diff --git a/core/http.go b/core/http.go
index 82dd39695..64f42865a 100644
--- a/core/http.go
+++ b/core/http.go
@@ -279,6 +279,17 @@ func (self *WebService) HandleQuery(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	}
 
 	results, err := self.service.Executor.RunPQL(database_name, pql)
+	switch r := results.(type) { //a hack to handle empty sets
+	case []index.Pair:
+		if len(r) == 0 {
+			results = []int{}
+
+		}
+	}
+
+	if results == nil {
+		log.Println("Empty results")
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		http.Error(w, "Error running query: "+err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
 	}
diff --git a/core/query.go b/core/query.go
index 79b1bcf51..d5af82c9f 100644
--- a/core/query.go
+++ b/core/query.go
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ func (self *Service) TopNQueryStepHandler(msg *db.Message) {
 	//spew.Dump("TOP-N QUERYSTEP")
 	qs := msg.Data.(query.TopNQueryStep)
 	//spew.Dump(qs)
-	//TRAVIS SEE HERE
 	//need categories in qs I just added so it would compile
 	var categoryleaves []uint64
 	input := qs.Input
@@ -180,9 +179,9 @@ func (self *Service) CatQueryStepHandler(msg *db.Message) {
 			rank.Pair = &index.Pair{k, v}
 			rank_list = append(rank_list, rank)
 		}
-		sort.Sort(rank_list)
+		sort.Sort(rank_list) // kinda seems like this copy is wasteful..i'll ponder
 		items_size := min(len(merge_map), qs.N)
-		pair_list := make([]index.Pair, 0, len(merge_map))
+		pair_list := make([]index.Pair, 0, items_size+1)
 		for i, r := range rank_list {
 			if i < items_size {
 				pair_list = append(pair_list, *r.Pair)
diff --git a/index/brand.go b/index/brand.go
index 041e5a258..4c9a035ed 100644
--- a/index/brand.go
+++ b/index/brand.go
@@ -205,7 +205,6 @@ func (self *Brand) TopN(src_bitmap IBitmap, n int, categories []uint64) []Pair {
 	}
 
 	test := self.TopNCat(src_bitmap, n, is)
-	log.Println("TOPN:", test, len(self.rankings))
 	return test
 }
 func dump(r RankList, n int) {