function makeRequest(method,url) {
    var httpRequest;

    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari, ...
        httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
        if (httpRequest.overrideMimeType) {
            httpRequest.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
        }
    } else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
        try {
           		httpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
            } catch (e) {
                try {
                		httpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
                    } catch (e) {}
            }
    }

    if (!httpRequest) {
        alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
        return false;
    }

    httpRequest.onreadystatechange = function() { handle_response(method, httpRequest) };
    httpRequest.open('GET', url, true);
    httpRequest.send(null);
}