diff --git a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/core/impl/PublishedMessageImpl.java b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/core/impl/PublishedMessageImpl.java
index 2217ed8..54bc420 100644
--- a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/core/impl/PublishedMessageImpl.java
+++ b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/core/impl/PublishedMessageImpl.java
@@ -239,7 +239,8 @@ class PublishedMessageImpl implements TopicMessageContext
 	if (rs.next())
 	  text_cache = rs.getString(1);
 	else
-	  return "Data Missing";  // FUTURE: throw an exception?
+	  return "<b>[[Venice Internal Error: Data Missing]]</b>";
+	  // FUTURE: throw an exception?
 
       } // end try
       catch (SQLException e)
diff --git a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/core/impl/TopicMessageUserContextImpl.java b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/core/impl/TopicMessageUserContextImpl.java
index 2e811c7..28bae7c 100644
--- a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/core/impl/TopicMessageUserContextImpl.java
+++ b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/core/impl/TopicMessageUserContextImpl.java
@@ -333,7 +333,8 @@ class TopicMessageUserContextImpl implements TopicMessageContext
 	    if (rs.next())
 	      text_cache = rs.getString(1);
 	    else
-	      return "Data Missing";  // FUTURE: throw an exception?
+	      return "<b>[[Venice Internal Error: Data Missing]]</b>";
+	      // FUTURE: throw an exception?
 
 	  } // end try
 	  finally
diff --git a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/ui/servlet/RequestImpl.java b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/ui/servlet/RequestImpl.java
index f289b00..fe992a6 100644
--- a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/ui/servlet/RequestImpl.java
+++ b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/ui/servlet/RequestImpl.java
@@ -1757,12 +1757,13 @@ class CookieControlImpl implements CookieControl
     { // load the cookies into a HashMap
       old_cookies = new HashMap();
       Cookie[] raw_list = httpreq.getCookies();
-      for (int i=0; i<raw_list.length; i++)
-      { // save off the cookies
-	Cookie tmp = raw_list[i];
-	old_cookies.put(tmp.getName(),tmp);
+      if (raw_list!=null)
+        for (int i=0; i<raw_list.length; i++)
+        { // save off the cookies
+	  Cookie tmp = raw_list[i];
+	  old_cookies.put(tmp.getName(),tmp);
 
-      } // end for
+        } // end for and if
 
       if (logger.isDebugEnabled())
 	logger.debug("loadCookies(): " + old_cookies.size() + " cookie(s) loaded");