diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/application.css.erb b/app/assets/stylesheets/application.css.erb
index dfb5aa78..ed4ec2ac 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/application.css.erb
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/application.css.erb
@@ -2352,15 +2352,15 @@ and it won't be important on password protected instances */
     opacity: 0.7;
 }
 #chromeIcon {
-    background: url(/assets/browser_icons.png) no-repeat;
+    background: url(<%= asset_data_uri 'browser_icons.png' %>) no-repeat;
 }
 
 #fireFoxIcon {
-    background: url(/assets/browser_icons.png) no-repeat -105px 0;
+    background: url(<%= asset_data_uri 'browser_icons.png' %>) no-repeat -105px 0;
 }
 
 #safariIcon {
-    background: url(/assets/browser_icons.png) no-repeat -220px 0;
+    background: url(<%= asset_data_uri 'browser_icons.png' %>) no-repeat -220px 0;
 }
 
 #chromeIcon:hover{ 
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/base.css b/app/assets/stylesheets/base.css.erb
similarity index 94%
rename from app/assets/stylesheets/base.css
rename to app/assets/stylesheets/base.css.erb
index 2e0073a0..858163ad 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/base.css
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/base.css.erb
@@ -740,7 +740,7 @@ font-family: 'din-regular', helvetica, sans-serif;
 }
 
 #linkremove {
-  background-image: url(/assets/remove.png);
+  background-image: url(<%= asset_data_uri 'remove.png' %>);
   background-repeat: no-repeat;
   background-position: center center;
   width: 24px;
@@ -1126,4 +1126,4 @@ font-family: 'din-regular', helvetica, sans-serif;
 }
 .mapperMetadata .metadataSynapses {
     color: #DAB539;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/clean.css.erb b/app/assets/stylesheets/clean.css.erb
index 793e328c..456c6afc 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/clean.css.erb
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/clean.css.erb
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
 @font-face {
     font-family: 'din-medium';
-    src: url('/assets/Fonts/din.eot');
-    src: url('/assets/Fonts/din.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
-         url('/assets/Fonts/din.woff') format('woff'),
-         url('/assets/Fonts/din.ttf') format('truetype'),
-         url('/assets/Fonts/din.svg#din-medium') format('svg');
+    src: url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din.eot' %>);
+    src: url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din.eot?#iefix' %>) format('embedded-opentype'),
+         url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din.woff' %>) format('woff'),
+         url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din.ttf' %>) format('truetype'),
+         url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din.svg#din-medium' %>) format('svg');
     font-weight: normal;
     font-style: normal;
 }
 @font-face {
     font-family: 'din-regular';
-    src: url('/assets/Fonts/din-reg.eot');
-    src: url('/assets/Fonts/din-reg.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
-         url('/assets/Fonts/din-reg.woff') format('woff'),
-         url('/assets/Fonts/din-reg.ttf') format('truetype'),
-         url('/assets/Fonts/din-reg.svg#din-reg') format('svg');
+    src: url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din-reg.eot' %>);
+    src: url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din-reg.eot?#iefix' %>) format('embedded-opentype'),
+         url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din-reg.woff' %>) format('woff'),
+         url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din-reg.ttf' %>) format('truetype'),
+         url(<%= asset_path 'Fonts/din-reg.svg#din-reg' %>) format('svg');
     font-weight: normal;
     font-style: normal;
 }
diff --git a/app/controllers/synapses_controller.rb b/app/controllers/synapses_controller.rb
index dc36ff28..db30a058 100644
--- a/app/controllers/synapses_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/synapses_controller.rb
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class SynapsesController < ApplicationController
   # POST /synapses
   # POST /synapses.json
   def create
+    binding.pry
     @synapse = Synapse.new(synapse_params)
     @synapse.update_attribute :desc, "" if @synapse.desc.nil?
 
diff --git a/app/models/synapse.rb b/app/models/synapse.rb
index 2711c1c5..2745106f 100644
--- a/app/models/synapse.rb
+++ b/app/models/synapse.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ class Synapse < ActiveRecord::Base
   has_many :mappings, as: :mappable, dependent: :destroy
   has_many :maps, :through => :mappings
 
+  validates :desc, length: { minimum: 0, allow_nil: false }
+
   def user_name
     self.user.name
   end