diff --git a/src/Connection/HttpRequest.php b/src/Connection/HttpRequest.php
index 28d0515..87a2561 100644
--- a/src/Connection/HttpRequest.php
+++ b/src/Connection/HttpRequest.php
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class Connection_HttpRequest
         $port = ($this->proxy_port) ? $this->proxy_port : $this->port;
         $errno = 0;
         $errstr = '';
-        $socket = fsockopen($host, $port, $errno, $errstr, 30);
+        $socket = @fsockopen($host, $port, $errno, $errstr, 30);
         if (is_resource($socket)) {
             $header = $this->getHeader();
             fwrite($socket, $header);
diff --git a/src/Validator/Validator.php b/src/Validator/Validator.php
index 06b8213..5a3bc4c 100644
--- a/src/Validator/Validator.php
+++ b/src/Validator/Validator.php
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class Validator_Validator
                         $ruleObj->$p_name = $p_value;
                     }
                     $this->addRule($ruleObj);
-                } else {
+                } else if (!empty($rule)) {
                     throw new Exception('Unknown validation rule "' . $rule . "'");
                 }
             }