function requestSynchronously(url) {
    var transport;
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
        transport = new XMLHttpRequest();
    } else {
        transport = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
    }

    if (transport) {
        transport.open("GET", url, false);
        transport.send(null);
        return transport.responseText;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}