(function ($) {
// VERTICALLY ALIGN FUNCTION
$.fn.vAlign = function() {
	return this.each(function(i){
	var ah = $(this).height();
	var ph = $(this).parent().height();
	var mh = (ph - ah) / 2;
	$(this).css('padding-top', mh);
	});
};
})(jQuery);

function stripHTML(string) { 
    return string.replace(/<(.|\n)*?>/g, ''); 
}