diff --git a/API.txt b/API.txt
index 2861cf3..73bd3b3 100644
--- a/API.txt
+++ b/API.txt
@@ -39,13 +39,14 @@ E.g.
 Note that to simplify the internal logic in Flot both the x and y
 values must be numbers, even if specifying time series (see below for
 how to do this). This is a common problem because you might
-accidentally retrieve data from the database as strings and serialize
-them directly to JSON without noticing the wrong type.
+accidentally retrieve data from the database and serialize them
+directly to JSON without noticing the wrong type.
 
 If a null is specified as a point or if one of the coordinates is null
-or NaN, the point is ignored. As a special case, a null value for
-lines is interpreted as a line segment end, i.e. the two points before
-and after the null value are not connected.
+or NaN or couldn't be converted to a number, the point is ignored. As
+a special case, a null value for lines is interpreted as a line
+segment end, i.e. the two points before and after the null value are
+not connected.
 
 The format of a single series object is as follows:
 
diff --git a/NEWS.txt b/NEWS.txt
index bf8281d..a172ac2 100644
--- a/NEWS.txt
+++ b/NEWS.txt
@@ -21,16 +21,21 @@ directly with axis.minTickSize and axis.tickSize.
 
 Cleaned up the automatic axis scaling algorithm and fixed how it
 interacts with ticks. Also fixed a couple of tick-related corner case
-bugs.
+bugs (one reported by mainstreetmark).
 
 The option axis.tickFormatter now takes a function with two
 parameters, the second parameter is an optional object with
 information about the axis. It has min, max, tickDecimals, tickSize.
 
+Added support for segmented lines (based on patch from Michael
+MacDonald) and for ignoring null values (suggestion from Nick
+Konidaris). 
+
 Fixed a bug in handling single-item bar series (reported by Emil
 Filipov). Fixed erratic behaviour when interacting with the plot
 with IE 7 (reported by Lau Bech Lauritzen). Prevent IE/Safari text
-selection when selecting stuff on the canvas.
+selection when selecting stuff on the canvas. The data is now
+implicitly converted to 
 
 
 
diff --git a/jquery.flot.js b/jquery.flot.js
index 0fdbaa1..30ec6e0 100644
--- a/jquery.flot.js
+++ b/jquery.flot.js
@@ -202,7 +202,8 @@
                     
                     var x = data[j][0], y = data[j][1];
 
-                    if (x == null || isNaN(x) || y == null || isNaN(y)) {
+                    // convert to number
+                    if (x == null || y == null || isNaN(x = +x) || isNaN(y = +y)) {
                         data[j] = null; // mark this point as invalid
                         continue;
                     }