diff --git a/wp-includes/functions.php b/wp-includes/functions.php
index 6bcc79061c..4838b84bb2 100644
--- a/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -624,6 +624,79 @@ function delete_option( $name ) {
 	return true;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Delete a transient
+ *
+ * @since 2.8.0
+ * @package WordPress
+ * @subpackage Transient
+ *
+ * @param string $transient Transient name. Expected to not be SQL-escaped
+ * @return bool true if successful, false otherwise
+ */
+function delete_transient($transient) {
+	global $_wp_using_ext_object_cache, $wpdb;
+
+	if ( $_wp_using_ext_object_cache ) {
+		return wp_cache_delete($transient, 'transient');
+	} else {
+		$transient = $wpdb->escape($transient);
+		return delete_option($transient);
+	}
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get the value of a transient
+ *
+ * If the transient does not exist or does not have a value, then the return value
+ * will be false.
+ * 
+ * @since 2.8.0
+ * @package WordPress
+ * @subpackage Transient
+ *
+ * @param string $transient Transient name. Expected to not be SQL-escaped
+ * @return mixed Value of transient
+ */
+function get_transient($transient) {
+	global $_wp_using_ext_object_cache, $wpdb;
+
+	if ( $_wp_using_ext_object_cache ) {
+		return wp_cache_get($transient, 'transient');
+	} else {
+		$transient = $wpdb->escape($transient);
+		return get_option($transient);
+	}
+}
+
+/**
+ * Set/update the value of a transient
+ *
+ * You do not need to serialize values, if the value needs to be serialize, then
+ * it will be serialized before it is set.
+ *
+ * @since 2.8.0
+ * @package WordPress
+ * @subpackage Transient
+ *
+ * @param string $transient Transient name. Expected to not be SQL-escaped
+ * @param mixed $value Transient value.
+ * @return bool False if value was not set and true if value was set.
+ */
+function set_transient($transient, $value) {
+	global $_wp_using_ext_object_cache, $wpdb;
+
+	if ( $_wp_using_ext_object_cache ) {
+		return wp_cache_set($transient, $value, 'transient');
+	} else {
+		$safe_transient = $wpdb->escape($transient);
+		if ( false === get_option( $safe_transient ) )
+			return add_option($transient, $value, '', 'no');
+		else
+			return update_option($transient, $value);
+	}
+}
+
 /**
  * Saves and restores user interface settings stored in a cookie.
  *
diff --git a/wp-includes/http.php b/wp-includes/http.php
index b16008ccca..a832e1748a 100644
--- a/wp-includes/http.php
+++ b/wp-includes/http.php
@@ -237,10 +237,10 @@ class WP_Http {
 			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Streams::test() && apply_filters('use_streams_transport', true) ) {
 				$working_transport['streams'] = new WP_Http_Streams();
 				$blocking_transport[] = &$working_transport['streams'];
-			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Fopen::test() && apply_filters('use_fopen_transport', true) ) {
+			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Fopen::test() && apply_filters('use_fopen_transport', true) && ( isset($args['ssl']) && !$args['ssl'] ) ) {
 				$working_transport['fopen'] = new WP_Http_Fopen();
 				$blocking_transport[] = &$working_transport['fopen'];
-			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Fsockopen::test() && apply_filters('use_fsockopen_transport', true) ) {
+			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Fsockopen::test() && apply_filters('use_fsockopen_transport', true) && ( isset($args['ssl']) && !$args['ssl'] ) ) {
 				$working_transport['fsockopen'] = new WP_Http_Fsockopen();
 				$blocking_transport[] = &$working_transport['fsockopen'];
 			}
@@ -282,15 +282,18 @@ class WP_Http {
 			if ( true === WP_Http_ExtHttp::test() && apply_filters('use_http_extension_transport', true) ) {
 				$working_transport['exthttp'] = new WP_Http_ExtHttp();
 				$blocking_transport[] = &$working_transport['exthttp'];
+			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Curl::test() && apply_filters('use_curl_transport', true) ) {
+				$working_transport['curl'] = new WP_Http_Curl();
+				$blocking_transport[] = &$working_transport['curl'];
 			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Streams::test() && apply_filters('use_streams_transport', true) ) {
 				$working_transport['streams'] = new WP_Http_Streams();
 				$blocking_transport[] = &$working_transport['streams'];
-			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Fsockopen::test() && apply_filters('use_fsockopen_transport', true) ) {
+			} else if ( true === WP_Http_Fsockopen::test() && apply_filters('use_fsockopen_transport', true) && ( isset($args['ssl']) && !$args['ssl'] ) ) {
 				$working_transport['fsockopen'] = new WP_Http_Fsockopen();
 				$blocking_transport[] = &$working_transport['fsockopen'];
 			}
 
-			foreach ( array('streams', 'fsockopen', 'exthttp') as $transport ) {
+			foreach ( array('curl', 'streams', 'fsockopen', 'exthttp') as $transport ) {
 				if ( isset($working_transport[$transport]) )
 					$nonblocking_transport[] = &$working_transport[$transport];
 			}
@@ -358,17 +361,27 @@ class WP_Http {
 			'timeout' => apply_filters( 'http_request_timeout', 5),
 			'redirection' => apply_filters( 'http_request_redirection_count', 5),
 			'httpversion' => apply_filters( 'http_request_version', '1.0'),
-			'user-agent' => apply_filters( 'http_headers_useragent', 'WordPress/' . $wp_version ),
+			'user-agent' => apply_filters( 'http_headers_useragent', 'WordPress/' . $wp_version . '; ' . get_bloginfo( 'url' )  ),
 			'blocking' => true,
 			'headers' => array(),
 			'body' => null,
 			'compress' => false,
-			'decompress' => true
+			'decompress' => true,
+			'sslverify' => true
 		);
 
 		$r = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );
 		$r = apply_filters( 'http_request_args', $r, $url );
 
+		$arrURL = parse_url($url);
+
+		// Determine if this is a https call and pass that on to the transport functions
+		// so that we can blacklist the transports that do not support ssl verification
+		if ( $arrURL['scheme'] == 'https' || $arrURL['scheme'] == 'ssl' )
+			$r['ssl'] = true;
+		else
+			$r['ssl'] = false;
+
 		if ( is_null( $r['headers'] ) )
 			$r['headers'] = array();
 
@@ -927,7 +940,11 @@ class WP_Http_Streams {
 				'max_redirects' => $r['redirection'],
 				'protocol_version' => (float) $r['httpversion'],
 				'header' => $strHeaders,
-				'timeout' => $r['timeout']
+				'timeout' => $r['timeout'],
+				'ssl' => array(
+                                	'verify_peer' => apply_filters('https_ssl_verify', $r['sslverify']),
+	                                'verify_host' => apply_filters('https_ssl_verify', $r['sslverify'])
+	                        )
 			)
 		);
 
@@ -1060,6 +1077,10 @@ class WP_Http_ExtHTTP {
 			'redirect' => $r['redirection'],
 			'useragent' => $r['user-agent'],
 			'headers' => $r['headers'],
+			'ssl' => array( 
+				'verifypeer' => apply_filters('https_ssl_verify', $r['sslverify']),
+				'verifyhost' => apply_filters('https_ssl_verify', $r['sslverify'])
+			)
 		);
 
 		if ( !defined('WP_DEBUG') || ( defined('WP_DEBUG') && false === WP_DEBUG ) ) //Emits warning level notices for max redirects and timeouts
@@ -1153,28 +1174,31 @@ class WP_Http_Curl {
 			$r['timeout'] = 1;
 
 		$handle = curl_init();
+
 		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
-
-		// The cURL extension requires that the option be set for the HEAD to
-		// work properly.
-		if ( 'HEAD' === $r['method'] ) {
-			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true );
-		}
-
-		if ( true === $r['blocking'] ) {
-			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HEADER, true );
-			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1 );
-		} else {
-			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HEADER, false );
-			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true );
-			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 0 );
-		}
-
+		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
+		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, apply_filters('https_ssl_verify', $r['sslverify']) );
+		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, apply_filters('https_ssl_verify', $r['sslverify']) );
 		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $r['user-agent'] );
-		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 1 );
+		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, $r['timeout'] );
 		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, $r['timeout'] );
 		curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS, $r['redirection'] );
 
+		switch ( $r['method'] ) {
+			case 'HEAD':
+				curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true );
+				break;
+			case 'POST':
+				curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_POST, true );
+				curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $r['body'] );
+				break;
+		}
+
+		if ( true === $r['blocking'] )
+			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HEADER, true );
+		else
+			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HEADER, false );
+
 		// The option doesn't work with safe mode or when open_basedir is set.
 		if ( !ini_get('safe_mode') && !ini_get('open_basedir') )
 			curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true );
diff --git a/wp-includes/rewrite.php b/wp-includes/rewrite.php
index 04e94971e5..7efb96ef8f 100644
--- a/wp-includes/rewrite.php
+++ b/wp-includes/rewrite.php
@@ -1596,11 +1596,11 @@ class WP_Rewrite {
 	 * @return array Rewrite rules.
 	 */
 	function wp_rewrite_rules() {
-		$this->rules = get_option('rewrite_rules');
+		$this->rules = get_transient('rewrite_rules');
 		if ( empty($this->rules) ) {
 			$this->matches = 'matches';
 			$this->rewrite_rules();
-			update_option('rewrite_rules', $this->rules);
+			set_transient('rewrite_rules', $this->rules);
 		}
 
 		return $this->rules;
@@ -1783,7 +1783,7 @@ class WP_Rewrite {
 	 * @access public
 	 */
 	function flush_rules() {
-		delete_option('rewrite_rules');
+		delete_transient('rewrite_rules');
 		$this->wp_rewrite_rules();
 		if ( function_exists('save_mod_rewrite_rules') )
 			save_mod_rewrite_rules();
diff --git a/wp-includes/rss.php b/wp-includes/rss.php
index 9962773486..a33c3a7dc8 100644
--- a/wp-includes/rss.php
+++ b/wp-includes/rss.php
@@ -714,14 +714,8 @@ class RSSCache {
 		$cache_option = 'rss_' . $this->file_name( $url );
 		$cache_timestamp = 'rss_' . $this->file_name( $url ) . '_ts';
 
-		// shouldn't these be using get_option() ?
-		if ( !$wpdb->get_var( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT option_name FROM $wpdb->options WHERE option_name = %s", $cache_option ) ) )
-			add_option($cache_option, '', '', 'no');
-		if ( !$wpdb->get_var( $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT option_name FROM $wpdb->options WHERE option_name = %s", $cache_timestamp ) ) )
-			add_option($cache_timestamp, '', '', 'no');
-
-		update_option($cache_option, $rss);
-		update_option($cache_timestamp, time() );
+		set_transient($cache_option, $rss);
+		set_transient($cache_timestamp, time() );
 
 		return $cache_option;
 	}
@@ -736,15 +730,13 @@ class RSSCache {
 		$this->ERROR = "";
 		$cache_option = 'rss_' . $this->file_name( $url );
 
-		if ( ! get_option( $cache_option ) ) {
+		if ( ! $rss = get_transient( $cache_option ) ) {
 			$this->debug(
 				"Cache doesn't contain: $url (cache option: $cache_option)"
 			);
 			return 0;
 		}
 
-		$rss = get_option( $cache_option );
-
 		return $rss;
 	}
 
@@ -760,7 +752,7 @@ class RSSCache {
 		$cache_option = $this->file_name( $url );
 		$cache_timestamp = 'rss_' . $this->file_name( $url ) . '_ts';
 
-		if ( $mtime = get_option($cache_timestamp) ) {
+		if ( $mtime = get_transient($cache_timestamp) ) {
 			// find how long ago the file was added to the cache
 			// and whether that is longer then MAX_AGE
 			$age = time() - $mtime;
diff --git a/wp-settings.php b/wp-settings.php
index 553c67d4b7..4a35fb8761 100644
--- a/wp-settings.php
+++ b/wp-settings.php
@@ -257,10 +257,13 @@ $prefix = $wpdb->set_prefix($table_prefix);
 if ( is_wp_error($prefix) )
 	wp_die(/*WP_I18N_BAD_PREFIX*/'<strong>ERROR</strong>: <code>$table_prefix</code> in <code>wp-config.php</code> can only contain numbers, letters, and underscores.'/*/WP_I18N_BAD_PREFIX*/);
 
-if ( file_exists(WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/object-cache.php') )
+if ( file_exists(WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/object-cache.php') ) {
 	require_once (WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/object-cache.php');
-else
+	$_wp_using_ext_object_cache = true;
+} else {
 	require_once (ABSPATH . WPINC . '/cache.php');
+	$_wp_using_ext_object_cache = false;
+}
 
 wp_cache_init();
 if ( function_exists('wp_cache_add_global_groups') ) {