MySQL get the date n days ago as a timestamp

DATE_SUB will do part of it depending on what you want

mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 30 day);
2009-06-07 21:55:09

mysql> SELECT TIMESTAMP(DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 30 day));
2009-06-07 21:55:09

mysql> SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP(DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 30 day));
1244433347