Topic: This day in history widget

It updates with today's date, but the events stay the same, so I assume the feed is dead. Remove?

Re: This day in history widget

Well, it sort of works again, but doesn't seem to parse HTML tags properly, just renders them as text.

Re: This day in history widget

I might have the source for that, I'll see if I can fix it.

Re: This day in history widget

OK, this widget should be fixed now.

Re: This day in history widget

Seems to be stuck on April 7.

Re: This day in history widget

I checked the upstream data feed.  The RSS feed has a date of April 8, but the items in the feed are still April 7.  Nothing we can do on the widget side - the change I made was to strip out the HTML tags

This is the RSS feed url it uses:

http://www.infoplease.com/rss/dayinhistory.rss

As of this posting, it delivers:

<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>

    <title>Infoplease - This Day in History</title>
    <description>Events from This Day in History from the Editors of Infoplease</description>
    <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory</link>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright 2016 Sandbox Networks</copyright>
    <managingEditor>editor@infoplease.com</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>webmaster@infoplease.com</webMaster>
    <pubDate>Fri, 08 Apr 2016 04:00:00 UTC</pubDate>
    <image>
      <title>Infoplease - This Day in History</title>
      <url>http://i.infopls.com/images/04ip_logo113x20.gif</url>
      <width>113</width>
      <height>20</height>
      <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory</link>
    </image>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[April 7, 1913: The <a href="/ipa/A0749825.html">17th Amendment</a> was ratified, requiring the direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote rather than by the state legislators.]]></title>
      <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-7</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[April 7, 1974: <a href="/ipsa/A0108954.html">Henry "Hank" Aaron</a> hit the 715th <a href="/ipsa/A0112364.html">home run</a> of his career, breaking <a href="/ipsa/A0109607.html">Babe Ruth&#39;s</a> record.]]></title>
      <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-7</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[April 7, 1986: Actor <a href="/ipea/A0154733.html">Clint Eastwood</a> was elected mayor of Carmel, California.]]></title>
      <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-7</link>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>More events from This Day in History: April 7</title>
        <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-7</link>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Not sure if it matters, but the feed was last published at 4AM UTC on April 8, which is still April 7 in the US.

Re: This day in history widget

Also checked out the corresponding page on their website http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-8 and the items are still the ones from April 7.

Re: This day in history widget

Right now; the widget and the web page are showing the same events, but the widget has yesterday's date.

Re: This day in history widget

The website does not show the date on each item, while the RSS feed does.  As of this writing the feed is dated April 9, but each item is dated April 8:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>

    <title>Infoplease - This Day in History</title>
    <description>Events from This Day in History from the Editors of Infoplease</description>
    <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory</link>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright 2016 Sandbox Networks</copyright>
    <managingEditor>editor@infoplease.com</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>webmaster@infoplease.com</webMaster>
    <pubDate>Sat, 09 Apr 2016 04:00:00 UTC</pubDate>
    <image>
      <title>Infoplease - This Day in History</title>
      <url>http://i.infopls.com/images/04ip_logo113x20.gif</url>
      <width>113</width>
      <height>20</height>
      <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory</link>
    </image>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[April 8, 1731: Robert Jenkins's ear was cut off, sparking the <a href="/ce6/history/A0826164.html">War of Jenkins&#x2019;s Ear</a> between <a href="/ipa/A0107987.html">Spain</a> and <a href="/ipa/A0108078.html">England</a>.]]></title>
      <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-8</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[April 8, 1914: The first full-color film, The World, The Flesh and the Devil</i>, was shown in London.]]></title>
      <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-8</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title><![CDATA[April 8, 1963: <a href="/ce6/people/A0812197.html">Winston Churchill</a> became the first honorary U.S. citizen.]]></title>
      <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-8</link>
    </item>

    <item>
      <title>More events from This Day in History: April 8</title>
        <link>http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-8</link>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

The widget shows the date from the item, since that's when the historical event occurred.

Re: This day in history widget

I believe the widget is reading the RSS correctly.

Maybe the RSS is wrong? I'm still seeing the same items with different dates on RSS vs the website. I checked a few items at wikipedia and the dates match the website.

So I used the contact form on the infoplease website to report my observation. If I get a reply I'll share that here.

Re: This day in history widget

I haven't received a reply, but the RSS feed changed yesterday. The daily items were published twice. The second instance having the correct date. Today's items have today's date! smile