sub api_action
{
$api_action = $_[0];

use IO::Socket::SSL;
    $EOL = "\015\012";
    $BLANK = $EOL x 2;
$remote = IO::Socket::SSL->new( Proto     => "tcp",
                 		PeerAddr  => "api.xxxxx",
                 		PeerPort  => "443",
				SSL_verify_mode => SSL_VERIFY_NONE,
				verify_hostname => 0,
				Timeout => 120,
				        );
	unless ($remote) { print "cannot connect to API\n"; return "ERROR"; }
	$remote->autoflush(1); 
	print $remote "GET /API/?action=$api_action" . $BLANK;
	return <$remote>;
	close $remote;
	
}