def foo(mylist):
    magic  = 0
    for i in range(len(mylist)-1):
...

begin
  data["body"] = content[1].split(/\W{2,}/)[0].strip()
rescue Exception => e
...

def get_pos(rel_dates):
    """returns the positions of the dates closest to 25%, 50%, and 75%"""
    pos = [0] # first element
...

def scale_dates(dates):
    rel_dates = []
    first_day = dates[0]
...