catching up with updates mentioned elsewhere

Links:
https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=26431
https://github.com/w3c/web-platform-tests/commit/dd6ed3157811ea7fb5f5b0c56c4c68b83a7f0928#commitcomment-8434540
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-whatwg-archive/2014Nov/0035.html
address review comments

https://critic.hoppipolla.co.uk/showcomment?chain=8793
https://critic.hoppipolla.co.uk/showcomment?chain=8794
Merge pull request #1402 from rubys/resync_19Nov14

catching up with updates mentioned elsewhere