Backport pr #33 into 0.9.x

Fixes #35.
Merge pull request #89 from deniszh/0.9.x_update_many

Backport pr #81 into 0.9.x
store len(alignedPoints) in a var for retrieval, refs #89
Merge pull request #90 from obfuscurity/minor_alignedPoints_optimization

Store len(alignedPoints) in a var for retrieval
Merge pull request #91 from deniszh/0.9.x

Adding README to 0.9.x branch
Merge pull request #10 from graphite-project/0.9.x

Pull in Upstream Changes