diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/tests.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/tests.py
index 50eba43795..429774c91e 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/tests.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/tests.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ class ContentStoreTestCase(TestCase):
         return resp
 
     def _activate_user(self, email):
-        '''look up the user's activation key in the db, then hit the activate view.
+        '''Look up the activation key for the user, then hit the activate view.
         No error checking'''
         activation_key = registration(email).activation_key
 
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class AuthTestCase(ContentStoreTestCase):
         resp = self.client.get(url)
         self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, expected)
         return resp
-        
+
     def test_public_pages_load(self):
         """Make sure pages that don't require login load without error."""
         pages = (
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/html_module.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/html_module.py
index ce18a05a8a..b9bc34aed6 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/html_module.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/html_module.py
@@ -12,8 +12,10 @@ class HtmlModule(XModule):
     def get_html(self):
         return self.html
 
-    def __init__(self, system, location, definition, instance_state=None, shared_state=None, **kwargs):
-        XModule.__init__(self, system, location, definition, instance_state, shared_state, **kwargs)
+    def __init__(self, system, location, definition,
+                 instance_state=None, shared_state=None, **kwargs):
+        XModule.__init__(self, system, location, definition,
+                         instance_state, shared_state, **kwargs)
         self.html = self.definition['data']
 
 
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/x_module.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/x_module.py
index caeabb5ff5..3406bcb99c 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/x_module.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/x_module.py
@@ -450,8 +450,8 @@ class XModuleDescriptor(Plugin, HTMLSnippet):
             default_class
         )
         # leave next line, commented out - useful for low-level debugging
-        log.debug('[XModuleDescriptor.load_from_xml] tag=%s, class_=%s' % (
-                etree.fromstring(xml_data).tag,class_))
+        # log.debug('[XModuleDescriptor.load_from_xml] tag=%s, class_=%s' % (
+        #        etree.fromstring(xml_data).tag,class_))
         return class_.from_xml(xml_data, system, org, course)
 
     @classmethod