function data($strIn,$intTypeIn, $intTypeOut, $strTranslate)
	//using a double-delimited list $strTranslate of the form 
	//field1a|field2a|field3a-field1b|field2b|field3b-field1c...
	//you can retrieve the field number $intTypeOut in the record 
	//containing the first match of $strIn to the field specified by
	//$intTypeIn. if $intTypeIn is -1 then it returns a field from 
	//the record number specified by $strIn
	//this serves as very nice bare-bones database retrieval system
	{
		$arrTranslate=split("-", $strTranslate);
		$strOut="";
		$bwlDone=1;
		$strIn=$strIn+"";
		$bwlDone=0;
		for ($i=0;  $i < count($arrTranslate) and $bwlDone==0; $i++)
			{
				$arrThis=split("\|",$arrTranslate[$i]);
				if ($intTypeIn<count($arrThis) and $intTypeOut<count($arrThis))
					{
						if ($intTypeIn==-1) 
							{
								if ($strIn==$i+'')
								{
									$strOut=$arrThis[$intTypeOut];
									$bwlDone=1;
								}
								
							}
						else
							{
								if ($arrThis[$intTypeIn]==$strIn)
									{
										$strOut=$arrThis[$intTypeOut];
										$bwlDone=1;
									}
							}
					}
			}
		return($strOut);
	}	
	
function nav()
{
	//provides unified site navigation based on double-delimited strConfig 
	//having the form filename1|label1-filename2|label2...
	$strfilename=thisfilename();
	
	$strconfig="index.php|Home-meet.php|Meet the Animals-wish.php|
	Wish List-sponsor.php|Sponsor an Animal-adopt.php|
	Adopt an Animal-membership.php|Become a Member-shindig.php|
	Sanctuary Shindig!-where.php|Driving Directions-feedback.php|Feedback";
	
	$arrconfig=split("-",$strconfig);
	$count=count($arrconfig);
	$out="<p>";
	for ($i=0; $i<$count; $i++)
	{
		$arrthis=split("\|", $arrconfig[$i]);
		$strthisfile=$arrthis[0];
		if ($strfilename!= $strthisfile)
		{
		$out=$out . "<nobr> <a class=\"nav\" href=\"";
		$out=$out .$strthisfile . "\">" . $arrthis[1];
		$out=$out ."</a></nobr><p>" . chr(13);
		}
		else
		{
		$out=$out . "<nobr><span class=\"navthere\" ";
		$out=$out . >[" . $arrthis[1];
		$out=$out . "]</span></nobr><p>" . chr(13);
		}
	}
	$out= $out .  randompicture("cas-images", 150, 0);
	return($out);
}

a few odd links

The wonderful world we live in, where even the birds chirp MIDI tunes - My old college friend Alex G. steered me to this site maintained by David Icke, an avid conspiracy theorist (or, in this case, theoriologist). Icke seems to believe that everyone of even modest fame is a satanist, a pædophile, or a shape-shifting reptilian. That last one inspired Alex to make an interesting sign for a peace protest he attended in San Francisco.

Mozilla for Macs running OS 8-9 - I'm a relentless Mozilla enthusiast but some Mac people have written to complain that Mozilla.org stopped hosting versions for Macs not running OSX. This is where open source really shows its advantages. Someone took a copy of the freely-available source and managed to successfully compile a version of Mozilla 1.3 for Macs running OSes 8-9. The guy's not even a programmer.

Confidential Connections - I actually clicked on a link in a doofy smiley-ridden email claiming to come from a girl "who is new to the area." It took me to this site, which appears to be some sort of Ukrainian bride service. It really says something about a country when its two principle exports are white women and radiation.

For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?030905