jQuery.extend( {
	
	/* ******************************************************
		Usage:
			vas xmlString = "<data><item>1</item><item>2</item></data>"
			var xml = $.stringToXml(xmlString);
	*********************************************************/
	stringToXml: function(data){
		var xml = null;
		if(typeof data == "string") {
			if (document.implementation.createDocument) {
	    		var parser = new DOMParser();
	            xml = parser.parseFromString(data, "text/xml");
			}
	        else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
			    xml = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
	            xml.async="false";
			    xml.loadXML(data);
	        }
		}
		else {
			xml = data;
		}
		return xml;
	},
	
	
	/* ******************************************************
		Usage:
			var randomNum = $.random(10,100)
	*********************************************************/
	random : function(init, end) {
		 return parseInt(init,10) + (Math.round( Math.random() * (end - init) ));
	},
	
	/* ******************************************************
		Usage:
			var myArray = [1,2,4,5]
			myArray.sort( $.randomSort() )
	*********************************************************/
	randomSort: function(){
		return (Math.round(Math.random())-0.5);
	}
});