given that this is the RethinkDB blog, I'm pretty sure that is the point: a nice little toy example to show what it can do.
That said, the node parts probably could have been done in Python as well and made the entire thing a bit easier.
I definitely wanted to do all parts in Python but am somewhat allergic to the `while True:` pattern necessary in Python for changfeeds. I haven't brought myself up-to-date on the more recent asyncio library to write the more Pythonic `yield from` for a changefeeds example.
Would you know how to do this in Python elegantly? Because I would love to rip out the Node/Javascript parts.