diff --git a/lib/ace/lib/dom.js b/lib/ace/lib/dom.js
index 81c9773a..4df72736 100644
--- a/lib/ace/lib/dom.js
+++ b/lib/ace/lib/dom.js
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ define(function(require, exports, module) {
 
 var XHTML_NS = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml";
 
+exports.getDocumentHead = function(doc) {
+    if (!doc)
+        doc = document;
+    return doc.head || doc.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || doc.documentElement;
+}
+
 exports.createElement = function(tag, ns) {
     return document.createElementNS ?
            document.createElementNS(ns || XHTML_NS, tag) :
@@ -134,8 +140,7 @@ exports.importCssString = function importCssString(cssText, id, doc) {
         if (id)
             style.id = id;
 
-        var head = doc.head || doc.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || doc.documentElement;
-        head.appendChild(style);
+        exports.getDocumentHead(doc).appendChild(style);
     }
 };
 
@@ -147,8 +152,7 @@ exports.importCssStylsheet = function(uri, doc) {
         link.rel = 'stylesheet';
         link.href = uri;
 
-        var head = doc.head || doc.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || doc.documentElement;
-        head.appendChild(link);
+        exports.getDocumentHead(doc).appendChild(link);
     }
 };
 
diff --git a/lib/ace/lib/net.js b/lib/ace/lib/net.js
index e125582e..3869da45 100644
--- a/lib/ace/lib/net.js
+++ b/lib/ace/lib/net.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
  */
 define(function(require, exports, module) {
 "use strict";
+var dom = require("./dom");
 
 exports.get = function (url, callback) {
     var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
@@ -22,18 +23,19 @@ exports.get = function (url, callback) {
 };
 
 exports.loadScript = function(path, callback) {
-    var head = document.head || document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];
+    var head = dom.getDocumentHead();
     var s = document.createElement('script');
 
     s.src = path;
     head.appendChild(s);
 
-    if (s.onload !== undefined)
-        s.onload = callback;
-    else
-        s.onreadystatechange = function () {
-            this.readyState == 'loaded' && callback();
-        };
+    s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function(_, isAbort) {
+        if (isAbort || !s.readyState || s.readyState == "loaded" || s.readyState == "complete") {
+            s = s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = null;
+            if (!isAbort)
+                callback();
+        }
+    };
 };
 
 });
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/_test/text_markdown.txt b/lib/ace/mode/_test/text_markdown.txt
index f3c044c6..ecaa01b9 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/_test/text_markdown.txt
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/_test/text_markdown.txt
@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@ test: header ends with '#'
 test: 6+ #s is not a valid header
 ####### foo
 test: # followed be only space is not a valid header
+# 
 test: only space between #s is not a valid header
 #  #
 
 # test links  [Cloud9 IDE](http://www.c9.io/) #
 * [demo](http://ajaxorg.github.com/ace/) 
+* usually *work* fine (_em_)
 in lists
 
 in plain text <b>http://ace.ajaxorg.com<b>
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/_test/tokens_markdown.json b/lib/ace/mode/_test/tokens_markdown.json
index 63a9650e..91f7f992 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/_test/tokens_markdown.json
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/_test/tokens_markdown.json
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@
 ],[
    "start",
   ["text","test: # followed be only space is not a valid header"]
+],[
+   "start",
+  ["text","# "]
 ],[
    "start",
   ["text","test: only space between #s is not a valid header"]
@@ -62,6 +65,13 @@
   ["markup.underline","http://ajaxorg.github.com/ace/"],
   ["text",")"],
   ["markup.list"," "]
+],[
+   "listblock",
+  ["markup.list","* usually "],
+  ["string","*work*"],
+  ["markup.list"," fine ("],
+  ["string","_em_"],
+  ["markup.list",")"]
 ],[
    "listblock",
   ["markup.list","in lists"]
diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/markdown_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/markdown_highlight_rules.js
index 39b95fc8..97d3c182 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/markdown_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/markdown_highlight_rules.js
@@ -150,12 +150,12 @@ var MarkdownHighlightRules = function() {
             token : "empty_line",
             regex : "^$",
             next  : "start"
-        }, {
-            include : "basic", noEscape: true
         }, { // list
             token : "markup.list",
             regex : "^\\s{0,3}(?:[*+-]|\\d+\\.)\\s+",
             next  : "listblock-start"
+        }, {
+            include : "basic", noEscape: true
         }, {
             defaultToken : "markup.list"
         } ],