diff --git a/d2o/distributed_data_object.py b/d2o/distributed_data_object.py
index 1106635815af7ac0f98171c187abcb7359ff3f51..7dbffbf77a6651d2d990773c5d75cdd79853ab78 100644
--- a/d2o/distributed_data_object.py
+++ b/d2o/distributed_data_object.py
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ class distributed_data_object(Loggable, Versionable, object):
                                 dtype=dtype,
                                 **kwargs)
 
-        self.distribution_strategy = distribution_strategy
+        self.distribution_strategy = self.distributor.distribution_strategy
         self.dtype = self.distributor.dtype
         self.shape = self.distributor.global_shape
         self.local_shape = self.distributor.local_shape
diff --git a/d2o/distributor_factory.py b/d2o/distributor_factory.py
index 13762bc529c07d93a6ee305f40cb479775fddd34..48c7fe0a6593a1f73c2532f7b82fc5588507f82b 100644
--- a/d2o/distributor_factory.py
+++ b/d2o/distributor_factory.py
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ class distributor(object):
             result_data = np.empty(self.local_shape, dtype=self.dtype)
         elif np.isscalar(data):
             result_data = np.empty(self.local_shape, dtype=self.dtype)
-            result_data[:] = data
+            result_data[()] = data
         elif isinstance(data, np.ndarray) or \
                 isinstance(data, distributed_data_object) or \
                 h5py_dataset_Q: