def get_time_now(self):
        """Returns a time stamp"""
        import datetime
        import getpass
        username = getpass.getuser()
        # this is not working on some systems: os.environ["USERNAME"]
        timenow = str(datetime.datetime.now())
        timenow = timenow.split('.')[0]
        msg = '<div class="date">Created on ' + timenow
        msg += " by " + username +'</div>'
        return msg