diff --git a/AUTHORS.rst b/AUTHORS.rst
index ef2c060b..43644e52 100644
--- a/AUTHORS.rst
+++ b/AUTHORS.rst
@@ -60,4 +60,6 @@ Patches and Suggestions
 - Juergen Brendel
 - Juan Riaza
 - Ryan Kelly
-- Rolando Espinoza La fuente
\ No newline at end of file
+- Rolando Espinoza La fuente
+- Robert Gieseke
+- Idan Gazit
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index d7b023a0..487cc867 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 History
 -------
 
+0.8.3 (2011-11-27)
+++++++++++++++++++
+
+* Converted auth system to use simpler callable objects.
+* New session parameter to API methods.
+* Display full URL while logging.
+
 0.8.2 (2011-11-19)
 ++++++++++++++++++
 
diff --git a/docs/_templates/sidebarintro.html b/docs/_templates/sidebarintro.html
index a13888a7..89b6487f 100644
--- a/docs/_templates/sidebarintro.html
+++ b/docs/_templates/sidebarintro.html
@@ -4,12 +4,28 @@
   </a>
 </p>
 
+<p>
+  <iframe src="http://markdotto.github.com/github-buttons/github-btn.html?user=kennethreitz&repo=requests&type=watch&count=true&size=large"
+    allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="0" width="200px" height="35px"></iframe>
+</p>
+
 <p>
   Requests is an elegant and simple HTTP library for Python, built for
   human beings. You are currently looking at the documentation of the
   development release.
 </p>
 
+
+<h3>Support Requests</h3>
+<p>
+    If you love Requests, consider making a small donation <a href="https://flattr.com/thing/442264/Requests">on Flattr</a>:
+</p>
+<p>
+    <a class="FlattrButton" style="display:none;" rev="flattr;button:compact;" href="http://docs.python-requests.org/"></a>
+    <noscript><a href="http://flattr.com/thing/442264/Requests" target="_blank">
+    <img src="http://api.flattr.com/button/flattr-badge-large.png" alt="Flattr this" title="Flattr this" border="0" /></a></noscript>
+</p>
+
 <h3>Feedback</h3>
 <p>
   Feedback is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, comments,
@@ -20,8 +36,8 @@
 
 <h3>Useful Links</h3>
 <ul>
-  <li><a href="http://python-requests.org/">The Requests Website</a></li>
   <li><a href="http://pypi.python.org/pypi/requests">Requests @ PyPI</a></li>
   <li><a href="http://github.com/kennethreitz/requests">Requests @ GitHub</a></li>
+  <li><a href="https://flattr.com/thing/442264/Requests">Requests @ Flattr</a></li>
   <li><a href="http://github.com/kennethreitz/requests/issues">Issue Tracker</a></li>
 </ul>
diff --git a/docs/_templates/sidebarlogo.html b/docs/_templates/sidebarlogo.html
index 3b62ed23..0260ad6d 100644
--- a/docs/_templates/sidebarlogo.html
+++ b/docs/_templates/sidebarlogo.html
@@ -3,9 +3,23 @@
     <img class="logo" src="{{ pathto('_static/requests-sidebar.png', 1) }}" alt="Logo"/>
   </a>
 </p>
+<p>
+<iframe src="http://markdotto.github.com/github-buttons/github-btn.html?user=kennethreitz&repo=requests&type=watch&count=true&size=large"
+  allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="0" width="200px" height="35px"></iframe>
+</p>
 
 <p>
   Requests is an elegant and simple HTTP library for Python, built for
   human beings. You are currently looking at the documentation of the
   development release.
+</p>
+
+<h3>Support Requests</h3>
+<p>
+    If you love Requests, consider making a small donation <a href="https://flattr.com/thing/442264/Requests">on Flattr</a>:
+</p>
+<p>
+    <a class="FlattrButton" style="display:none;" rev="flattr;button:compact;" href="http://docs.python-requests.org/"></a>
+    <noscript><a href="http://flattr.com/thing/442264/Requests" target="_blank">
+    <img src="http://api.flattr.com/button/flattr-badge-large.png" alt="Flattr this" title="Flattr this" border="0" /></a></noscript>
 </p>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/_themes/kr/layout.html b/docs/_themes/kr/layout.html
index 7a9c7e0c..5e68347b 100644
--- a/docs/_themes/kr/layout.html
+++ b/docs/_themes/kr/layout.html
@@ -14,6 +14,17 @@
     <a href="https://github.com/kennethreitz/requests" class="github">
         <img style="position: absolute; top: 0; right: 0; border: 0;" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/github/ribbons/forkme_right_darkblue_121621.png" alt="Fork me on GitHub"  class="github"/>
     </a>
+    <script type="text/javascript">
+    /* <![CDATA[ */
+        (function() {
+            var s = document.createElement('script'), t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
+            s.type = 'text/javascript';
+            s.async = true;
+            s.src = 'http://api.flattr.com/js/0.6/load.js?mode=auto';
+            t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t);
+        })();
+    /* ]]> */
+    </script>
     <script type="text/javascript">
 
       var _gaq = _gaq || [];
diff --git a/docs/user/advanced.rst b/docs/user/advanced.rst
index 6a5a520f..e1b7d141 100644
--- a/docs/user/advanced.rst
+++ b/docs/user/advanced.rst
@@ -211,32 +211,33 @@ Custom Authentication
 
 Requests allows you to use specify your own authentication mechanism.
 
-When you pass our authentication tuple to a request method, the first
-string is the type of authentication. 'basic' is inferred if none is
-provided.
+Any callable which is passed as the ``auth`` argument to a request method will
+have the opportunity to modify the request before it is dispatched.
 
-You can pass in a callable object instead of a string for the first item
-in the tuple, and it will be used in place of the built in authentication
-callbacks.
+Authentication implementations are subclasses of ``requests.auth.AuthBase``,
+and are easy to define. Requests provides two common authentication scheme
+implementations in ``requests.auth``: ``HTTPBasicAuth`` and ``HTTPDigestAuth``.
 
 Let's pretend that we have a web service that will only respond if the
 ``X-Pizza`` header is set to a password value. Unlikely, but just go with it.
 
-We simply need to define a callback function that will be used to update the
-Request object, right before it is dispatched.
-
 ::
 
-    def pizza_auth(r, username):
-        """Attaches HTTP Pizza Authentication to the given Request object.
-        """
-        r.headers['X-Pizza'] = username
-
-        return r
+    from requests.auth import AuthBase
+    class PizzaAuth(AuthBase):
+        """Attaches HTTP Pizza Authentication to the given Request object."""
+        def __init__(self, username):
+            # setup any auth-related data here
+            self.username = username
+        
+        def __call__(self, r):
+            # modify and return the request
+            r.headers['X-Pizza'] = self.username
+            return r
 
 Then, we can make a request using our Pizza Auth::
 
-    >>> requests.get('http://pizzabin.org/admin', auth=(pizza_auth, 'kenneth'))
+    >>> requests.get('http://pizzabin.org/admin', auth=PizzaAuth('kenneth'))
     <Response [200]>
 
 
diff --git a/docs/user/quickstart.rst b/docs/user/quickstart.rst
index 618887f8..554afd7d 100644
--- a/docs/user/quickstart.rst
+++ b/docs/user/quickstart.rst
@@ -265,25 +265,38 @@ authentication, but the most common is HTTP Basic Auth.
 
 Making requests with Basic Auth is extremely simple::
 
+    >>> from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth
+    >>> requests.get('https://api.github.com/user', auth=HTTPBasicAuth('user', 'pass'))
+    <Response [200]>
+
+Due to the prevalence of HTTP Basic Auth, requests provides a shorthand for
+this authentication method::
+
     >>> requests.get('https://api.github.com/user', auth=('user', 'pass'))
     <Response [200]>
 
-OAuth Authentication
---------------------
+Providing the credentials as a tuple in this fashion is functionally equivalent
+to the ``HTTPBasicAuth`` example above.
 
-Miguel Araujo's `requests-oauth <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/requests-oauth>`_ project provides a simple interface for
-establishing OAuth connections. Documentation and examples can be found on the requests-oauth `git repository <https://github.com/maraujop/requests-oauth>`_.
 
 Digest Authentication
 ---------------------
 
 Another popular form of web service protection is Digest Authentication::
 
+    >>> from requests.auth import HTTPDigestAuth
     >>> url = 'http://httpbin.org/digest-auth/auth/user/pass'
-    >>> requests.get(url, auth=('digest', 'user', 'pass'))
+    >>> requests.get(url, auth=HTTPDigestAuth('user', 'pass'))
     <Response [200]>
 
 
+OAuth Authentication
+--------------------
+
+Miguel Araujo's `requests-oauth <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/requests-oauth>`_ project provides a simple interface for
+establishing OAuth connections. Documentation and examples can be found on the requests-oauth `git repository <https://github.com/maraujop/requests-oauth>`_.
+
+
 Redirection and History
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/requests/__init__.py b/requests/__init__.py
index 9d2319a5..e09c8345 100644
--- a/requests/__init__.py
+++ b/requests/__init__.py
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ requests
 """
 
 __title__ = 'requests'
-__version__ = '0.8.2'
-__build__ = 0x000802
+__version__ = '0.8.3'
+__build__ = 0x000803
 __author__ = 'Kenneth Reitz'
 __license__ = 'ISC'
 __copyright__ = 'Copyright 2011 Kenneth Reitz'
diff --git a/requests/api.py b/requests/api.py
index 9e0c96f5..0b124e03 100644
--- a/requests/api.py
+++ b/requests/api.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ This module implements the Requests API.
 
 """
 
-from .sessions import session
+from . import sessions
 
 
 def request(method, url,
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ def request(method, url,
     hooks=None,
     return_response=True,
     prefetch=False,
+    session=None,
     config=None):
     """Constructs and sends a :class:`Request <Request>`.
     Returns :class:`Response <Response>` object.
@@ -43,10 +44,11 @@ def request(method, url,
     :param allow_redirects: (optional) Boolean. Set to True if POST/PUT/DELETE redirect following is allowed.
     :param proxies: (optional) Dictionary mapping protocol to the URL of the proxy.
     :param return_response: (optional) If False, an un-sent Request object will returned.
+    :param session: (optional) A :class:`Session` object to be used for the request.
     :param config: (optional) A configuration dictionary.
     """
 
-    s = session()
+    s = session or sessions.session()
     return s.request(
         method=method,
         url=url,
diff --git a/requests/async.py b/requests/async.py
index 8bafb1ee..c91025fc 100644
--- a/requests/async.py
+++ b/requests/async.py
@@ -71,6 +71,8 @@ def map(requests, prefetch=True, size=None):
     :param size: Specifies the number of requests to make at a time. If None, no throttling occurs.
     """
 
+    requests = list(requests)
+
     if size:
         pool = Pool(size)
         pool.map(send, requests)
diff --git a/requests/auth.py b/requests/auth.py
index aabeb866..fad6eb79 100644
--- a/requests/auth.py
+++ b/requests/auth.py
@@ -16,26 +16,32 @@ from urlparse import urlparse
 from .utils import randombytes, parse_dict_header
 
 
-def http_basic(r, username, password):
-    """Attaches HTTP Basic Authentication to the given Request object.
-    Arguments should be considered non-positional.
+class AuthBase(object):
+    """Base class that all auth implementations derive from"""
 
-    """
-    username = str(username)
-    password = str(password)
-
-    auth_s = b64encode('%s:%s' % (username, password))
-    r.headers['Authorization'] = ('Basic %s' % auth_s)
-
-    return r
+    def __call__(self, r):
+        raise NotImplementedError('Auth hooks must be callable.')
 
 
-def http_digest(r, username, password):
-    """Attaches HTTP Digest Authentication to the given Request object.
-    Arguments should be considered non-positional.
-    """
+class HTTPBasicAuth(AuthBase):
+    """Attaches HTTP Basic Authentication to the given Request object."""
+    def __init__(self, username, password):
+        self.username = str(username)
+        self.password = str(password)
 
-    def handle_401(r):
+    def __call__(self, r):
+        auth_s = b64encode('%s:%s' % (self.username, self.password))
+        r.headers['Authorization'] = ('Basic %s' % auth_s)
+        return r
+
+
+class HTTPDigestAuth(AuthBase):
+    """Attaches HTTP Digest Authentication to the given Request object."""
+    def __init__(self, username, password):
+        self.username = username
+        self.password = password
+
+    def handle_401(self, r):
         """Takes the given response and tries digest-auth, if needed."""
 
         s_auth = r.headers.get('www-authenticate', '')
@@ -70,7 +76,7 @@ def http_digest(r, username, password):
             p_parsed = urlparse(r.request.url)
             path = p_parsed.path + p_parsed.query
 
-            A1 = "%s:%s:%s" % (username, realm, password)
+            A1 = "%s:%s:%s" % (self.username, realm, self.password)
             A2 = "%s:%s" % (r.request.method, path)
 
             if qop == 'auth':
@@ -95,7 +101,7 @@ def http_digest(r, username, password):
 
             # XXX should the partial digests be encoded too?
             base = 'username="%s", realm="%s", nonce="%s", uri="%s", ' \
-                   'response="%s"' % (username, realm, nonce, path, respdig)
+                   'response="%s"' % (self.username, realm, nonce, path, respdig)
             if opaque:
                 base += ', opaque="%s"' % opaque
             if entdig:
@@ -104,7 +110,6 @@ def http_digest(r, username, password):
             if qop:
                 base += ', qop=auth, nc=%s, cnonce="%s"' % (ncvalue, cnonce)
 
-
             r.request.headers['Authorization'] = 'Digest %s' % (base)
             r.request.send(anyway=True)
             _r = r.request.response
@@ -114,33 +119,6 @@ def http_digest(r, username, password):
 
         return r
 
-    r.hooks['response'] = handle_401
-    return r
-
-
-def dispatch(t):
-    """Given an auth tuple, return an expanded version."""
-
-    if not t:
-        return t
-    else:
-        t = list(t)
-
-    # Make sure they're passing in something.
-    assert len(t) >= 2
-
-    # If only two items are passed in, assume HTTPBasic.
-    if (len(t) == 2):
-        t.insert(0, 'basic')
-
-    # Allow built-in string referenced auths.
-    if isinstance(t[0], basestring):
-        if t[0] in ('basic', 'forced_basic'):
-            t[0] = http_basic
-        elif t[0] in ('digest',):
-            t[0] = http_digest
-
-    # Return a custom callable.
-    return (t[0], tuple(t[1:]))
-
-
+    def __call__(self, r):
+        r.hooks['response'] = self.handle_401
+        return r
diff --git a/requests/models.py b/requests/models.py
index 0be3e896..9ae95ca5 100644
--- a/requests/models.py
+++ b/requests/models.py
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ import zlib
 from urlparse import urlparse, urlunparse, urljoin, urlsplit
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from .auth import dispatch as auth_dispatch
 from .hooks import dispatch_hook
 from .structures import CaseInsensitiveDict
 from .status_codes import codes
 from .packages import oreos
+from .auth import HTTPBasicAuth
 from .packages.urllib3.exceptions import MaxRetryError
 from .packages.urllib3.exceptions import SSLError as _SSLError
 from .packages.urllib3.exceptions import HTTPError as _HTTPError
@@ -98,9 +98,8 @@ class Request(object):
         #: content and metadata of HTTP Response, once :attr:`sent <send>`.
         self.response = Response()
 
-        #: Authentication tuple to attach to :class:`Request <Request>`.
-        self._auth = auth
-        self.auth = auth_dispatch(auth)
+        #: Authentication tuple or object to attach to :class:`Request <Request>`.
+        self.auth = auth
 
         #: CookieJar to attach to :class:`Request <Request>`.
         self.cookies = dict(cookies or [])
@@ -231,7 +230,7 @@ class Request(object):
                     files=self.files,
                     method=method,
                     params=self.session.params,
-                    auth=self._auth,
+                    auth=self.auth,
                     cookies=cookies,
                     redirect=True,
                     config=self.config,
@@ -344,15 +343,15 @@ class Request(object):
         already been sent.
         """
 
+        # Build the URL
+        url = self.full_url
+
         # Logging
         if self.config.get('verbose'):
             self.config.get('verbose').write('%s   %s   %s\n' % (
-                datetime.now().isoformat(), self.method, self.url
+                datetime.now().isoformat(), self.method, url
             ))
 
-        # Build the URL
-        url = self.full_url
-
         # Nottin' on you.
         body = None
         content_type = None
@@ -392,12 +391,13 @@ class Request(object):
         if (content_type) and (not 'content-type' in self.headers):
             self.headers['Content-Type'] = content_type
 
-
         if self.auth:
-            auth_func, auth_args = self.auth
+            if isinstance(self.auth, tuple) and len(self.auth) == 2:
+                # special-case basic HTTP auth
+                self.auth = HTTPBasicAuth(*self.auth)
 
             # Allow auth to make its changes.
-            r = auth_func(self, *auth_args)
+            r = self.auth(self)
 
             # Update self to reflect the auth changes.
             self.__dict__.update(r.__dict__)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 17e612ba..53e770a4 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ setup(
     packages= [
         'requests',
         'requests.packages',
-        'requests.packages.urllib3'
+        'requests.packages.urllib3',
+        'requests.packages.oreos'
     ],
     install_requires=required,
     license='ISC',
diff --git a/test_requests.py b/test_requests.py
index 61953a37..7e4f146e 100755
--- a/test_requests.py
+++ b/test_requests.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import unittest
 import requests
 import envoy
 from requests import HTTPError
+from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth, HTTPDigestAuth
 
 try:
     import omnijson as json
@@ -140,7 +141,7 @@ class RequestsTestSuite(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 200)
 
 
-    def test_BASICAUTH_HTTP_200_OK_GET(self):
+    def test_BASICAUTH_TUPLE_HTTP_200_OK_GET(self):
 
         for service in SERVICES:
 
@@ -159,11 +160,34 @@ class RequestsTestSuite(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 200)
 
 
+    def test_BASICAUTH_HTTP_200_OK_GET(self):
+
+        for service in SERVICES:
+
+            auth = HTTPBasicAuth('user', 'pass')
+            url = service('basic-auth', 'user', 'pass')
+
+            r = requests.get(url, auth=auth)
+            self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 200)
+
+            auth = ('user', 'pass')
+            r = requests.get(url, auth=auth)
+            self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 200)
+
+            r = requests.get(url)
+            self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 401)
+
+
+            s = requests.session(auth=auth)
+            r = s.get(url)
+            self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 200)
+
+
     def test_DIGESTAUTH_HTTP_200_OK_GET(self):
 
         for service in SERVICES:
 
-            auth = ('digest', 'user', 'pass')
+            auth = HTTPDigestAuth('user', 'pass')
             url = service('digest-auth', 'auth', 'user', 'pass')
 
             r = requests.get(url, auth=auth)
@@ -270,7 +294,7 @@ class RequestsTestSuite(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_httpauth_recursion(self):
 
-        http_auth = ('user', 'BADpass')
+        http_auth = HTTPBasicAuth('user', 'BADpass')
 
         for service in SERVICES:
             r = requests.get(service('basic-auth', 'user', 'pass'), auth=http_auth)