Don't Ever Use NOW() - `datetime field`

***All point news bulletin***

Do not ever use NOW() - `datetime field`! Broadcast this from the mountaintops of open source to the valleys of companies who dabble in it.

Instead, use the following:

TIME_TO_SEC(TIMEDIFF(Now(),`datetime field`))

There are other ways to do the above, just as long as you do not use NOW() - `datetime field`.

Wanna see proof?

mysql> SELECT RIGHT(NOW(),8) `Now`, RIGHT(datetime_inserted,8) `Inserted`, NOW()-datetime_inserted Incorrect, TIME_TO_SEC(TIMEDIFF(NOW(),datetime_inserted)) Correct from my_table;
+----------+----------+-----------+-------+
| -- Now - | Inserted | Incorrect | Correct
+----------+----------+-----------+-------+
| 11:16:59 | 10:59:45 | 5714.0000 | 1034
| 11:16:59 | 10:59:51 | 5708.0000 | 1028
| 11:16:59 | 10:59:55 | 5704.0000 | 1024
| 11:16:59 | 11:03:17 | 1342.0000 | 822
| 11:16:59 | 11:03:19 | 1340.0000 | 820
| 11:16:59 | 11:03:20 | 1339.0000 | 819
+----------+----------+-----------+-------+

Fun, eh?

Til next time,
David