function getPHPData() 
   {
		 createRequest();
		 var url = "includes/php/aggregate-news-cron.php?updateType=manual";						/* this is the page we are calling 	*/
		 request.open("GET", url, true); 				/* this line initiates the connection using GET as opposed to POST	*/
		 request.onreadystatechange = updatePage; 		/* when the server returns data, function updatepage is called 		*/
		 request.send(null); 							/* this sends the request (with zero data) 							*/
  }

  function updatePage() 
  {
		if (request.readyState == 4) 					/* readyState == 4 just tells JavaScript that the AJAX connection was a success 		*/
		{
		  var newTotal = request.responseText;			/* responseText contains text that was dynamically generated using PHP at PHP_Page.php 	*/
		  alert (newTotal);
		}
  }