function startLatestCommentsBox( elemId, commentXmlUrl ) 
{
   var xmlhttp = createXMLHttpRequest();

   xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
      if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200) {
         var elem = document.getElementById( elemId );
         if (!elem) {
            return;
         }

         var lastlatest = elem.firstChild;
         var highestComment = 0;
	 if (lastlatest)
	    highestComment = lastlatest.comment_ID;

         var comments = eval( xmlhttp.responseText );
         for (var i in comments) {

            var comment = comments[i];
	    if (highestComment && comment['id']<=highestComment) {
	       continue;
	    }

	    var div = document.createElement('div');
            div.comment_ID = comment['id'];

	    div.className = "latestcomment";
            div.style.display = "none";

	    var s = "<table><tr><td><div class='thumbnaildiv'>" + comment['userpic'] + "</div></td><td class='latestcommentsexcerpt'>";
	    s += comment['date'];
            s += "&nbsp;|&nbsp;";
	    s += '<a href="' + comment['userurl'] + '">' + comment['username'] + '</a>';
            s += "&nbsp;|&nbsp;";
	    s += comment['excerpt'];
	    s += "</td></tr></table>";
            div.innerHTML = s;

            if (lastlatest)
	       elem.insertBefore(div, lastlatest);
	    else
	       elem.appendChild(div);

            if (elem.childNodes.length>6) {
               $(div).slideDown("slow");
	       elem.style.height = elem.offsetHeight + "px";
	       elem.removeChild(elem.lastChild);
	    }
	    else 
	       div.style.display = "";
         }
      }
   }

   setInterval( function() {
                   xmlhttp.open("GET",commentXmlUrl,true);
                   xmlhttp.send(null);
                }, 

               30000
      );


   xmlhttp.open("GET",commentXmlUrl,true);
   xmlhttp.send(null);
}