diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/app_globals.py b/r2/r2/lib/app_globals.py
index 227850852..1e2a2e254 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/app_globals.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/app_globals.py
@@ -148,10 +148,10 @@ class Globals(object):
 
         #setup the logger
         self.log = logging.getLogger('reddit')
+        self.log.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler())
         if self.debug:
             self.log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
-            self.log.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler())
-
+            
     def __del__(self):
         """
         Put any cleanup code to be run when the application finally exits 
diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/media.py b/r2/r2/lib/media.py
index ce4e072ef..29c77268d 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/media.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/media.py
@@ -57,15 +57,20 @@ def make_link_info_job(results, link, useragent):
     link's thumbnail and media object. Places the result in the results
     dict"""
     def job():
-        scraper = make_scraper(link.url)
+        try:
+            scraper = make_scraper(link.url)
 
-        thumbnail = scraper.thumbnail()
-        media_object = scraper.media_object()
+            thumbnail = scraper.thumbnail()
+            media_object = scraper.media_object()
 
-        if thumbnail:
-            upload_thumb(link, thumbnail)
+            if thumbnail:
+                upload_thumb(link, thumbnail)
+
+            results[link] = (thumbnail, media_object)
+        except:
+            log.warning('error fetching %s %s' % (link._fullname, link.url))
+            raise
 
-        results[link] = (thumbnail, media_object)
     return job
 
 def update_link(link, thumbnail, media_object):
diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/scraper.py b/r2/r2/lib/scraper.py
index 5ee4751f1..251a2d0c0 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/scraper.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/scraper.py
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ def fetch_url(url, referer = None, retries = 1, dimension = False):
                 content = open_req.read()
             content_type = open_req.headers.get('content-type')
 
+            if not content_type:
+                return nothing
+
             if 'image' in content_type:
                 p = ImageFile.Parser()
                 new_data = content
diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/utils/http_utils.py b/r2/r2/lib/utils/http_utils.py
index 5613fa488..4b0e49fb6 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/utils/http_utils.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/utils/http_utils.py
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ def read_http_date(date_str):
         try:
             date = datetime.strptime(date_str, DATE_RFC850)
         except ValueError:
-            date = datetime.strptime(date_str, DATE_ANSI)
+            try:
+                date = datetime.strptime(date_str, DATE_ANSI)
+            except ValueError:
+                return None
     date = date.replace(tzinfo = pytz.timezone('GMT'))
     return date
 
diff --git a/r2/r2/templates/link.html b/r2/r2/templates/link.html
index 837f11b7a..f9b36da70 100644
--- a/r2/r2/templates/link.html
+++ b/r2/r2/templates/link.html
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@
 <%def name="thumbnail()">
   %if thing.thumbnail:
   <%call expr="make_link('thumbnail', 'thumbnail')">
-    <img src="${thing.thumbnail}" alt="thumbnail for ${thing._fullname}"/>
+    <img src="${thing.thumbnail}" alt=""/>
   </%call>
   %endif
 </%def>