How to "wow" someone new to Python

[Rustom Mody]

On Friday, January 16, 2015 at 8:34:20 PM UTC+5:30, Chris Angelico wrote:
> Scenario: You're introducing someone to Python for the first time.
> S/he may have some previous programming experience, or may be new to
> the whole idea of giving a computer instructions. You have a couple of
> minutes to show off how awesome Python is. What do you do?

There is this story -- maybe apocryphal -- that the tendency to vote
democratic or republican runs so deep it can be detected from 
genetic markers.

Similar things apply to programming:
Some people are drawn to a mathematical style; some are not
Some people love cute little scripts; some are left cold
Some love graphics; some dislike
etc etc
All corollary to:
Some people can think like programmers; most cant
[Who does the last quote? Steve Jobs?]

So to start with, you need to 'fingerprint' (is that the word?)
your subject.

> 
> I was thinking along the lines of a simple demo in the REPL, showing
> off some of Python's coolest features. But then I got stuck on the
> specifics. What are Python's best coolnesses? What makes for a good
> demo?

The reason I find the REPL particularly cool for such demos
[I am surprised that Marko doesn't]
is that at least to some extent you can straddle some of the
divides above.

How about a little web-scrape with beautiful-soup?
Followed by maybe a "throw the results into a csv-file
and open in the local spreadsheet"?