Turns Javascript Date Objects into human readable form

simpledate.js

var simpleDate = (function() {
	
	var measures = {
		second: 1,
		minute: 60,
		hour: 3600,
		day: 86400,
		week: 604800,
		month: 2592000,
		year: 31536000
	};
	
	var chkMultiple = function(amount, type) {
		return (amount > 1) ? amount + " " + type + "s":"a " + type;
	};
	
	return function(thedate) {
		var dateStr, amount, denomination,
			current = new Date().getTime(),
			diff = (current - thedate.getTime()) / 1000; // work with seconds
			
		if(diff > measures.year) {
			denomination = "year";
		} else if(diff > measures.month) {
			denomination = "month";
		} else if(diff > measures.week) {
			denomination = "week";
		} else if(diff > measures.day) {
			denomination = "day";
		} else if(diff > measures.hour) {
			denomination = "hour";
		} else if(diff > measures.minute) {
			denomination = "minute";
		} else {
			dateStr = "a few seconds ago";
			return dateStr;
		}
		amount = Math.round(diff/measures[denomination]);
		dateStr = "about " + chkMultiple(amount, denomination) + " ago";
		return dateStr;
	};
	
})();