URL file-access disabled

Hi, ho, I have a problem; something which works locally is complaining on the BSD Unix server I use: The Code: (somewhere else I define $image_dir) <!-- If there's an image, get it, get its height and width and slap it into an image tag, otherwise, move on --> <?php if (!empty($article['image'])) { $image = ($article['image']); $size1 = getimagesize("$image_dir"."$image"); $width1 = $size1[0]; $height1 = $size1[1]; include_once(INCLUDES . 'image.include.php'); } ?> The Include: <img class='right-float' src='<?php echo $image_dir.$image ?>' width='<?php echo $width1 ?>' height='<?php echo $height1 ?>' alt='<?php echo $image ?>' border='0' /> The Error: Warning: getimagesize(): URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /usr/www/users/user/articles/technology/index.htm on line 180 Warning: getimagesize(http://www.domain.com/images/combination_device.jpg): failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /usr/www/users/user/articles/technology/index.htm on line 180 The Question: Anything I can do within .htaccess to make this not happen? I don't have root access or access to php.ini, and they're loathe to change the configuration on a shared servcer. Thanks in advance, Jack