diff --git a/include/fc/time.hpp b/include/fc/time.hpp
index 34a635b..595e7d7 100644
--- a/include/fc/time.hpp
+++ b/include/fc/time.hpp
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ namespace fc {
   inline microseconds hours(int64_t h) { return minutes(60*h); }
   inline microseconds days(int64_t d) { return hours(24*d); }
 
+  class variant;
+  void to_variant( const fc::microseconds&,  fc::variant&  );
+  void from_variant( const fc::variant& , fc::microseconds& );
+
   class time_point {
     public:
         explicit time_point( microseconds e = microseconds() ) :elapsed(e){}
diff --git a/include/fc/variant.hpp b/include/fc/variant.hpp
index fea92b2..cb49453 100644
--- a/include/fc/variant.hpp
+++ b/include/fc/variant.hpp
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ namespace fc
    class mutable_variant_object;
    class time_point;
    class time_point_sec;
+   class microseconds;
 
    void to_variant( const int16_t& var,  variant& vo );
    void from_variant( const variant& var,  int16_t& vo );
@@ -69,6 +70,10 @@ namespace fc
 
    void to_variant( const time_point_sec& var,  variant& vo );
    void from_variant( const variant& var,  time_point_sec& vo );
+
+   void to_variant( const microseconds& input_microseconds,  variant& output_variant );
+   void from_variant( const variant& input_variant,  microseconds& output_microseconds );
+
    #ifdef __APPLE__
    void to_variant( size_t s, variant& v );
    #elif !defined(_MSC_VER)
diff --git a/src/io/json.cpp b/src/io/json.cpp
index e96cb25..b1a308d 100644
--- a/src/io/json.cpp
+++ b/src/io/json.cpp
@@ -132,6 +132,11 @@ namespace fc
       {
          return token.str();
       }
+      catch (const std::ios_base::failure&)
+      {
+         return token.str();
+      }
+
       FC_RETHROW_EXCEPTIONS( warn, "while parsing token '${token}'",
                                           ("token", token.str() ) );
    }
@@ -179,6 +184,10 @@ namespace fc
       catch( const fc::eof_exception& e )
       {
          FC_THROW_EXCEPTION( parse_error_exception, "Unexpected EOF: ${e}", ("e", e.to_detail_string() ) );
+      }
+      catch( const std::ios_base::failure& e )
+      {
+         FC_THROW_EXCEPTION( parse_error_exception, "Unexpected EOF: ${e}", ("e", e.what() ) );
       } FC_RETHROW_EXCEPTIONS( warn, "Error parsing object" );
    }
 
@@ -261,6 +270,9 @@ namespace fc
       catch (fc::eof_exception&)
       {
       }
+      catch (const std::ios_base::failure&)
+      {
+      }
       fc::string str = ss.str();
       if (str == "-." || str == ".") // check the obviously wrong things we could have encountered
         FC_THROW_EXCEPTION(parse_error_exception, "Can't parse token \"${token}\" as a JSON numeric constant", ("token", str));
@@ -306,6 +318,10 @@ namespace fc
       {
         received_eof = true;
       }
+      catch (const std::ios_base::failure&)
+      {
+        received_eof = true;
+      }
 
       // we can get here either by processing a delimiter as in "null,"
       // an EOF like "null<EOF>", or an invalid token like "nullZ"
@@ -391,11 +407,11 @@ namespace fc
 	  return variant();
    }
    variant json::from_string( const std::string& utf8_str )
-   {
-      std::stringstream in( utf8_str );
-      in.exceptions( std::ifstream::eofbit );
+   { try {
+      fc::stringstream in( utf8_str );
+      //in.exceptions( std::ifstream::eofbit );
       return variant_from_stream( in );
-   }
+   } FC_RETHROW_EXCEPTIONS( warn, "", ("str",utf8_str) ) }
 
    /*
    void toUTF8( const char str, ostream& os )
diff --git a/src/network/http/http_connection.cpp b/src/network/http/http_connection.cpp
index 7921bf0..79433c7 100644
--- a/src/network/http/http_connection.cpp
+++ b/src/network/http/http_connection.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <fc/log/logger.hpp>
 #include <fc/io/stdio.hpp>
 #include <fc/network/url.hpp>
+#include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
 
 
 class fc::http::connection::impl 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ class fc::http::connection::impl
           while( *end != '\r' ) ++end;
           h.val = fc::string(skey,end);
           rep.headers.push_back(h);
-          if( h.key == "Content-Length" ) {
+          if( boost::iequals(h.key, "Content-Length") ) {
              rep.body.resize( static_cast<size_t>(to_uint64( fc::string(h.val) ) ));
           }
         }
@@ -151,12 +152,12 @@ http::request    connection::read_request()const {
     while( *end != '\r' ) ++end;
     h.val = fc::string(skey,end);
     req.headers.push_back(h);
-    if( h.key == "Content-Length" ) {
+    if( boost::iequals(h.key, "Content-Length")) {
        auto s = static_cast<size_t>(to_uint64( fc::string(h.val) ) );
        FC_ASSERT( s < 1024*1024 );
        req.body.resize( static_cast<size_t>(to_uint64( fc::string(h.val) ) ));
     }
-    if( h.key == "Host" ) {
+    if( boost::iequals(h.key, "Host") ) {
        req.domain = h.val;
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/time.cpp b/src/time.cpp
index da333cc..0586151 100644
--- a/src/time.cpp
+++ b/src/time.cpp
@@ -99,4 +99,14 @@ namespace fc {
   string get_approximate_relative_time_string(const time_point& event_time) {
     return get_approximate_relative_time_string(time_point_sec(event_time));
   }
-}
+
+  void to_variant( const microseconds& input_microseconds,  variant& output_variant )
+  {
+    output_variant = input_microseconds.count();
+  }
+  void from_variant( const variant& input_variant,  microseconds& output_microseconds )
+  {
+    output_microseconds = microseconds(input_variant.as_int64());
+  }
+
+} //namespace fc