function AJAXrequest() {

  var http_request = false;

  if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...

	 http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();

	 if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {

		// set type accordingly to anticipated content type

		//http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');

		http_request.overrideMimeType('text/html');

	 }

  } else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE

	 try {

		http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");

	 } catch (e) {

		try {

		   http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

		} catch (e) {}

	 }

  }

  if (!http_request) {

	 alert('You are using an outdated browser!\nPlease upgrade to FireFox (http://www.getfirefox.com)');

	 return false;

  }

  return http_request; // return the connection

}