code: function request_params(params) {
    'use strict';
    var base_params, merged_params, key;
  
    // Omit defaults, to make smaller requests
    // output: 'JSON',
    // version: '2',
    // validation: 'HMACSHA1'  
    base_params = { apikey: global.monitis.apikey };
    merged_params = {};
  
    for (key in base_params) {
      merged_params[key] = base_params[key];
    }
    for (key in params) {
      merged_params[key] = params[key];
    }
    return merged_params;
  }
docs: /*jslint node: true, indent: 2, forin: true