diff --git a/plugins/factoids.py b/plugins/factoids.py
index 9bb50d2..68f3635 100755
--- a/plugins/factoids.py
+++ b/plugins/factoids.py
@@ -6,12 +6,12 @@ import re
 
 # some simple "shortcodes" for formatting purposes
 shortcodes = {
-'<b>': '\x02',
-'</b>': '\x02',
-'<u>': '\x1F',
-'</u>': '\x1F',
-'<i>': '\x16',
-'</i>': '\x16'}
+'[b]': '\x02',
+'[/b]': '\x02',
+'[u]': '\x1F',
+'[/u]': '\x1F',
+'[i]': '\x16',
+'[/i]': '\x16'}
 
 
 def db_init(db):
@@ -115,7 +115,9 @@ def factoid(inp, say=None, db=None, bot=None, me=None, conn=None, input=None):
 
     db_init(db)
 
+    # attempt to get the factoid from the database
     data = get_memory(db, inp.group(1).strip())
+
     if data:
         out = multiwordReplace(data, shortcodes)
 
diff --git a/plugins/geoip.py b/plugins/geoip.py
index 2dfa45f..39e9863 100755
--- a/plugins/geoip.py
+++ b/plugins/geoip.py
@@ -1,19 +1,16 @@
-from util import hook
+from util import hook, http
 
 
 def find_location(ip, api):
-    import string
-    import urllib
-    response = urllib.urlopen("http://api.ipinfodb.com/v3/ip-city/?key=" \
-                              + api + "&ip=" + ip).read()
+    response = http.get("http://api.ipinfodb.com/v3/ip-city/", key=api, ip=ip)
     response = response.split(";")
-    give = {}
-    give["country"] = response[4].title()
-    give["country_short"] = response[3].upper()
-    give["state"] = response[5].title()
-    give["city"] = response[6].title()
-    give["timezone"] = response[10].title()
-    return give
+    results = {}
+    results["country"] = response[4].title()
+    results["country_short"] = response[3].upper()
+    results["state"] = response[5].title()
+    results["city"] = response[6].title()
+    results["timezone"] = response[10].title()
+    return results
 
 
 def timezone(ip):