sub get_timestamp {

    (my $year, my $month, my $day, my $hour, my $min, my $sec) = Today_and_Now();

    my $now_ts = "$year-$month-$day $hour:$min:$sec";

    my$Dd; my $Dh; my $Dm;

     # cookie expiration is always in the form 10m or 1d
    my $time_frame = chop($meta_configs{login_cookie_expiration});
    if (($meta_configs{login_cookie_expiration} =~ /[0-9]+/)&&($time_frame eq "m"))
        {$Dm = $meta_configs{login_cookie_expiration};}
    elsif (($meta_configs{login_cookie_expiration} =~ /[0-9]+/)&&($time_frame eq "h"))
        {$Dh = $meta_configs{login_cookie_expiration};}
    elsif (($meta_configs{login_cookie_expiration} =~ /[0-9]+/)&&($time_frame eq "d"))
        {$Dd = $meta_configs{login_cookie_expiration};}
    else {$Dh = 1;} # make a default expiration of 1 hour

    (my $nyr, my $nmo, my $nday, my $nhr, my $nmin, my $nsec) = Add_Delta_DHMS($year, $month, $day, $hour, $min, $sec,$Dd, $Dh, $Dm, 0);

    my $expiration = "$nyr-$nmo-$nday $nhr:$nmin:$nsec";

    return ($now_ts, $expiration);
}