function jstimer(strdate,htmlid) {
      //defaults
      year="2068"; month="1"; day="1"; hour="00"; min="00"; sec="00"; tz_hours = -8; //PST
      
      date_and_time = strdate.split(' ');
      if (typeof(date_and_time[0]) != 'undefined' && date_and_time[0] != '') {
        date_only = date_and_time[0].split('-');
        year  = date_only[0] || year;
        month = date_only[1] || month ;
        day   = new String(date_only[2] || day) ;
      } 
      if (typeof(date_and_time[1]) != 'undefined' && date_and_time[1] != '') {
        time_only = date_and_time[1].split(':');
        hour = time_only[0] || hour;
        min  = time_only[1] || min;
        sec  = time_only[2] || sec;
      } 
      if (typeof(date_and_time[2]) != 'undefined' && date_and_time[2] != '') {
        tz_hours = date_and_time[2];
      } 
      
      this.to_date = new Date();
      this.to_date.setFullYear(year,month-1,day);
      this.to_date.setHours(hour);
      this.to_date.setMinutes(min);
      this.to_date.setSeconds(sec);
      
      var tz_offset_client = -(this.to_date.getTimezoneOffset()*60*1000);  //getTimezoneOffset: minutes between the time on the current machine and UTC
      var tz_offset = (tz_hours*60*60*1000);
      var msecs =  this.to_date.getTime();
      this.to_date.setTime(msecs - tz_offset + tz_offset_client);
     
      var myDays=["Sun","Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri","Sat","Sun"];
      var myMonths=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec");
      dow = myDays[this.to_date.getDay()];
      moy = myMonths[this.to_date.getMonth()];
      this.outformat='%days% days, %hours% hours, %mins% minutes <em>('+dow + ' ' + moy + day+')</em>';
      this.htmlid=htmlid;
      this.start = start;
    }
    
    function start() {
      display_countdown(this.outformat,set_countdown(this.to_date),this.htmlid);
    }
    
    function set_countdown(to_date) {
      var from_date = new Date();
      // return initial difference in seconds at start
      return Math.floor((to_date - from_date)/1000);
    }
    
    function display_countdown(outformat,countdn,spanid) {
      if (countdn <= 1) {
        document.getElementById(spanid).innerHTML = ":Countdown Completed";
      }
      else {
        var secs = countdn % 60;
        if (secs < 10) secs = '0'+secs;
        var countdn1 = (countdn - secs) / 60;
        var mins = countdn1 % 60;
        if (mins < 10) mins = '0'+mins;countdn1 = (countdn1 - mins) / 60;
        var hours = (countdn1 % 24);
        var days = (countdn1 - hours) / 24;
        
        var outhtml = new String(outformat);
        outhtml = outhtml.replace(/%days%/,days);
        outhtml = outhtml.replace(/%hours%/,hours);
        outhtml = outhtml.replace(/%mins%/,mins);
        outhtml = outhtml.replace(/%secs%/,secs);
        
        if ( days < 2 ) {
          outhtml = outhtml.replace(/days/,'day');
        }
        document.getElementById(spanid).innerHTML = outhtml;
        setTimeout('display_countdown(\''+ outformat + '\','+(countdn-1)+',\''+spanid+'\');',999);
      }
    }
    
    if (isJsEnabled()) {
      addLoadEvent(countdown_auto_attach);
    }
    
    //need span with id=uniqueid, class="countdown", innerhtml="somedate somehour (8-5-2006 12)"
    function countdown_auto_attach() {
      var spans = document.getElementsByTagName('span');
      for (var i = 0; span = spans[i]; i++) {
        if (span && hasClass(span, 'countdowntimer')) {
          var timer = new jstimer(span.innerHTML,span.getAttribute('id'));
          timer.start();
        }
      }
    }