function slideSwitch() {
    var jactive = j('#slider IMG.active');

    if ( jactive.length == 0 ) jactive = j('#slider IMG:last');

    // use this to pull the images in the order they appear in the markup
    var jnext =  jactive.next().length ? jactive.next()
        : j('#slider IMG:first');

    // uncomment the 3 lines below to pull the images in random order
    
    // var jsibs  = jactive.siblings();
    // var rndNum = Math.floor(Math.random() * jsibs.length );
    // var jnext  = j( jsibs[ rndNum ] );


    jactive.addClass('last-active');

    jnext.css({opacity: 0.0})
        .addClass('active')
        .animate({opacity: 1.0}, 1000, function() {
            jactive.removeClass('active last-active');
        });
}

j(function() {
    setInterval( "slideSwitch()", 5000 );
});