>In IE, you can uncheck the "play animation in web pages" checkbox under the multimedia section of the advanced tab (tools/options).

Many thanks....that helps. (doesn't de-animate the CODE magazine ad though.., which maybe is a flash ad. )

I dunno, the whole advertising business model is on my nerves. I'm willing to pay to turn the damn things off. Its a little like the New York Times; I would be happy to pay a subscription fee to have access to animation-free pages, and to surpress pop-ups, as I realize they need to subsidize the the cost of the service. Slashdot was contemplating a system like that, I think, the more you paid, the fewer the ads in size, animation, and obnoxiousness.

Basically I've completely given up on commercial television and the so-called public broadcasting channels in the U.S. The only content that I was really interested in, we rented Six Feet Under as as a DVD.

The best coverage of our current little war I found came from the german ARD Tageschau, which broadcasts its newscasts over the net, entirely commercial free, with a beautiful interface, and excellent quality.