function getXMLHTTPRequest() { 
  var req = false;
  try { 
   /* for Firefox */
   req = new XMLHttpRequest(); 
  } catch (err) { 
   try { 
     /* for some versions of IE */
     req = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
   } catch (err) { 
     try { 
      /* for some other versions of IE */
      req = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
     } catch (err) { 
      req = false;
     } 
   } 
  } 
  
  return req;
} 

function getServerTime() { 
 var thePage = 'servertime.php';
 myRand = parseInt(Math.random()*999999999999999);
 var theURL = thePage +"?rand="+myRand;
 myReq.open("GET", theURL, true);
 myReq.onreadystatechange = theHTTPResponse;
 myReq.send(null);
} 

function theHTTPResponse() { 
 if (myReq.readyState == 4) { 
  if(myReq.status == 200) { 
    var timeString = myReq.responseXML.getElementsByTagName("timestring")[0];
    document.getElementById('showtime').innerHTML = 
      timeString.childNodes[0].nodeValue;
  } 
 } else { 
  document.getElementById('showtime').innerHTML = 
      '<img src="ajax-loader.gif"/>';
 } 
}