diff --git a/indra/llrender/llshadermgr.cpp b/indra/llrender/llshadermgr.cpp
index d3e225046..385845395 100644
--- a/indra/llrender/llshadermgr.cpp
+++ b/indra/llrender/llshadermgr.cpp
@@ -775,7 +775,8 @@ GLhandleARB LLShaderMgr::loadShaderFile(const std::string& filename, S32 & shade
 					{ //dump every 128 lines
 
 						LL_WARNS("ShaderLoading") << "\n" << ostr.str() << llendl;
-						ostr = std::stringstream();
+						ostr.str("");
+						ostr.clear();
 					}
 
 				}
diff --git a/indra/newview/llpanelmsgs.cpp b/indra/newview/llpanelmsgs.cpp
index 96fe7129b..42fb393ca 100644
--- a/indra/newview/llpanelmsgs.cpp
+++ b/indra/newview/llpanelmsgs.cpp
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ BOOL LLPanelMsgs::postBuild()
 	childSetAction("enable_popup", onClickEnablePopup, this);
 	childSetAction("reset_dialogs_btn", onClickResetDialogs, this);
 	childSetAction("skip_dialogs_btn", onClickSkipDialogs, this);
+	childSetAction("skip_frst_btn", onClickSkipFirstTime, this);
+
 	buildLists();
 
 	childSetValue("accept_new_inventory", gSavedSettings.getBOOL("AutoAcceptNewInventory"));
@@ -246,3 +248,11 @@ void LLPanelMsgs::onClickSkipDialogs(void* user_data)
 {
 	LLNotificationsUtil::add("SkipShowNextTimeDialogs", LLSD(), LLSD(), boost::bind(&callback_skip_dialogs, _1, _2, (LLPanelMsgs*)user_data));
 }
+
+// static
+void LLPanelMsgs::onClickSkipFirstTime(void* user_data)
+{
+	LLFirstUse::disableFirstUse();
+	LLPanelMsgs* panelp = (LLPanelMsgs*)user_data;
+	if(panelp) panelp->buildLists();
+}
diff --git a/indra/newview/llpanelmsgs.h b/indra/newview/llpanelmsgs.h
index 2b72c1df7..1ab642809 100644
--- a/indra/newview/llpanelmsgs.h
+++ b/indra/newview/llpanelmsgs.h
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ public:
 	static void onClickEnablePopup(void* user_data);
 	static void onClickResetDialogs(void* user_data);
 	static void onClickSkipDialogs(void* user_data);
+	static void onClickSkipFirstTime(void* user_data);
 
 	void buildLists();
 
diff --git a/indra/newview/llvovolume.cpp b/indra/newview/llvovolume.cpp
index 8cbef5bd9..3749af392 100644
--- a/indra/newview/llvovolume.cpp
+++ b/indra/newview/llvovolume.cpp
@@ -3895,6 +3895,19 @@ struct CompareBatchBreakerModified
 
 void LLVolumeGeometryManager::genDrawInfo(LLSpatialGroup* group, U32 mask, std::vector<LLFace*>& faces, BOOL distance_sort, BOOL batch_textures)
 {
+	U32 buffer_usage = group->mBufferUsage;
+
+#if LL_DARWIN
+	// HACK from Leslie:
+	// Disable VBO usage for alpha on Mac OS X because it kills the framerate
+	// due to implicit calls to glTexSubImage that are beyond our control.
+	// (this works because the only calls here that sort by distance are alpha)
+	if (distance_sort)
+	{
+		buffer_usage = 0x0;
+	}
+#endif
+
 	//calculate maximum number of vertices to store in a single buffer
 	static const LLCachedControl<S32> render_max_vbo_size("RenderMaxVBOSize", 512);
 	U32 max_vertices = (render_max_vbo_size*1024)/LLVertexBuffer::calcVertexSize(group->mSpatialPartition->mVertexDataMask);
@@ -4074,17 +4087,15 @@ void LLVolumeGeometryManager::genDrawInfo(LLSpatialGroup* group, U32 mask, std::
 						
 		if (!buffer)
 		{ //create new buffer if needed
-			buffer = createVertexBuffer(mask, 
-											group->mBufferUsage);
+			buffer = createVertexBuffer(mask, buffer_usage);
 			buffer->allocateBuffer(geom_count, index_count, TRUE);
 		}
 		else 
 		{ //resize pre-existing buffer
-			if (LLVertexBuffer::sEnableVBOs && buffer->getUsage() != group->mBufferUsage ||
+			if (LLVertexBuffer::sEnableVBOs && buffer->getUsage() != buffer_usage ||
 				buffer->getTypeMask() != mask)
 			{
-				buffer = createVertexBuffer(mask, 
-											group->mBufferUsage);
+				buffer = createVertexBuffer(mask, buffer_usage);
 				buffer->allocateBuffer(geom_count, index_count, TRUE);
 			}
 			else