function WM_readCookie(name) {
    if(document.cookie == '') { // there's no cookie, so go no further/
//	alert ("no cookies!");
	return "";
    } else { // there is a cookie
	var firstChar, lastChar;
	var theBigCookie = document.cookie;
	firstChar = theBigCookie.indexOf(name);	// find the start of 'name'
	var NN2Hack = firstChar + name.length;
	if((firstChar != -1) && (theBigCookie.charAt(NN2Hack) == '=')) { // if you found the cookie
	    firstChar += name.length + 1; // skip 'name' and '='
	    lastChar = theBigCookie.indexOf(';', firstChar); // Find the end of the value string (i.e. the next ';').
	    if(lastChar == -1) lastChar = theBigCookie.length;
	    return unescape(theBigCookie.substring(firstChar, lastChar));
	} else { // If there was no cookie of that name, return false.
//        alert ("that cookie is not!");
	return ""; 
	}
    }
}