diff --git a/app/controllers/exceptions_controller.rb b/app/controllers/exceptions_controller.rb
index 55fb96172b4..6a81de159eb 100644
--- a/app/controllers/exceptions_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/exceptions_controller.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 class ExceptionsController < ApplicationController
-  skip_before_filter :check_xhr
+  skip_before_filter :check_xhr, :preload_json
 
   def not_found
     # centralize all rendering of 404 into app controller
diff --git a/lib/topic_query.rb b/lib/topic_query.rb
index 26b5a14ba94..c31dc24eb52 100644
--- a/lib/topic_query.rb
+++ b/lib/topic_query.rb
@@ -65,12 +65,12 @@ class TopicQuery
       "CASE WHEN (topics.pinned_at IS NOT NULL) THEN 0 ELSE 1 END, topics.bumped_at DESC"
     end
 
-    def top_viewed(max)
-      Topic.listable_topics.visible.secured.order('views desc').take(10)
+    def top_viewed(max = 10)
+      Topic.listable_topics.visible.secured.order('views desc').limit(max)
     end
 
-    def recent(max)
-      Topic.listable_topics.visible.secured.order('created_at desc').take(10)
+    def recent(max = 10)
+      Topic.listable_topics.visible.secured.order('created_at desc').limit(max)
     end
   end