R.I.P. = Read In Peace
I do most of my reading (like Greg) on the internet. When Yahoo News started animating their ads so that some of them crawled right across the columns of text, I went looking for a way to block it.
On the Windows side, I've used PopUpCop for years. It blocks Pop Up ads, animated banners, and all kinds of tricky script things that run in the background trying to track you, advertise to you, etc. I don't mind passive banner ads (as print ads are) but all of the animation and tracking is too much.
On Apple's Safari browser (Internet Explorer did not even ship with our new Mac) I found a blog on Hicks Design pointing to Pith Helmet, which immediately put annoying ads to rest.
Google's pop-up blocker does not stop animated ads. I doubt Internet Explorer's new pop-up blocker will either, so I'll keep using PopUpCop and Pith Helmet.