning the anno an "edit time" somewhere between the previous and current data-fetch as discussed earlier.   

       Either way, it's a fair amount more effort than might be strictly necessary or worth the bother, but with the code online available for anyone to review and change, I'd leave it as an exercise for the reader to work out for themselves should they be so inclined.
zen_tom, Jan 01 2021
  

       // more effort than might be strictly necessary or worth the bother //   

       ... which is why we stopped development as soon as the requirement had been more or less met.   

       // What units do you use to quantify vagueness? //   

       The "picoBiden", or fractions thereof. Like the Tesla and the Farad, the Biden is such a huge unit of vagueness that it has no real application in normal situations.   

       // there's a command called "diff" and associated methodology that does this //   

       We started with diff and grep and a few other of the core text stream commands. Having worked out a manual procedure that came close to the desired result, we piped the output to a temp file and then used that to generate the new anno to be copied and pasted (which turned out to be nearly as difficult as spotting new instances of the Austrian Demagogue).
8th of 7, Jan 01 2021
  

       If you get a chance, you should take a look at the python code on the github link, after working with (my) clumsy scripts in *nix for some time, I came across it only maybe 5 years ago and have been a solid convert ever since. It's incredibly applicable to real-world situations and there's often a module already built to perform some domain specific task. The syntax is relatively straightforward (once you get the hang of the whitespace thing) and in most situations, should read reasonably clearly. Conversely there are some devilishly tightly defined conventions (thinking list and other collection "comprehensions" here) that allow you to one-line things that would often get spread over multiple lines of code. Neatly too, it's relatively easy to deploy on a *nix box, and if you're sensible the same code will run happily there, as well as on a windows, mac or even (if you stick to the earlier Python 2.7 as 3.x I don't think is available) OS/2 Warp.   

       //picoBiden// reminds me of the scientific unit of braggadocio, the femtoTrump, a single portion of which is enough to assert that Black is White, Up is Down, Winning is Losing, and all ghosts of things in the realm of the impossible are clear and present mundanities.
zen_tom, Jan 01 2021
  

       Der Führer was last mentioned by user:[xenzag]in thread "Museum of Dubious Delights"\n on 28-DEC-2020   

       -32767.00   

       Days have elapsed since the previous mention of the former Nazi Chancellor of Germany.
8th of 7, Jan 01 2021
  

       //-32767.00// !! Yikes!
zen_tom, Jan 02 2021
  

       It's OK. Space-time is curved. And home-made date arithmetic is easy to fuck up.
pertinax, Jan 02 2021
  

       So it would seem...   

       It was easy to test month-end rollover, but year rollover is a bit more tricky.   

       Nevertheless, we will leave the annotation as a warning against the dangers of inadequate testing.   

       An intervention will probably be needed to get it to work properly today.   

       <later>   

       Looks like the problem is fairly simple ... however, testing the fix properly will take another 364 days.
8th of 7, Jan 02 2021
  

       So that we don't have to scroll right down to the end of these annotations, could you put the update in the title? - e.g. "Days Since Hitler Was Mentioned Here: 3"
hippo, Jan 02 2021
  

       I know, but if it's in the title you can get the important update without having to open the idea
hippo, Jan 02 2021
  

       // could you put the update in the title? //   

       To do that, you need ownership of the thread.   

       Have a look at the "competition" thread.   

       // Changing an idea’s title breaks any previous links to it. //   

       But is that necessary, if the thread's constantly bumped to the top of the recent list ?
8th of 7, Jan 02 2021
  

       // having Doc own the idea and you posting updates limits what you can do. //   

       Think of it as a technology demonstrator.
8th of 7, Jan 02 2021
  

       Here's my final tech demonstrator, it's been fun, but will probably mothball this for now.   

       ------8<------------8< ------------8<------------8< ------------8<- -----   

       It has been 0 days since Hitler was last mentioned. anno found on Despot Chess by [kdf] //chess sets ... Hitler vs Roosevelt// on 03 Jan 2021   

       It has been 0 days since Idi Amin was last mentioned. idea found on Despot Chess by [xenzag] //despots, such as Idi Amin, Stalin, Trump// on 03 Jan 2021   

       It has been 81 days since Genghis Khan was last mentioned. anno found on Hitler negative space by [xenzag] //posted the Genghis Khan-can as an // on 14 Oct 2020   

       It has been 0 days since Muammar Gaddafi was last mentioned. idea found on Despot Chess by [xenzag] //support from two Gaddafi Rooks, as // on 03 Jan 2021   

       It has been 0 days since Joseph Stalin was last mentioned. idea found on Despot Chess by [xenzag] // Idi Amin, Stalin, Trump, Mussolini// on 03 Jan 2021   

       No mention of Pol Pot found in the cache.   

       No mention of Mao Zedong found in the cache.   

       No mention of Leopold II of Belgium found in the cache.   

       No mention of Vlad the Impaler found in the cache.   

       It has been 0 days since Donald Trump was last mentioned. idea found on Despot Chess by [xenzag] //Amin, Stalin, Trump, Mussolini// on 03 Jan 2021   

       ------>8------------>8 ------------>8------------>8 ------------>8- -----
zen_tom, Jan 03 2021
  

       // probably mothball this for now //   

       What, you're not going to go for the prize ?   

       You seem to lack ambition ...
8th of 7, Jan 03 2021
  

       I thought the competition end date had passed, and having not heard anything through my agent, had quietly assumed other parties had already been shone upon. However, I do intend to pivot what I'd already built to a more generalised, practical end.
zen_tom, Jan 03 2021
  

       // I thought the competition end date had passed //   

       It does read quite clearly "31 January 2021" ...
8th of 7, Jan 03 2021
  

       You're right, it does - I never was a details person - I'd conflated the 31st with the big 31st that's just passed without factoring in the whole January business - ok, as you were...mothballs can go back in the drawer for the time being.
zen_tom, Jan 03 2021
  

       // I never was a details person //   

       That much is obvious. Then again, your algorithm doesn't seem to have made the trifling error of placing the "most recent occurrence" as being 89.77 years in the future ....
8th of 7, Jan 03 2021
  

       Ha, luckily enough no - all my datetimes are handled by a python module called dateparser - which converts most date formats into a datetime object without me having to think too hard about it.   

       Because I'm using a simple database, it doesn't understand these directly, so I have to convert all the dates into an integer form, and a convenient approach seemed to be to use the number of seconds since the last unix epoc (since someone else had written this into the datetime module), and then finally calculate differences using simple integer arithmetic:   

       ddiff = int((now - final_mention['date'])/86400)   

       Which takes the integer value of the two dates' difference after dividing by the number of seconds in a day.   

       That feels quite a unixy thing to do, so I took to googling, and a quick StackOverflow (link) yields this interesting bit of shell syntax that I'd not come across before:   

       date -d "Oct 21 1973" +%s   

       which apparently does a similar thing - I also tried it as:   

       date -d "21 Oct 1973" +%s   

       And it seems capable of parsing both dates (at least it returns the same number 120006000 in both cases)
zen_tom, Jan 03 2021
  

       4.10.2023   

       I think this might be the first time we've gone actual YEARS without Hitler being mentioned.   

       The dawn of a golden age maybe?
doctorremulac3, Apr 10 2023
  
      
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