function strip(string) {
  return string.replace(/^\s+/, '').replace(/\s+$/, '');
}

function downcase(string) {
  return string.toLowerCase();
}

function slugify(string) {
  return downcase(strip(string)).replace(/[^-a-z0-9~\s\.:;+=_]/g, '').replace(/[\s\.:;=+]+/g, '-');
}

function showCallout() {
  $("#slider .content").blindDown('normal');
  $("#slider .headline").blindUp('normal');
  $("#slider .expand.button").fadeOut('normal', function(){
    $("#slider .contract.button").fadeIn('normal');
  });
}

function hideCallout() {
  $("#slider .content").blindUp('normal');
  $("#slider .headline").blindDown('normal');
  $("#slider .contract.button").fadeOut('normal', function(){
    $("#slider .expand.button").fadeIn('normal');
  });
}

function brieflyShowCallout() {
  showCallout();
  $("#slider").animate({'z-index':0}, 2000, function(){
    hideCallout();
  });
}

jQuery.ajaxSetup({ 
  'beforeSend': function(xhr) {xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept", "text/javascript")} 
})

jQuery(document).ajaxSend(function(event, request, settings) {
  if (settings.type == 'GET' || settings.type == 'get' || typeof(AUTH_TOKEN) == "undefined") return;
  // settings.data is a serialized string like "foo=bar&baz=boink" (or null)
  settings.data = settings.data || "";
  settings.data += (settings.data ? "&" : "") + "authenticity_token=" + encodeURIComponent(AUTH_TOKEN);
});