// wx ajax thumbnail nav

      var please_wait = "<div class=\"loading\" title=\"Loading...\"><img src=\"images/loading.gif\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading...\" title=\"Loading...\" /><br />Loading...<br /></div>";

      function open_url(url, target) {
               if ( ! document.getElementById) {
                        return false;
               }

               if (please_wait != null) {
                        document.getElementById(target).innerHTML = please_wait;
               }

               if (window.ActiveXObject) {
                        link = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
               } else if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
                        link = new XMLHttpRequest();
               }

               if (link == undefined) {
                        return false;
               }
               link.onreadystatechange = function() { response(url, target); }
               link.open("GET", url, true);
               link.send(null);
      }

      function response(url, target)
      {
               if (link.readyState == 4) {
                       document.getElementById(target).innerHTML = (link.status == 200) ? link.responseText : "<strong>There appears to be a problem with this weather graphic.  Please try again later.</strong>";
              }
      }

      function set_loading_message(msg)
      {
               please_wait = msg;
      }