Index: wp-includes/default-filters.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/default-filters.php	(revision 17724)
+++ wp-includes/default-filters.php	(working copy)
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@
 // Misc filters
 add_filter( 'option_ping_sites',    'privacy_ping_filter'                 );
 add_filter( 'option_blog_charset',  '_wp_specialchars'                    ); // IMPORTANT: This must not be wp_specialchars() or esc_html() or it'll cause an infinite loop
+add_filter( 'template_include', 'httphead' 							   );
 add_filter( 'option_home',          '_config_wp_home'                     );
 add_filter( 'option_siteurl',       '_config_wp_siteurl'                  );
 add_filter( 'tiny_mce_before_init', '_mce_set_direction'                  );
Index: wp-includes/functions.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/functions.php	(revision 17724)
+++ wp-includes/functions.php	(working copy)
@@ -3312,6 +3312,22 @@
 }
 
 /**
+ * Eliminates output for HEAD requests
+ *
+ * @since 3.2.0
+ *
+ * @param string $template Template output
+ * @return false or string Template output
+ */
+function httphead( $template )
+{
+	if( $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'HEAD' )
+		return false;
+		
+	return $template;
+}
+
+/**
  * Converts value to nonnegative integer.
  *
  * @since 2.5.0