diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-doc/src/main/markdown/sqlpp/3_query.md b/asterixdb/asterix-doc/src/main/markdown/sqlpp/3_query.md
index 22313d0..365c6e3 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-doc/src/main/markdown/sqlpp/3_query.md
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-doc/src/main/markdown/sqlpp/3_query.md
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
     SelectClause       ::= <SELECT> ( <ALL> | <DISTINCT> )? ( SelectRegular | SelectValue )
     SelectRegular      ::= Projection ( "," Projection )*
     SelectValue        ::= ( <VALUE> | <ELEMENT> | <RAW> ) Expression
-    Projection         ::= ( Expression ( <AS> )? Identifier | "*" )
+    Projection         ::= ( Expression ( <AS> )? Identifier | "*" | Identifier "." "*" )
 
     FromClause         ::= <FROM> FromTerm ( "," FromTerm )*
     FromTerm           ::= Expression (( <AS> )? Variable)?
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@
     } ]
 
 ### <a id="Select_star">SELECT *</a>
-`SELECT *` returns a object with a nested field for each input tuple.
+`SELECT *` returns an object with a nested field for each input tuple.
 Each field has as its field name the name of a binding variable generated by either the `FROM` clause or `GROUP BY`
 clause in the current enclosing `SELECT` statement, and its field value is the value of that binding variable.
 
@@ -393,6 +393,84 @@
         }
     } ]
 
+### <a id="Select_variable_star">SELECT _variable_.*</a>
+
+Whereas `SELECT *` returns all the fields bound to all the variables which are currently defined,
+the notation `SELECT c.*` returns all the fields of the object bound to variable `c`.
+The variable `c` must be bound to an object for this to work.
+
+##### Example
+
+    SELECT user.*
+    FROM GleambookUsers user;
+
+Compare this query with the first example given under [SELECT *](#Select_star).
+This query returns all users from the `GleambookUsers` dataset,
+but the `user` variable name is omitted from the results:
+
+    [
+      {
+        "id": 1,
+        "alias": "Margarita",
+        "name": "MargaritaStoddard",
+        "nickname": "Mags",
+        "userSince": "2012-08-20T10:10:00",
+        "friendIds": [
+          2,
+          3,
+          6,
+          10
+        ],
+        "employment": [
+          {
+            "organizationName": "Codetechno",
+            "start-date": "2006-08-06"
+          },
+          {
+            "organizationName": "geomedia",
+            "start-date": "2010-06-17",
+            "end-date": "2010-01-26"
+          }
+        ],
+        "gender": "F"
+      },
+      {
+        "id": 2,
+        "alias": "Isbel",
+        "name": "IsbelDull",
+        "nickname": "Izzy",
+        "userSince": "2011-01-22T10:10:00",
+        "friendIds": [
+          1,
+          4
+        ],
+        "employment": [
+          {
+            "organizationName": "Hexviafind",
+            "startDate": "2010-04-27"
+          }
+        ]
+      },
+      {
+        "id": 3,
+        "alias": "Emory",
+        "name": "EmoryUnk",
+        "userSince": "2012-07-10T10:10:00",
+        "friendIds": [
+          1,
+          5,
+          8,
+          9
+        ],
+        "employment": [
+          {
+            "organizationName": "geomedia",
+            "startDate": "2010-06-17",
+            "endDate": "2010-01-26"
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    ]
 
 ### <a id="Select_distinct">SELECT DISTINCT</a>
 The `DISTINCT` keyword is used to eliminate duplicate items in results. The following example shows how it works.
@@ -666,7 +744,7 @@
 The join clause in the query language supports both inner joins and left outer joins from standard SQL.
 
 ### <a id="Inner_joins">Inner joins</a>
-Using a `JOIN` clause, the inner join intent from the preceeding examples can also be expressed as follows:
+Using a `JOIN` clause, the inner join intent from the preceding examples can also be expressed as follows:
 
 ##### Example
 
@@ -720,6 +798,22 @@
 
 In general, SQL-style join queries can also be expressed by `UNNEST` clauses and left outer join queries can be expressed by `LEFT OUTER UNNESTs`.
 
+### <a id="Join_variable_scope">Variable scope in JOIN clauses</a>
+
+Variables defined by `JOIN` subclauses are not visible to other subclauses in the same `FROM` clause.
+This also applies to the `FROM` variable that starts the `JOIN` subclause.
+
+##### Example
+
+    SELECT * FROM GleambookUsers u
+    JOIN (SELECT VALUE m
+          FROM GleambookMessages m
+          WHERE m.authorId = u.id) m
+    ON u.id = m.authorId;
+
+The variable `u` defined by the `FROM` clause is not visible inside the `JOIN` subclause,
+so this query returns no results.
+
 ## <a id="Group_By_clauses">GROUP BY Clauses</a>
 The `GROUP BY` clause generalizes standard SQL's grouping and aggregation semantics, but it also retains backward compatibility with the standard (relational) SQL `GROUP BY` and aggregation features.
 
@@ -839,9 +933,9 @@
 The group variable in the query language makes more complex, composable, nested subqueries over a group possible, which is
 important given the language's more complex data model (relative to SQL).
 As a simple example of this, as we really just want the messages associated with each user, we might wish to avoid
-the "extra wrapping" of each message as the `msg` field of a object.
+the "extra wrapping" of each message as the `msg` field of an object.
 (That wrapping is useful in more complex cases, but is essentially just in the way here.)
-We can use a subquery in the `SELECT` clase to tunnel through the extra nesting and produce the desired result.
+We can use a subquery in the `SELECT` clause to tunnel through the extra nesting and produce the desired result.
 
 ##### Example
 
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-doc/src/main/markdown/sqlpp/appendix_3_resolution.md b/asterixdb/asterix-doc/src/main/markdown/sqlpp/appendix_3_resolution.md
index 1357571..c3a6a19 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-doc/src/main/markdown/sqlpp/appendix_3_resolution.md
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-doc/src/main/markdown/sqlpp/appendix_3_resolution.md
@@ -197,6 +197,9 @@
     SELECT e.name, pay
     ORDER BY pay
 
+Note that variables defined by `JOIN` subclauses are not visible to other subclauses in the same `FROM` clause.
+This also applies to the `FROM` variable that starts the `JOIN` subclause.
+
 ## <a id="Resolving_names">Resolving Names</a>
 
 The process of name resolution begins with the leftmost identifier in the name.
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCConnectionManager.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCConnectionManager.java
index 53ada46..9ef506e 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCConnectionManager.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-ipc/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/ipc/impl/IPCConnectionManager.java
@@ -185,7 +185,6 @@
         }
 
         private void doRun() {
-            int failingLoops = 0;
             while (!stopped) {
                 try {
                     int n = selector.select();
@@ -199,16 +198,8 @@
                     if (n > 0) {
                         processSelectedKeys();
                     }
-                    // reset failingLoops on a good loop
-                    failingLoops = 0;
                 } catch (Exception e) {
-                    int sleepSecs = (int) Math.pow(2, Math.min(11, failingLoops++));
-                    LOGGER.log(Level.ERROR, "Exception processing message; sleeping " + sleepSecs + " seconds", e);
-                    try {
-                        Thread.sleep(TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(sleepSecs));
-                    } catch (InterruptedException e1) {
-                        Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
-                    }
+                    LOGGER.log(Level.ERROR, "Exception processing message", e);
                 }
             }
         }