[Radiant] SiteController sessions and flash access

[Wes Gamble]

 All,

1) I read in this post from back in '08 
(http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/142224) that the SiteController had 
sessions disabled by default.

Sessions are enabled in my SiteController (which is good, since I am 
doing lots of user-centric stuff).  When did that change in the base 
Radiant install (or did I turn them on and not remember doing it).

2) I would like to take advantage of the flash for standard 
informational messages in my UI.  But there is no built-in access to the 
flash.  Has anyone built a tag to access the flash and would you be 
willing to share it?

Thanks,
Wes