var http_request = false;

/* Support making GET requests asynchronously, in a fire-and-forget manner */

function makeRequest(url, parameters) {

    http_request = false;

    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
   
        http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
      
        if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
            http_request.overrideMimeType('text/html');
        }
      
    } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
   
        try {
            http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        } catch (e) {
            try {
                http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            } catch (e) {}
        }
    }
   
    if (!http_request) {
        return false;
    }
   
    http_request.open('GET', url + parameters, true);
    http_request.send(null);
   
}