function startTicker()
	{
	if(theSummaries.length==0)return false;
	theCurrentStory     = -1;
	theCurrentLength    = 0;
	if(document.getElementById)
		{
		theAnchorObject=document.getElementById("newsbar");
		theFrameObject=document.getElementById("newsbar_frame");
		runTheTicker(theAnchorObject.offsetHeight,0,0);
		}
	else{document.write("<style>.newsbar_frame{display:none;};</style>");return true;}
	}

function runTheTicker(startingHeight,longerTrigger,strFirstIndex)
	{
	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="#";
		thePrefix="<span>"+theLeadString+"</span>";
		}
	if(theCurrentLength==1){startingHeight = theAnchorObject.offsetHeight;}
	if(longerTrigger==0 )var strFirstIndex = 0;
	do	{
		theAnchorObject.innerHTML=thePrefix+theStorySummary.substring(strFirstIndex,theCurrentLength)+whatWidget();
		if ( theAnchorObject.offsetHeight > startingHeight && theCurrentLength>1)
			{strFirstIndex++; longerTrigger=1;}
		}while(theAnchorObject.offsetHeight > startingHeight && theCurrentLength>1)
	if(theCurrentLength!=theStorySummary.length){theCurrentLength++;myTimeout=theCharacterTimeout;}
	else{longerTrigger=0;theCurrentLength=0;myTimeout=theStoryTimeout;}
	setTimeout("runTheTicker("+startingHeight+","+longerTrigger+","+strFirstIndex+")", 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       = "&nbsp;&nbsp;";

var theSummaries = new Array();
var theSiteLinks = new Array();
var tickerCount=0;
var theItemCount;

function addTicker(title, nID)
	{
	theSummaries[tickerCount] = title;
	if(nID) {theSiteLinks[tickerCount] = '?id=25&s='+nID;}
	tickerCount++;
	}

function initParentNode()
	{
	document.write('<a id="newsbar"></a>');
	}