function startTicker(){
	if(theSummaries.length==0)return false;
	theCurrentStory     = -1;
	theCurrentLength    = 0;
	if(document.getElementById){theAnchorObject=document.getElementById("ticker");runTheTicker();}
	else{document.write("<style>.ticki{display:none;}.ticko{border:0px; padding:0px;}</style>");return true;}
}

function runTheTicker(){
	theItemCount = theSummaries.length;
	var myTimeout;  
	if(theCurrentLength==0){
		theCurrentStory++;
		theCurrentStory=theCurrentStory % theItemCount;
		theStorySummary=theSummaries[theCurrentStory].replace(/&quot;/g,'"');		
		theTargetLink=theSiteLinks[theCurrentStory];
		if(typeof(theTargetLink)!='undefined')theAnchorObject.href=theTargetLink;
		else theAnchorObject.href="#foo";
		thePrefix="<span>"+theLeadString+"</span>";
	}
	theAnchorObject.innerHTML=thePrefix+theStorySummary.substring(0,theCurrentLength)+whatWidget();
	if(theCurrentLength!=theStorySummary.length){theCurrentLength++;myTimeout=theCharacterTimeout;}
	else{theCurrentLength=0;myTimeout=theStoryTimeout;}
	setTimeout("runTheTicker()", myTimeout);
}

function whatWidget(){
	if(theCurrentLength == theStorySummary.length)return theWidgetNone;
	if((theCurrentLength % 2) == 1)return theWidgetOne;
	else return theWidgetTwo;
}

var theCharacterTimeout = 50;
var theStoryTimeout     = 5000;
var theWidgetOne        = "_";
var theWidgetTwo        = "-";
var theWidgetNone       = "";
var theLeadString       = "";

var theSummaries = new Array();
var theSiteLinks = new Array();
var tickerCount=0;
function addTicker(title, url){
	theSummaries[tickerCount] = title;
	if(url){theSiteLinks[tickerCount] = url;}
	tickerCount++;
}
var theItemCount;