// <![CDATA[

/*
* function preloadImages
*
* preloads an arbitrary length array of images by instanciating a new image 
* object for each one.
*
* @param  string  array of image URL's to preload
* @return object  array of preloaded image objects
*/
function preloadImages() {
    if(document.images) {
        if(!document.preloadArray) {
            document.preloadArray = new Array();
        }

        var next = document.preloadArray.length;
        var argv = preloadImages.arguments;
        var argc = argv.length;

        for(var i=0; i<argc; i++) {
            if (argv[i].indexOf("#")!=0) {
              document.preloadArray[next] = new Image(); 
              document.preloadArray[next].src = argv[i];
              next++;
            }
        }
    }
    return document.preloadArray;
}

// ]]>