function makeRequest (action, parameters, target) {
	var post = parameters;
	var http_request = false;
	if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari, ...
		http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
		if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
			http_request.overrideMimeType('text/html');
			// See note below about this line
		}
	} 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('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
		return false;
	}
	http_request.onreadystatechange = function() { processResult(http_request, target); };
	http_request.open('POST', action, true);
	http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
	http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-length", post.length);
	http_request.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
	http_request.send(post);
}

function processResult (http_request, target) {
	if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
		if (http_request.status == 200) {
			//alert('processResult: ' + http_request.responseText);
			if (target == '') {
				eval(http_request.responseText);
			} else {
				document.getElementById(target).innerHTML = http_request.responseText;
				//	Special function for lightbox (makes sure links are lightboxes)
				if (target == 'map_point_images') {
					//initializeAfterAjax();
				}
			}
		} else {
			alert('There was a problem with the request.');
		}
	}
}