diff --git a/bot.py b/bot.py
index 18ecc57..3654ca6 100755
--- a/bot.py
+++ b/bot.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ bot = Bot()
 print 'Loading plugins'
 
 # bootstrap the reloader
-eval(compile(open('core/reload.py', 'U').read(), 'core/reload.py', 'exec'))
+eval(compile(open(os.path.join('core', 'reload.py'), 'U').read(), 
+    os.path.join('core', 'reload.py'), 'exec'))
 reload(init=True)
 
 print 'Connecting to IRC'
@@ -32,12 +33,14 @@ try:
                 print 'ERROR: more than one connection named "%s"' % name
                 raise ValueError
             bot.conns[name] = irc(conf['server'], conf['nick'],
-                    channels=conf['channels'], conf=conf)
+                    port=conf.get('port', 6667), channels=conf['channels'], conf=conf)
 except Exception, e:
     print 'ERROR: malformed config file', Exception, e
     sys.exit()
 
 bot.persist_dir = os.path.abspath('persist')
+if not os.path.exists(bot.persist_dir):
+    os.mkdir(bot.persist_dir)
 
 print 'Running main loop'
 
diff --git a/core/config.py b/core/config.py
index 0fc8dee..2f788cf 100644
--- a/core/config.py
+++ b/core/config.py
@@ -4,14 +4,24 @@ from util import yaml
 
 if not os.path.exists('config'):
     conf = {'connections': [
-        {'local irc': {'nick': 'skybot',
-         'server': 'localhost',
-         'channels': ["#test"]}}]}
+        {'local irc': 
+            {'nick': 'skybot',
+             #'user': 'skybot',
+             #'realname': 'Python bot - http://bitbucket.org/Scaevolus/skybot/',
+             'server': 'localhost',
+             #'port': 6667,
+             'channels': ["#test"],
+             #'nickserv_password', 'password',
+             #'nickserv_name': 'nickserv',
+             #'nickserv_command': 'IDENTIFY %s'
+            }
+        }
+        ]}
     yaml.dump(conf, open('config', 'w'))
     del conf
 
 bot.config = yaml.load(open('config'))
-bot._config_dirty = False
+bot._config_dirty = True # force a rewrite on start
 bot._config_mtime = os.stat('config').st_mtime
 
 def config_dirty(self): 
diff --git a/core/irc.py b/core/irc.py
index b86ff60..c8c050c 100644
--- a/core/irc.py
+++ b/core/irc.py
@@ -93,8 +93,9 @@ class irc(object):
         self.conn = crlf_tcp(self.server, self.port)
         thread.start_new_thread(self.conn.run, ())
         self.set_nick(self.nick)
-        self.cmd("USER", ["skybot", "3", "*", 
-            ":Python bot - http://bitbucket.org/Scaevolus/skybot/"])
+        self.cmd("USER",
+            [conf.get('user', 'skybot'), "3", "*", ':' + conf.get('realname',
+             'Python bot - http://bitbucket.org/Scaevolus/skybot/')])
 
     def parse_loop(self):
         while True:
diff --git a/core/main.py b/core/main.py
index eed71c8..eaf3974 100644
--- a/core/main.py
+++ b/core/main.py
@@ -5,19 +5,19 @@ class Input(object):
 
     def __init__(self, conn, raw, prefix, command,
             params, nick, user, host, paraml, msg):
-        self.conn = conn
-        self.server = conn.server
-        self.raw = raw
-        self.prefix = prefix
-        self.command = command
-        self.params = params
+        self.conn = conn            # irc object
+        self.server = conn.server   # hostname of server
+        self.raw = raw              # unprocessed line of text
+        self.prefix = prefix        # usually hostmask
+        self.command = command      # PRIVMSG, JOIN, etc.
+        self.params = params        
         self.nick = nick
-        self.user = user
+        self.user = user            # user@host
         self.host = host
-        self.paraml = paraml
+        self.paraml = paraml        # params[-1] without the :
         self.msg = msg
         self.chan = paraml[0]
-        if self.chan == conn.nick:
+        if self.chan == conn.nick:  # is a PM
             self.chan = nick
 
     def say(self, msg):
diff --git a/core/reload.py b/core/reload.py
index dadec02..80510bf 100644
--- a/core/reload.py
+++ b/core/reload.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-import glob
 import collections
-import traceback
+import glob
+import os
 import sys
+import traceback
 
 if 'mtimes' not in globals():
     mtimes = {}
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ def reload(init=False):
     if init:
         bot.plugs = collections.defaultdict(lambda: [])
 
-    for filename in glob.glob("core/*.py"):
+    for filename in glob.glob(os.path.join("core", "*.py")):
         mtime = os.stat(filename).st_mtime
         if mtime != mtimes.get(filename):
             mtimes[filename] = mtime
@@ -32,11 +33,11 @@ def reload(init=False):
                     sys.exit()  #   script on startup
                 continue
 
-            if filename == 'core/reload.py':
+            if filename == os.path.join('core', 'reload.py'):
                 reload(init=init)
                 return
 
-    fileset = set(glob.glob("plugins/*py"))
+    fileset = set(glob.glob(os.path.join('plugins', '*py')))
     for name, data in bot.plugs.iteritems(): # remove deleted/moved plugins
         bot.plugs[name] = filter(lambda x: x[0][0] in fileset, data)
 
diff --git a/plugins/dice.py b/plugins/dice.py
index 13bb040..d4f6523 100644
--- a/plugins/dice.py
+++ b/plugins/dice.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ def nrolls(count, n):
 def dice(inp):
     ".dice <diceroll> -- simulates dicerolls, e.g. .dice 2d20-d5+4 roll 2 " \
         "D20s, subtract 1D5, add 4"
-    if not inp.strip():
+    if not inp:
         return dice.__doc__
 
     spec = whitespace_re.sub('', inp)
diff --git a/plugins/down.py b/plugins/down.py
index a6247d7..4842242 100644
--- a/plugins/down.py
+++ b/plugins/down.py
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ from util import hook
 @hook.command
 def down(inp):
     '''.down <url> -- checks to see if the site is down'''
-    inp = inp.strip()
 
     if not inp:
         return down.__doc__
diff --git a/plugins/explain.py b/plugins/explain.py
index ba24501..6d65082 100755
--- a/plugins/explain.py
+++ b/plugins/explain.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from util import hook
 from pycparser.cdecl import explain_c_declaration
 
-@hook.command('explain')
+@hook.command
 def explain(inp):
     ".explain <c expression> -- gives an explanation of C expression"
     if not inp:
@@ -10,6 +10,6 @@ def explain(inp):
     inp = inp.encode('utf8', 'ignore')
 
     try:    
-        return explain_c_declaration(inp.rstrip())
+        return explain_c_declaration(inp)
     except Exception, e:
         return 'error: %s' % e
diff --git a/plugins/help.py b/plugins/help.py
index af73ce1..af55d2d 100644
--- a/plugins/help.py
+++ b/plugins/help.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ def help(bot, input):
             if func.__doc__ is not None:
                 funcs[csig[1]] = func
 
-    if not input.inp.strip():
+    if not input.inp:
         input.pm('available commands: ' + ' '.join(sorted(funcs)))
     else:
         if input.inp in funcs:
diff --git a/plugins/log.py b/plugins/log.py
index ce27906..339fdf3 100644
--- a/plugins/log.py
+++ b/plugins/log.py
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ irc_color_re = re.compile(r'(\x03(\d+,\d+|\d)|[\x0f\x02\x16\x1f])')
 
 
 def get_log_filename(dir, server, chan):
+    if chan.startswith(':'):
+        chan = chan[1:]
     return os.path.join(dir, 'log', gmtime('%Y'), server,
             gmtime('%%s.%m-%d.log') % chan).lower()
 
@@ -53,7 +55,6 @@ def beautify(input):
     args['msg'] = irc_color_re.sub('', args['msg'])
 
     if input.command == 'PRIVMSG' and input.msg.count('\x01') >= 2:
-        #ctcp
         ctcp = input.msg.split('\x01', 2)[1].split(' ', 1)
         if len(ctcp) == 1:
             ctcp += ['']
diff --git a/plugins/pyexec.py b/plugins/pyexec.py
index f6e3e78..3887779 100644
--- a/plugins/pyexec.py
+++ b/plugins/pyexec.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def py(inp):
         return py.__doc__
 
     res = urllib.urlopen("http://eval.appspot.com/eval?statement=%s" %
-                          urllib.quote(inp.strip(), safe='')).readlines()
+                          urllib.quote(inp, safe='')).readlines()
     if len(res) == 0:
         return
     res[0] = re_lineends.split(res[0])[0]
diff --git a/plugins/quote.py b/plugins/quote.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..17b0a4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/quote.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+import os
+import sqlite3
+import random
+import re
+import time
+
+from util import hook
+
+dbname = "skybot.db"
+
+def db_connect(db):
+    conn = sqlite3.connect(db)
+    conn.execute('''create table if not exists quotes
+        (server, chan, nick, add_nick, msg, time real, deleted default 0, 
+        primary key (server, chan, nick, msg))''')
+    conn.commit()
+    return conn
+
+def add_quote(conn, server, chan, nick, add_nick, msg):
+    now = time.time()
+    print repr((conn, server, add_nick, nick, msg, time))
+    conn.execute('''insert or fail into quotes (server, chan, nick, add_nick,
+                    msg, time) values(?,?,?,?,?,?)''', 
+                    (server, chan, nick, add_nick, msg, now))
+    conn.commit()
+
+def get_quotes_by_nick(conn, server, chan, nick):
+    return conn.execute("select time, nick, msg from quotes where deleted!=1 "
+            "and server=? and chan=? and lower(nick)=lower(?) order by time",
+            (server, chan, nick)).fetchall()
+
+def get_quotes_by_chan(conn, server, chan):
+    return conn.execute("select time, nick, msg from quotes where deleted!=1 "
+           "and server=? and chan=? order by time", (server, chan)).fetchall()
+
+
+def format_quote(q, num, n_quotes):
+    ctime, nick, msg = q
+    return "[%d/%d] %s <%s> %s" % (num, n_quotes, 
+        time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d", time.gmtime(ctime)), nick, msg)
+
+
+@hook.command('q')
+@hook.command
+def quote(bot, input):
+    ".q/.quote <nick/#chan> [#n]/.quote add <nick> <msg> -- gets " \
+        "random or [#n]th quote by <nick> or from <#chan>/adds quote"
+
+    dbpath = os.path.join(bot.persist_dir, dbname)
+    conn = db_connect(dbpath)
+
+    try:
+        add = re.match(r"add\s+<?[^\w]?(\S+?)>?\s+(.*)", input.inp, re.I)
+        retrieve = re.match(r"(\S+)(?:\s+#?(-?\d+))?", input.inp)
+        chan = input.chan
+
+        if add:
+            nick, msg = add.groups()
+            try:
+                add_quote(conn, input.server, chan, nick, input.nick, msg)
+            except sqlite3.IntegrityError: 
+                return "message already stored, doing nothing."
+            return "quote added."
+        elif retrieve:
+            select, num = retrieve.groups()
+            
+            by_chan = False
+            if select.startswith('#'):
+                by_chan = True
+                quotes = get_quotes_by_chan(conn, input.server, select)
+            else:
+                quotes = get_quotes_by_nick(conn, input.server, chan, select)
+
+            n_quotes = len(quotes)
+
+            if not n_quotes:
+                return "no quotes found"
+
+            if num:
+                num = int(num)
+
+            if num:
+                if num > n_quotes:
+                    return "I only have %d quote%s for %s" % (n_quotes, 
+                                ('s', '')[n_quotes == 1], select)
+                else:
+                    selected_quote = quotes[num - 1]
+            else:
+                num = random.randint(1, n_quotes)
+                selected_quote = quotes[num - 1]
+
+            return format_quote(selected_quote, num, n_quotes)
+        else:
+            return quote.__doc__
+    finally:
+        conn.commit()
+        conn.close()
diff --git a/plugins/regular.py b/plugins/regular.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8d1d15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/regular.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+'''
+regular.py
+
+skybot plugin for testing regular expressions
+by Ipsum
+'''
+
+import thread
+import codecs
+import re
+
+from util import hook
+
+
+
+@hook.command('re')
+def reg(bot, input):
+	".re <regex>  <string> -- matches regular expression in given <string> (seperate regex and string by 2 spaces)"
+
+	m = ""
+	
+	if len(input.msg) < 3:
+		return reg.__doc__
+		
+	query = input.inp.partition("  ")
+	
+	
+	if query[2] != "":
+		r = re.compile(query[0])
+
+		matches = r.findall(query[2])
+		for match in matches:
+			m += match + "|"
+		
+		return m.rstrip('|')
+		
+	else:
+		return reg.__doc__
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/plugins/remember.py b/plugins/remember.py
index 4d2904e..e15e22b 100644
--- a/plugins/remember.py
+++ b/plugins/remember.py
@@ -46,14 +46,13 @@ def remember(bot, input):
         except ValueError:
             return remember.__doc__
 
-        tail = tail.strip()
         low = head.lower()
         if low not in memory[filename]:
             input.reply("done.")
         else:
             input.reply('forgetting that "%s", remembering this instead.' %
                     memory[filename][low])
-        memory[filename][low] = input.inp.strip()
+        memory[filename][low] = input.inp
         save_memory(filename, memory[filename])
 
 
@@ -64,10 +63,10 @@ def forget(bot, input):
         filename = make_filename(bot.persist_dir, input.chan)
         memory.setdefault(filename, load_memory(filename))
 
-        if not input.inp.strip():
+        if not input.inp:
             return forget.__doc__
 
-        low = input.inp.strip().lower()
+        low = input.inp.lower()
         if low not in memory[filename]:
             return "I don't know about that."
         if not hasattr(input, 'chan'):
diff --git a/plugins/seen.py b/plugins/seen.py
index 64308f5..72b29ef 100644
--- a/plugins/seen.py
+++ b/plugins/seen.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def seen(bot, input):
     if len(input.msg) < 6:
         return seen.__doc__
 
-    query = input.inp.strip()
+    query = input.inp
 
     if query.lower() == input.nick.lower():
         return "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"
diff --git a/plugins/sieve.py b/plugins/sieve.py
index bb3fde3..4fa147e 100644
--- a/plugins/sieve.py
+++ b/plugins/sieve.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import os
 import re
 
 from util import hook
@@ -16,14 +17,29 @@ def sieve_suite(bot, input, func, args):
     hook = args.get('hook', r'(.*)')
 
     if args.get('prefix', True):
-        # add a prefix, unless it's a private message
-        hook = (r'^(?:[.!]|' if input.chan != input.nick else r'^(?:[.!]?|') \
-                + input.conn.nick + r'[:,]*\s*)' + hook
+        if input.chan == input.nick: # private message, prefix not required
+            prefix = r'^(?:[.!]?|'
+        else:
+            prefix = r'^(?:[.!]|'
+        hook = prefix + input.conn.nick + r'[:,]*\s)' + hook
 
     input.re = re.match(hook, input.msg, flags=re.I)
     if input.re is None:
         return None
 
-    input.inp = ' '.join(input.re.groups())
+    acl = bot.config.get('acls', {}).get(func.__name__)
+    if acl:
+        print acl
+        if 'deny-except' in acl:
+            allowed_channels = map(str.lower, acl['deny-except'])
+            if input.chan.lower() not in allowed_channels:
+                return None
+        if 'allow-except' in acl:
+            denied_channels = map(str.lower, acl['allow-except'])
+            if input.chan.lower() in denied_channels:
+                return None
+
+    input.inp_unstripped = ' '.join(input.re.groups())
+    input.inp = input.inp_unstripped.strip()
 
     return input
diff --git a/plugins/suggest.py b/plugins/suggest.py
index 55cbf12..c92c821 100644
--- a/plugins/suggest.py
+++ b/plugins/suggest.py
@@ -7,11 +7,12 @@ import json
 from util import hook
 
 @hook.command
-def suggest(inp):
+def suggest(bot, input):
     ".suggest [#n] <phrase> -- gets a random/the nth suggested google search"
-    if not inp.strip():
+    if not input.inp:
         return suggest.__doc__
  
+    inp = input.inp_unstripped
     m = re.match('^#(\d+) (.+)$', inp)
     if m:
         num, inp = m.groups()
diff --git a/plugins/tell.py b/plugins/tell.py
index a465ed8..6aea6fc 100644
--- a/plugins/tell.py
+++ b/plugins/tell.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def tell(bot, input):
     if len(input.msg) < 6:
         return tell.__doc__
 
-    query = input.msg[6:].strip().partition(" ")
+    query = input.inp.partition(" ")
 
     if query[0] == input.nick:
         return "No."
diff --git a/plugins/twitter.py b/plugins/twitter.py
index 245360f..239fc0f 100644
--- a/plugins/twitter.py
+++ b/plugins/twitter.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ def twitter(inp):
     ".twitter <user>/<user> <n>/<id>/#<hashtag>/@<user> -- gets last/<n>th tweet from"\
     "<user>/gets tweet <id>/gets random tweet with #<hashtag>/gets replied tweet from @<user>"
 
-    inp = inp.strip()
     if not inp:
         return twitter.__doc__
 
diff --git a/plugins/urbandictionary.py b/plugins/urbandictionary.py
index 2327df6..7021a49 100644
--- a/plugins/urbandictionary.py
+++ b/plugins/urbandictionary.py
@@ -8,11 +8,11 @@ from util import hook
 @hook.command
 def urban(inp):
     '''.u/.urban <phrase> -- looks up <phrase> on urbandictionary.com'''
-    if not inp.strip():
+    if not inp:
         return urban.__doc__
 
     url = 'http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=' + \
-            urllib.quote(inp.strip(), safe='')
+            urllib.quote(inp, safe='')
     page = html.parse(url)
     words = page.xpath("//td[@class='word']")
     defs = page.xpath("//div[@class='definition']")
diff --git a/plugins/urlhistory.py b/plugins/urlhistory.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2988659
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/urlhistory.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import os
+import time
+import sqlite3
+import pickle
+import re
+
+from util import hook, urlnorm
+
+url_re = re.compile(r'([a-zA-Z]+://|www\.)[^ ]*')
+
+dbname = "skybot.db"
+
+expiration_period = 60 * 60 * 24 # 1 day
+expiration_period_text = "24 hours"
+
+ignored_urls = [urlnorm.normalize("http://google.com")]
+
+def dbconnect(db):
+    "check to see that our db has the the seen table and return a connection."
+    conn = sqlite3.connect(db)
+    conn.execute("create table if not exists urlhistory"
+                 "(server, chan, url, nick, time)")
+    conn.commit()
+    return conn
+
+def insert_history(conn, server, chan, url, nick):
+    now = time.time()
+    conn.execute("insert into urlhistory(server, chan, url, nick, time) "
+                 "values(?,?,?,?,?)", (server, chan, url, nick, time.time()))
+    conn.commit()
+
+def get_history(conn, server, chan, url):
+    conn.execute("delete from urlhistory where time < ?", 
+                 (time.time() - expiration_period,))
+    nicks = conn.execute("select nick from urlhistory where server=? "
+            "and chan=? and url=?", (server, chan, url)).fetchall()
+    return [x[0] for x in nicks]
+    
+def get_nicklist(nicks):
+    nicks = sorted(set(nicks), key=unicode.lower)
+    if len(nicks) <= 2:
+        return ' and '.join(nicks)
+    else:
+        return ', and '.join((', '.join(nicks[:-1]), nicks[-1]))
+
+def ordinal(count):
+    return ["once", "twice", "%d times" % count][min(count, 3) - 1]
+       
+@hook.command(hook=r'(.*)', prefix=False)
+def urlinput(bot, input):
+    dbpath = os.path.join(bot.persist_dir, dbname)
+    m = url_re.search(input.msg.encode('utf8'))
+    if not m:
+        return
+
+    # URL detected
+    conn = dbconnect(dbpath)
+    try:
+        url = urlnorm.normalize(m.group(0))
+        if url not in ignored_urls:
+            dupes = get_history(conn, input.server, input.chan, url)
+            insert_history(conn, input.server, input.chan, url, input.nick)
+            if dupes and input.nick not in dupes:
+                input.reply("That link has been posted " + ordinal(len(dupes))
+                    + " in the past " + expiration_period_text + " by " +
+                    get_nicklist(dupes))
+    finally:
+        conn.commit()
+        conn.close()
diff --git a/plugins/util/urlnorm.py b/plugins/util/urlnorm.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a07621
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/util/urlnorm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+"""
+URI Normalization function:
+ * Always provide the URI scheme in lowercase characters.
+ * Always provide the host, if any, in lowercase characters.
+ * Only perform percent-encoding where it is essential.
+ * Always use uppercase A-through-F characters when percent-encoding.
+ * Prevent dot-segments appearing in non-relative URI paths.
+ * For schemes that define a default authority, use an empty authority if the
+   default is desired.
+ * For schemes that define an empty path to be equivalent to a path of "/",
+   use "/".
+ * For schemes that define a port, use an empty port if the default is desired
+ * All portions of the URI must be utf-8 encoded NFC from Unicode strings
+
+implements:
+  http://gbiv.com/protocols/uri/rev-2002/rfc2396bis.html#canonical-form
+  http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/PaceCanonicalIds
+
+inspired by:
+  Tony J. Ibbs,    http://starship.python.net/crew/tibs/python/tji_url.py
+  Mark Nottingham, http://www.mnot.net/python/urlnorm.py
+"""
+
+__license__ = "Python"
+
+import re, unicodedata, urlparse
+from urllib import quote, unquote
+
+default_port = {
+    'ftp': 21,
+    'telnet': 23,
+    'http': 80,
+    'gopher': 70,
+    'news': 119,
+    'nntp': 119,
+    'prospero': 191,
+    'https': 443,
+    'snews': 563,
+    'snntp': 563,
+}
+
+def normalize(url):
+    """Normalize a URL."""
+
+    scheme,auth,path,query,fragment = urlparse.urlsplit(url.strip())
+    (userinfo,host,port)=re.search('([^@]*@)?([^:]*):?(.*)',auth).groups()
+
+    # Always provide the URI scheme in lowercase characters.
+    scheme = scheme.lower()
+
+    # Always provide the host, if any, in lowercase characters.
+    host = host.lower()
+    if host and host[-1] == '.': host = host[:-1]
+    if host and host.startswith("www."): 
+        if not scheme: scheme = "http"
+        host = host[4:]
+    elif path and path.startswith("www."):
+        if not scheme: scheme = "http"
+        path = path[4:]
+
+    # Only perform percent-encoding where it is essential.
+    # Always use uppercase A-through-F characters when percent-encoding.
+    # All portions of the URI must be utf-8 encoded NFC from Unicode strings
+    def clean(string):
+        string=unicode(unquote(string),'utf-8','replace')
+        return unicodedata.normalize('NFC',string).encode('utf-8')
+    path=quote(clean(path),"~:/?#[]@!$&'()*+,;=")
+    fragment=quote(clean(fragment),"~")
+
+    # note care must be taken to only encode & and = characters as values
+    query="&".join(["=".join([quote(clean(t) ,"~:/?#[]@!$'()*+,;=")
+        for t in q.split("=",1)]) for q in query.split("&")])
+
+    # Prevent dot-segments appearing in non-relative URI paths.
+    if scheme in ["","http","https","ftp","file"]:
+        output=[]
+        for input in path.split('/'):
+            if input=="":
+                if not output: output.append(input)
+            elif input==".":
+                pass
+            elif input=="..":
+                if len(output)>1: output.pop()
+            else:
+                output.append(input)
+        if input in ["",".",".."]: output.append("")
+        path='/'.join(output)
+
+    # For schemes that define a default authority, use an empty authority if
+    # the default is desired.
+    if userinfo in ["@",":@"]: userinfo=""
+
+    # For schemes that define an empty path to be equivalent to a path of "/",
+    # use "/".
+    if path=="" and scheme in ["http","https","ftp","file"]:
+        path="/"
+
+    # For schemes that define a port, use an empty port if the default is
+    # desired
+    if port and scheme in default_port.keys():
+        if port.isdigit():
+            port=str(int(port))
+            if int(port)==default_port[scheme]:
+                port = ''
+
+    # Put it all back together again
+    auth=(userinfo or "") + host
+    if port: auth+=":"+port
+    if url.endswith("#") and query=="" and fragment=="": path+="#"
+    return urlparse.urlunsplit((scheme,auth,path,query,fragment)).replace("http:///", "http://")
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import unittest
+    suite = unittest.TestSuite()
+
+    """ from http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/PaceCanonicalIds """
+    tests= [
+        (False, "http://:@example.com/"),
+        (False, "http://@example.com/"),
+        (False, "http://example.com"),
+        (False, "HTTP://example.com/"),
+        (False, "http://EXAMPLE.COM/"),
+        (False, "http://example.com/%7Ejane"),
+        (False, "http://example.com/?q=%C7"),
+        (False, "http://example.com/?q=%5c"),
+        (False, "http://example.com/?q=C%CC%A7"),
+        (False, "http://example.com/a/../a/b"),
+        (False, "http://example.com/a/./b"),
+        (False, "http://example.com:80/"),
+        (True,  "http://example.com/"),
+        (True,  "http://example.com/?q=%C3%87"),
+        (True,  "http://example.com/?q=%E2%85%A0"),
+        (True,  "http://example.com/?q=%5C"),
+        (True,  "http://example.com/~jane"),
+        (True,  "http://example.com/a/b"),
+        (True,  "http://example.com:8080/"),
+        (True,  "http://user:password@example.com/"),
+
+        # from rfc2396bis
+        (True,  "ftp://ftp.is.co.za/rfc/rfc1808.txt"),
+        (True,  "http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt"),
+        (True,  "ldap://[2001:db8::7]/c=GB?objectClass?one"),
+        (True,  "mailto:John.Doe@example.com"),
+        (True,  "news:comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix"),
+        (True,  "tel:+1-816-555-1212"),
+        (True,  "telnet://192.0.2.16:80/"),
+        (True,  "urn:oasis:names:specification:docbook:dtd:xml:4.1.2"),
+
+        # other
+        (True,  "http://127.0.0.1/"),
+        (False,  "http://127.0.0.1:80/"),
+        (True,   "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#"),
+        (False, "http://example.com:081/"),
+    ]
+
+    def testcase(expected,value):
+        class test(unittest.TestCase):
+            def runTest(self):
+                assert (normalize(value)==value)==expected, \
+                    (expected, value, normalize(value))
+        return test()
+
+    for (expected,value) in tests:
+        suite.addTest(testcase(expected,value))
+
+    """ mnot test suite; three tests updated for rfc2396bis. """
+    tests = {
+        '/foo/bar/.':                    '/foo/bar/',
+        '/foo/bar/./':                   '/foo/bar/',
+        '/foo/bar/..':                   '/foo/',
+        '/foo/bar/../':                  '/foo/',
+        '/foo/bar/../baz':               '/foo/baz',
+        '/foo/bar/../..':                '/',
+        '/foo/bar/../../':               '/',
+        '/foo/bar/../../baz':            '/baz',
+        '/foo/bar/../../../baz':         '/baz', #was: '/../baz',
+        '/foo/bar/../../../../baz':      '/baz',
+        '/./foo':                        '/foo',
+        '/../foo':                       '/foo', #was: '/../foo',
+        '/foo.':                         '/foo.',
+        '/.foo':                         '/.foo',
+        '/foo..':                        '/foo..',
+        '/..foo':                        '/..foo',
+        '/./../foo':                     '/foo', #was: '/../foo',
+        '/./foo/.':                      '/foo/',
+        '/foo/./bar':                    '/foo/bar',
+        '/foo/../bar':                   '/bar',
+        '/foo//':                        '/foo/',
+        '/foo///bar//':                  '/foo/bar/',
+        'http://www.foo.com:80/foo':     'http://www.foo.com/foo',
+        'http://www.foo.com:8000/foo':   'http://www.foo.com:8000/foo',
+        'http://www.foo.com./foo/bar.html': 'http://www.foo.com/foo/bar.html',
+        'http://www.foo.com.:81/foo':    'http://www.foo.com:81/foo',
+        'http://www.foo.com/%7ebar':     'http://www.foo.com/~bar',
+        'http://www.foo.com/%7Ebar':     'http://www.foo.com/~bar',
+        'ftp://user:pass@ftp.foo.net/foo/bar':
+             'ftp://user:pass@ftp.foo.net/foo/bar',
+        'http://USER:pass@www.Example.COM/foo/bar':
+             'http://USER:pass@www.example.com/foo/bar',
+        'http://www.example.com./':      'http://www.example.com/',
+        '-':                             '-',
+    }
+
+    def testcase(original,normalized):
+        class test(unittest.TestCase):
+            def runTest(self):
+                assert normalize(original)==normalized, \
+                    (original, normalized, normalize(original))
+        return test()
+
+    for (original,normalized) in tests.items():
+        suite.addTest(testcase(original,normalized))
+
+    """ execute tests """
+    unittest.TextTestRunner().run(suite)
diff --git a/plugins/weather.py b/plugins/weather.py
index 9556b9f..9068b8e 100644
--- a/plugins/weather.py
+++ b/plugins/weather.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def weather(bot, input):
             stalk = load_stalk(filename)
 
     nick = input.nick.lower()
-    loc = input.inp.strip()
+    loc = input.inp
     dontsave = loc.endswith(" dontsave")
     if dontsave:
         loc = loc[:-9].strip().lower()
diff --git a/plugins/wikipedia.py b/plugins/wikipedia.py
index 8c560ec..5ddf19f 100644
--- a/plugins/wikipedia.py
+++ b/plugins/wikipedia.py
@@ -14,16 +14,16 @@ search_url = api_prefix + "?action=opensearch&search=%s&format=xml"
 paren_re = re.compile('\s*\(.*\)$')
 
 
-@hook.command(hook='w(\s+.*|$)')
+@hook.command('w')
 @hook.command
-def wiki(query):
+def wiki(inp):
     '''.w/.wiki <phrase> -- gets first sentence of wikipedia ''' \
     '''article on <phrase>'''
 
-    if not query.strip():
+    if not inp:
         return wiki.__doc__
 
-    q = search_url % (urllib.quote(query.strip(), safe=''))
+    q = search_url % (urllib.quote(inp, safe=''))
     x = etree.parse(q)
 
     ns = '{http://opensearch.org/searchsuggest2}'