function createAjaxObj() {
	var httprequest = false;
	if(window.XMLHttpRequest) { // if Mozilla, Safari, etc.
		httprequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
		if(httprequest.overrideMimeType) {
			httprequest.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
		}
	} else if(window.ActiveXObject) { // if IE
		try {
			httprequest = new ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP');
		} catch(e) {
			try {
				httprequest = new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP');
			} catch(e) {}
		}
	}
	return httprequest;
}
		
function ajaxShowMe() {
	ajaxInstance = createAjaxObj();
	ajaxInstance.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
	ajaxInstance.open('GET', '/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/involved/rssfetch.php', true);
	ajaxInstance.send(null);
}
		
function alertContents() {
	if(ajaxInstance.readyState == 4) { // if request of file completed
		if(ajaxInstance.status == 200) { // if request was successful
			xmlDoc = ajaxInstance.responseXML;
			parseXML(xmlDoc);
		}
	}
}
		
function parseXML(doc) {
	buildDate = doc.getElementsByTagName("lastBuildDate")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue;
	dateElement = document.getElementById("news-date");
	dateElement.innerHTML = buildDate;
			
	newsContentElement = document.getElementById("news-content");
	itemList = doc.getElementsByTagName("item");
	for(m=0; m<itemList.length; m++) {
		title = itemList[m].getElementsByTagName("title")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue;
		link = itemList[m].getElementsByTagName("link")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue;
		if(itemList[m].getElementsByTagName("description").length == 1) {
			desc = itemList[m].getElementsByTagName("description")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue;
		} else {
			desc = "";
		}
		newDiv = document.createElement("div");
		newDiv.innerHTML = "<h3><a href=\"" + link + "\">" + title + "<\/a><\/h3>" + "<p>" + desc + "<\/p>";
		newsContentElement.appendChild(newDiv);
	}
}