Andrew Nacin posted on the WordPress.org blog yesterday that Release Candidate 2 for WordPress 3.1 is now available for testing.  He noted how the timing of the release on January 1st is in line with a Thanksgiving Beta and a Christmas RC1.  I was convinced the new year would ring in with the full release, but fortunately Ryan never took my bet

I would kindly remind Mr. Nacin that the Twelfth day of Christmas is on January 6th, and he said in the post that they “won’t wait for another holiday for the final release.” Not that I’m looking forward to the full release or anything. He described the release with this haiku:

Rounding up stragglers
Last few bugs for 3.1
Go test RC2

There were a number of changes for RC2, including the security update from the recent 3.04 release. Now go download RC2 from the blog post or update using the Beta Tester plugin and give 3.1 a test drive if you haven’t already. If you do think you find a bug, you can report it to the dedicated forum, send it to the wp-testers mailing list, or file the bug on trac.

Also, be sure to stay tuned to WPCandy when the full release comes around, because we’ll have everything you need to get started with all the new and exciting features.