// for reference, assuming you've come to look at this, then head to
// http://webreference.com/programming/javascript/professional/chap21/2/5.html
// I've changed the main 2 variable names to make it easy for the rest of SF team to add items

//And iv niked it from SF
<!--
var theCharacterTimeout = 55; var theStoryTimeout = 4750; var StoryTitle = new Array(); var StoryLink = new Array(); var theItemCount = 5;
var a = new Array(5);

StoryTitle[0] = "How not to get arrested in Moscow";
StoryLink[0] = "ticker1.php";
StoryTitle[1] = "Stopping agents rioting about internet selling";
StoryLink[1] = "ticker2.php";
StoryTitle[2] = "Those guns are for the lions, right?";
StoryLink[2] = "ticker3.php";
StoryTitle[3] = "Your own crew is more threat than soldiers / police / doctors...";
StoryLink[3] = "ticker4.php";
StoryTitle[4] = "Surviving exotic menus with dignity";
StoryLink[4] = "ticker5.php";
StoryTitle[5] = "Half the equipment in Miami, the rest in Caracas";
StoryLink[5] = "ticker6.php";

startTicker();



function randint( l, u )
// Returns an integer uniformly distributed over l..u.
{
    return l + Math.floor( Math.random() * ( u + 1 - l ));
}


function generate( )
{
    var minval = 0;
    var maxval = 4;
    // var a = new Array( maxval - minval + 1 );

    for ( var i = 0, j = minval; j <= maxval; i++, j++ )
    {
        a[i] = j;
    }

    for ( var i = a.length - 1; i > 0; i-- )
    {
        var j = randint( 0, i );

        // Swap the elements at positions i and j.
        var temp = a[i];
        a[i] = a[j];
        a[j] = temp;
    }

}

function startTicker()
{
        generate();
	theCurrentStory  = -1; theCurrentLength = 0; theAnchorObject  = document.getElementById("theticker"); runTheTicker();

}

function runTheTicker()
{
	var myTimeout;
	var theCurrentStoryPointer;
	// Go for the next story data block
	if(theCurrentLength == 0)
	{
		theCurrentStory++;
		theCurrentStory      = theCurrentStory % theItemCount;
		theCurrentStoryPointer  = a[theCurrentStory];
		theStorySummary      = StoryTitle[theCurrentStoryPointer].replace(/&quot;/g,'"');
		theTargetLink        = StoryLink[theCurrentStoryPointer];
		theAnchorObject.href = theTargetLink;
	}
	// Stuff the current ticker text into the anchor
	theAnchorObject.innerHTML = theStorySummary.substring(0,theCurrentLength);
	// Modify the length for the substring and define the timer
	if(theCurrentLength != theStorySummary.length)
	{
		theCurrentLength++; myTimeout = theCharacterTimeout;
	}
	else
	{
		theCurrentLength = 0; myTimeout = theStoryTimeout;
	}
	// Call up the next cycle of the ticker
	setTimeout("runTheTicker()", myTimeout);
}
//-->