var loaded = false;
var myimages = new Array();
function preloadimages(){
 for (i=0;i<preloadimages.arguments.length;i++){
 myimages[i]=new Image();
 myimages[i].src=preloadimages.arguments[i];
 }
 loaded = true;
}
preloadimages('images/maps.jpg','images/maps_canada.jpg','images/maps_nicaragua.jpg','images/maps_ukraine.jpg','images/maps_thailand.jpg');