Calendar Facts

facts.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3

# Data source: https://xkcd.com/1930/

import random
import re


class Or(list):
    def __init__(self, *args):
        super(Or, self).__init__(args)


def generate(x):
    if type(x) is str:
        return x
    if type(x) is Or:
        return generate(random.choice(x))
    else:
        return str.join(' ', map(generate, x))


result = generate([
    'Did you know that',
    Or(
        ['the', Or('Fall', 'Spring'), 'equinox'],
        ['the', Or('Winter', 'Summer'), Or('solstice', 'Olympics')],
        ['the', Or('earliest', 'latest'), Or('sunrise', 'sunset')],
        ['daylight', Or('saving', 'savings'), 'time'],
        ['leap', Or('year', 'day')],
        'easter',
        ['the', Or('harvest', 'super', 'blood'), 'moon'],
        'Toyota Truck Month',
        'Shark Week'
    ),
    Or(
        ['happens', Or('earlier', 'later', 'at the wrong time'), 'every year'],
        [
            'drifts out of sync with the',
            Or(
                'Sun',
                'Moon',
                'Zodiac',
                [Or('Gregorian', 'Mayan', 'Lunar', 'iPhone'), 'calendar'],
                'atomic clock in Colorado'
            )
        ],
        ['might', Or('not happen', 'happen twice'), 'this year']
    ),
    'because of',
    Or(
        ['time zone legislation in', Or('Indiana', 'Arizona', 'Russia')],
        'a decree by the pope in the 1500s',
        [
            Or(
                'precession',
                'libration',
                'nutation',
                'libation',
                'eccentricity',
                'obliquity'),
            'of the',
            Or(
                'Moon',
                'Sun',
                'Earth\'s axis',
                'equator',
                'prime meridian',
                [Or('international date', 'mason-dixon'), 'line'],
            )
        ],
        'magnetic field reversal',
        ['an arbitrary decision by ', Or('Benjamin Franklin', 'Isaac Newton', 'FDR')]
    ),
    '? Apparently,',
    Or(
        'it causes a predictable increase in car accidents',
        'that\'s why we have leap seconds',
        'that\'s why we have leap seconds',
        [
            'it was even more extreme during the',
            Or('Bronze Age', 'Ice Age', 'Cretaceous', '1990s')
        ],
        [
            'there\'s a proposal to fix it, but it',
            Or(
                'will never happen',
                'actually makes things worse',
                'is stalled in congress',
                'might be unconstitutional'
            )
        ],
        'it\'s getting worse and no one knows why'
    ),
    '.',
    'While it may seem like trivia, it',
    Or(
        'causes huge headaches for software developers',
        'is taken advantage of by high-speed traders',
        'triggered the 2003 Northeast Blackout',
        'has to be corrected for by GPS satellites',
        'is now recognized as a major cause of World War I'
    ),
    '.'
])

print(re.sub(r' ([.?])', r'\1', result))