var charTimeout;
var itemTimeout;
var theWidgetOne = "_";
var theWidgetTwo = "-";
var theWidgetNone = "";

var items = new Array();
var itemCount;

function startTicker() {
	currentItem = -1;
	currentLength = 0;

	if (document.getElementById) {	
		ticker = document.getElementById("newsticker");
		runTheTicker();   	
	}
	else {
		document.write("<style type=\"text/css\">.newsticker{display:none;}</style>");
        return true;
	}
}

function runTheTicker() {
	var myTimeout;  

	if (currentLength == 0) {
		currentItem++;
		currentItem = currentItem % itemCount;
				
		itemTitle = items[currentItem][0].replace(/&quot;/g,'"');		
		theTargetLink = items[currentItem][1];
		ticker.href = theTargetLink;
	}
	
	if (itemTitle.charAt(currentLength) == '<') {
		currentLength = itemTitle.indexOf('>', currentLength);
	}
	
	ticker.innerHTML = itemTitle.substring(0, currentLength) + whatWidget();
	
	if (currentLength !=  itemTitle.length) {
		currentLength++;
		nextTimeout = charTimeout;
	}
	else {
		currentLength = 0;
		nextTimeout = itemTimeout;
	}
	
	setTimeout("runTheTicker()", nextTimeout);
}

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