var http_request = false;
   function makeRequest(url, parameters) {
      http_request = false;
      if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
         http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
         if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
            http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
         }
      } 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('Cannot create XMLHTTP instance');
         return false;
      }*/
      http_request.onreadystatechange = alertContents;
      http_request.open('GET', url + parameters, true);
      http_request.send(null);
   }

var root;var node;
   function alertContents() {
      if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
         if (http_request.status == 200) {
            var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;			
			if (window.ActiveXObject){var doc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");doc.async="false";doc.loadXML(http_request.responseText);}
			// code for Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc.
			else{var parser=new DOMParser();doc=parser.parseFromString(http_request.responseText,"text/xml");}
			root=doc.documentElement;showNews();			  
         } 
      }
   }
function getNews(){
	try{
		makeRequest('http://asam.org/newsRSS.cfm','');
	}catch(err)
	{
		makeRequest('http://www.asam.org/newsRSS.cfm','');
		}
	}//HTTP://www.asam.org/
function showNews()
{
	var retStr = '<table align="left">';
	var inode=Math.floor(Math.random()*(root.childNodes.length));
	node = root.childNodes.item(inode);
	retStr = retStr +'<tr><td colspan=2 class="header2" align="left"><b>'+node.childNodes[1].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'</b></td></tr>';
	retStr = retStr +'<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td class=text align="left">'+node.childNodes[3].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'</td></tr>';
	if(node.childNodes[4].childNodes[0].nodeValue != "NULL" && node.childNodes[2].childNodes[0].nodeValue != "NULL"){retStr = retStr +'<tr><td colspan=2 class="header2" align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>';retStr = retStr +'<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td class="header2" align="left"><b>[</b><a class=text href="'+node.childNodes[4].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'"><b>'+node.childNodes[2].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'</b></a><b>]</b></td></tr>';}else{if(node.childNodes[4].childNodes[0].nodeValue != "NULL"){retStr = retStr +'<tr><td colspan=2 class="header2" align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>';retStr = retStr +'<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td class="header2" align="left"><b>[</b><a class=text href="'+node.childNodes[4].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'"><b>'+node.childNodes[1].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'</b></a><b>]</b></td></tr>';}}
	retStr = retStr +'<tr><td colspan=2 class="header2" align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>';
	if(root.childNodes.length > 1)
	{
	do{tinode=Math.floor(Math.random()*(root.childNodes.length));}while(tinode==inode);
	inode=tinode;
	node = root.childNodes.item(inode)
	retStr = retStr +'<tr><td colspan=2 class="header2" align="left"><b>'+node.childNodes[1].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'</b></td></tr>';
	retStr = retStr +'<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td class=text align="left">'+node.childNodes[3].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'</td></tr>';
	if(node.childNodes[4].childNodes[0].nodeValue != "NULL" && node.childNodes[2].childNodes[0].nodeValue != "NULL"){retStr = retStr +'<tr><td colspan=2 class="header2" align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>';retStr = retStr +'<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td class="header2" align="left"><b>[</b><a class=text href="'+node.childNodes[4].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'"><b>'+node.childNodes[2].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'</b></a><b>]</b></td></tr>';}else{if(node.childNodes[4].childNodes[0].nodeValue != "NULL"){retStr = retStr +'<tr><td colspan=2 class="header2" align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td></tr>';retStr = retStr +'<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td class="header2" align="left"><b>[</b><a class=text href="'+node.childNodes[4].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'"><b>'+node.childNodes[1].childNodes[0].nodeValue+'</b></a><b>]</b></td></tr>';}}
	}
	retStr = retStr +'</table>';
	document.getElementById("newsDiv").innerHTML = retStr;
	setTimeout("opacity('newsDiv',100,90,1000);",(1000*29));
	setTimeout("showNews();",(1000*30));
	setTimeout("opacity('newsDiv',10,100,1500);",(1000*30));
}
getNews();
function changeOpac(opacity, id) { 
    var object = document.getElementById(id).style; 
    object.opacity = (opacity / 100); 
    object.MozOpacity = (opacity / 100); 
    object.KhtmlOpacity = (opacity / 100); 
    object.filter = "alpha(opacity=" + opacity + ")"; 
} 

function opacity(id, opacStart, opacEnd, millisec) { 
    //speed for each frame 
    var speed = Math.round(millisec / 100); 
    var timer = 0; 

    //determine the direction for the blending, if start and end are the same nothing happens 
    if(opacStart > opacEnd) { 
        for(i = opacStart; i >= opacEnd; i--) { 
            setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + id + "')",(timer * speed)); 
            timer++; 
        } 
    } else if(opacStart < opacEnd) { 
        for(i = opacStart; i <= opacEnd; i++) 
            { 
            setTimeout("changeOpac(" + i + ",'" + id + "')",(timer * speed)); 
            timer++; 
        } 
    } 
}