Onload Image Fades Without Flash - Inspired by the Flash-like effect

var index = 0;
var links = ["URL_for_first_image", "URL_for_second_image"];
var images = ["/path/to/first_image.jpg", "/path/to/second_image.jpg"];

$(document).ready(
function(){
banner_rotate();
}
);

function banner_rotate(){
if (!$('#image-rotate').length){
$('#rotate').attr("href", links[index]);
$('#rotate').append("<img id=\"image-rotate\" src=\""+images[index]+"\" alt=\"\"/>");
}
setTimeout(doBannerFade, 7000);
}

function doBannerFade(){
$('#image-rotate').fadeOut(1250, function()
{
index++;
if (index == images.length){
index = 0;
}
$('#image-rotate').attr("src", images[index]);
$('#image-rotate').fadeIn(1250, function()
{
banner_rotate();
}
);
if (links[index] != "#removeAttr"){
$('#rotate').attr("href", links[index]);
} else {
$('#rotate').removeAttr("href");
}
}
);
}