function check_twitter(siteName,get_this_many,put_it_here,home_start_text) {
	//siteName is the twitter account
	//get_this_many is the number of tweets to get
	//put_it_here is a jquery formatted area to replace with the tweets
	//home_start_text is the text that begins tweets that should not be posted
		
	if ( siteName && get_this_many && put_it_here ) {	
		$.getJSON(
			'http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/'+siteName+'.json?callback=?&count='+get_this_many,
			function(data) {
				var tweets = data;
				var li_tweets = '';
	
				for ( num=0; num < tweets.length; num++ ) {
					if ( ( tweets[num] !== undefined ) && ( tweets[num].text !== undefined ) ) {
					
						//parse for links, simple - trust twitter
						var match_http = tweets[num].text.match(/http:\/\/([^ ]+)/);
						var result = tweets[num].text;
						if ( match_http ) {
							for ( var i = 0; i < (match_http.length - 1 ); i++ )
								result = result.replace(match_http[i], '<a target="_blank" href="'+match_http[i]+'">'+match_http[i]+'</a>');
						}
												
						//replace @twitterusers with links
						var matches = tweets[num].text.match(/@([a-zA-Z0-9_]{1,15})/);
						if ( matches ) {
							for ( var i = 0; i < ( matches.length - 1 ); i++ )
								result = result.replace(matches[i], "@<a target='_blank' href='http://twitter.com/" + matches[i].substr(1) + "'>" + matches[i].substr(1) + "</a>");
						}
						
						//check if it's a response
						var reply_to_status;
						if ( reply_to_status = tweets[num].in_reply_to_status_id )
							reply_to_status = ' <a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/' + tweets[num].in_reply_to_screen_name + '/statuses/' + reply_to_status + '">in reply to ' + tweets[num].in_reply_to_screen_name + '</a>';
						else
							reply_to_status = '';
						
						//add since/time-ago with link to status update
						var new_tweet = result + reply_to_status + ' <a class="date" href="http://twitter.com/' + siteName + '/statuses/' + tweets[num].id + '">';
						var temp_date = new Date();
						
						var tweet_time = tweets[num].created_at;
						if ( $.browser.msie ) {
							//ie can't parse with timezone in the middle (Tue Mar 09 21:30:41 +0000 2010) so put at the end (Tue Mar 09 21:30:41 2010 +0000)
							tweet_time = ( tweet_time.substring(0,19) ) + ( tweet_time.substring(25) ) + ( tweet_time.substring(19,25) );
						}
						
						var mil_ago = temp_date.getTime() - Date.parse( tweet_time );
						var disp_time;
						var time_ago = 0;
						if ( ( time_ago = parseInt( mil_ago / ( 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000 ) ) ) > 0 ) {
							if ( time_ago == 1 )
								disp_time = '1 week ago';
							else
								disp_time = time_ago + ' weeks ago';
						}
						if ( ( time_ago = parseInt( mil_ago / ( 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000 ) ) ) > 0 ) {
							if ( time_ago == 1 )
								disp_time = '1 day ago';
							else
								disp_time = time_ago + ' days ago';
						}
						else if ( ( time_ago = parseInt( mil_ago / ( 60 * 60 * 1000 ) ) ) > 0 ) {
							if ( time_ago == 1 )
								disp_time = '1 hr ago';
							else
								disp_time = time_ago + ' hrs ago';
						}
						else if ( ( time_ago = parseInt( mil_ago / ( 60 * 1000 ) ) ) >= 0 ) {
							if ( time_ago == 1 )
								disp_time = '1 min ago';
							else
								disp_time = time_ago + ' mins ago';
						}
						
						//if it's not a tweet from here
						if ( ( 0 !== new_tweet.indexOf( home_start_text ) ) ) {
							var li_tweet = '<li>' + new_tweet + disp_time + '</a>' + '</li>';
							//we used to do a lot of things like check to see if the top tweet matched and not update
							// but not any more
							//if ( num == 0 && ( 0 > $('#twitter-tools ul li:first').html().indexOf( tweets[num].id ) ) ) {
								li_tweets += li_tweet;
						}
					}
				}
				//slideUp the tweets there, repopulate, and slideDown
				$(put_it_here).html(li_tweets);
				$(put_it_here).slideDown(500);
			}
		);
	}
}