Is the blog loading faster, easier now?

UPDATE: Thanks, everyone. Yeah, it seems the "ratings" functionality was slowing the site down, so I'm not going to put it back until we build it ourselves, guaranteeing that it won't conflict with the site loading. I am putting it back up, just for the next hour, so I can run some tests. But it will be gone in an hour. Thanks again.
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Gang, the past few weeks I've been experimenting with a new service that lets you rate posts, take polls, and lets us post a list of the most popular recent posts. During the same period, I've received a lot of emails complaining that the site is loading more slowly, locking up Web browsers, etc. In an effort to see if this new service is the problem, I've removed it from the site. Please click around over the next few hours and let me know, via the comments or via an email, if the site is loading/acting any better. Thanks, JOHN