new_contents: from flexidate import FlexiDate
  
  class SortableDate(object):
      def __init__(self, date):
          fd = FlexiDate.from_str(str(date))
          self.year = fd.year
          self.month = fd.month
          self.day = fd.day
  
      def as_float(self):
          year = int(self.year) * 10000
          month = self.month.zfill(2)
          day = self.day.zfill(2)
          #return int("%s%s%s" % (self.year,month,day))
          return year + int("%s%s" % (month,day))
  
subject: add sortable date class to support search over dates and date-like values, re #1987