My Django settings

base.py

import os

from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured

# Shortcuts courtesy of @kennethlove
here = lambda *x: os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), *x)
PROJECT_ROOT = here('..')
root = lambda *x: os.path.join(os.path.abspath(PROJECT_ROOT), *x)


def config(key, default=None):
    """Gets an environment setting.

    This function is a helper to get a setting from ``os.environ``. If
    the setting hasn't been defined and ``default`` is ``None``,
    ``django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured`` will be raised.

    This function was adapted from ``get_env_variable()`` as defined in
    "Two Scoops of Django" by @pydanny and @audreyr.

    :param key: The name of the environment setting.
    :type key: str
    :param default: The value to use if the setting isn't defined.
    :type default: mixed
    :returns: mixed -- the value of the setting or ``default``.
    :raises: ImproperlyConfigured
    """

    if default is None and key not in os.environ:
        message = 'Set the {} environment setting.'.format(key)
        raise ImproperlyConfigured(message)

    return os.environ.get(key, default)

TEMPLATE_DEBUG = DEBUG = config('DEBUG', False) == 'True'

MANAGERS = ADMINS = ()

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
        'NAME': 'cubeecraft',
    }
}

# Local time zone for this installation. Choices can be found here:
# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_zones_by_name
# although not all choices may be available on all operating systems.
# In a Windows environment this must be set to your system time zone.
TIME_ZONE = 'America/New_York'

# Language code for this installation. All choices can be found here:
# http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/language-identifiers.html
LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'

SITE_ID = 1

# If you set this to False, Django will make some optimizations so as not
# to load the internationalization machinery.
USE_I18N = True

# If you set this to False, Django will not format dates, numbers and
# calendars according to the current locale.
USE_L10N = True

# If you set this to False, Django will not use timezone-aware datetimes.
USE_TZ = True

# Absolute filesystem path to the directory that will hold user-uploaded files.
# Example: "/var/www/example.com/media/"
MEDIA_ROOT = root('..', 'media')

# URL that handles the media served from MEDIA_ROOT. Make sure to use a
# trailing slash.
# Examples: "http://example.com/media/", "http://media.example.com/"
MEDIA_URL = config('MEDIA_URL', '/media/')

# Absolute path to the directory static files should be collected to.
# Don't put anything in this directory yourself; store your static files
# in apps' "static/" subdirectories and in STATICFILES_DIRS.
# Example: "/var/www/example.com/static/"
STATIC_ROOT = root('..', 'static')

# URL prefix for static files.
# Example: "http://example.com/static/", "http://static.example.com/"
STATIC_URL = config('STATIC_URL', '/static/')

# Additional locations of static files
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    root('static'),
)

# List of finder classes that know how to find static files in
# various locations.
STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.FileSystemFinder',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
)

# Make this unique, and don't share it with anybody.
default_secret_key = 'SOME SECRET KEY VALUE HERE'
SECRET_KEY = config('SECRET_KEY', default_secret_key)

# List of callables that know how to import templates from various sources.
TEMPLATE_LOADERS = (
    'django.template.loaders.filesystem.Loader',
    'django.template.loaders.app_directories.Loader',
)

MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
)

ROOT_URLCONF = 'cubeecraft.urls'

# Python dotted path to the WSGI application used by Django's runserver.
WSGI_APPLICATION = 'cubeecraft.wsgi.application'

TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
    root('templates'),
)

DJANGO_APPS = (
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.sites',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'django.contrib.admin',
)

THIRD_PARTY_APPS = ()

LOCAL_APPS = (
    'accounts',
)

INSTALLED_APPS = DJANGO_APPS + THIRD_PARTY_APPS + LOCAL_APPS

# A sample logging configuration. The only tangible logging
# performed by this configuration is to send an email to
# the site admins on every HTTP 500 error when DEBUG=False.
# See http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/logging for
# more details on how to customize your logging configuration.
LOGGING = {
    'version': 1,
    'disable_existing_loggers': False,
    'filters': {
        'require_debug_false': {
            '()': 'django.utils.log.RequireDebugFalse'
        }
    },
    'handlers': {
        'mail_admins': {
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'filters': ['require_debug_false'],
            'class': 'django.utils.log.AdminEmailHandler'
        }
    },
    'loggers': {
        'django.request': {
            'handlers': ['mail_admins'],
            'level': 'ERROR',
            'propagate': True,
        },
    }
}

# Things beyond the defaults:

AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'accounts.User'

development.py

from .base import *

TEMPLATE_DEBUG = DEBUG = False

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
        'NAME': 'cubeecraft',
    }
}

manage.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os
import sys


if __name__ == "__main__":
    from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line

    os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "cubeecraft.settings.{}".format(sys.argv[1]))
    execute_from_command_line([sys.argv[0]] + sys.argv[2:])

production.py

from postgresify import postgresify
from S3 import CallingFormat

from .base import *

DATABASES = postgresify()

INSTALLED_APPS += ('storages', 'raven.contrib.django')

DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'storages.backends.s3boto.S3BotoStorage'
STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'storages.backends.s3boto.S3BotoStorage'

AWS_QUERYSTRING_AUTH = False
AWS_HEADERS = {
    'Expires': 'Thu, 15 Apr 2020 20:00:00 GMT',
    'Cache-Control': 'max-age=86400',
}

AWS_CALLING_FORMAT = CallingFormat.SUBDOMAIN

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = config('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID')
AWS_ACCESS_SECRET_KEY = config('AWS_ACCESS_SECRET_KEY')

Inspired by a combination of Two Scoops of Django and https://github.com/alex/django-project-skeleton.