Detailed distance from seconds

humanize.rb

def humanize secs
  [[60, :seconds], [60, :minutes], [24, :hours], [1000, :days]].map{ |count, name|
    if secs > 0
      secs, n = secs.divmod(count)
      "#{n.to_i} #{name}"
    end
  }.compact.reverse.join(' ')
end

p humanize 1234
#=>"20 minutes 34 seconds"
p humanize 12345
#=>"3 hours 25 minutes 45 seconds"
p humanize 123456
#=>"1 days 10 hours 17 minutes 36 seconds"
p humanize(Time.now - Time.local(2010,11,5))
#=>"4 days 18 hours 24 minutes 7 seconds"

Stackoverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4136248/how-to-generate-a-human-readable-time-range-using-ruby-on-rails