diff --git a/lib/jekyll/post.rb b/lib/jekyll/post.rb
index a7afa800..9824ef02 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/post.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/post.rb
@@ -10,6 +10,21 @@ module Jekyll
     # Valid post name regex.
     MATCHER = /^(.+\/)*(\d+-\d+-\d+)-(.*)(\.[^.]+)$/
 
+    # Attributes for Liquid templates
+    ATTRIBUTES_FOR_LIQUID = %w[
+      title
+      url
+      date
+      id
+      categories
+      next
+      previous
+      tags
+      content
+      excerpt
+      path
+    ]
+
     # Post name validator. Post filenames must be like:
     # 2008-11-05-my-awesome-post.textile
     #
@@ -39,35 +54,37 @@ module Jekyll
 
       self.categories = dir.downcase.split('/').reject { |x| x.empty? }
       self.process(name)
-      begin
-        self.read_yaml(@base, name)
-      rescue Exception => msg
-        raise FatalException.new("#{msg} in #{@base}/#{name}")
-      end
+      self.read_yaml(@base, name)
 
-      # If we've added a date and time to the YAML, use that instead of the
-      # filename date. Means we'll sort correctly.
       if self.data.has_key?('date')
-        # ensure Time via to_s and reparse
         self.date = Time.parse(self.data["date"].to_s)
       end
 
+      self.published = self.published?
+
+      self.populate_categories
+      self.populate_tags
+    end
+
+    def published?
       if self.data.has_key?('published') && self.data['published'] == false
-        self.published = false
+        false
       else
-        self.published = true
+        true
       end
+    end
 
-      self.tags = self.data.pluralized_array("tag", "tags")
-
+    def populate_categories
       if self.categories.empty?
         self.categories = self.data.pluralized_array('category', 'categories').map {|c| c.downcase}
       end
-
-      self.tags.flatten!
       self.categories.flatten!
     end
 
+    def populate_tags
+      self.tags = self.data.pluralized_array("tag", "tags").flatten
+    end
+
     # Get the full path to the directory containing the post files
     def containing_dir(source, dir)
       return File.join(source, dir, '_posts')
@@ -96,6 +113,23 @@ module Jekyll
       end
     end
 
+    # Public: the Post title, from the YAML Front-Matter or from the slug
+    #
+    # Returns the post title
+    def title
+      self.data["title"] || self.slug.split('-').select {|w| w.capitalize! || w }.join(' ')
+    end
+
+    # Public: the path to the post relative to the site source,
+    #         from the YAML Front-Matter or from a combination of
+    #         the directory it's in, "_posts", and the name of the
+    #         post file
+    #
+    # Returns the path to the file relative to the site source
+    def path
+      self.data['path'] || File.join(@dir, '_posts', @name).sub(/\A\//, '')
+    end
+
     # Compares Post objects. First compares the Post date. If the dates are
     # equal, it compares the Post slugs.
     #
@@ -212,16 +246,7 @@ module Jekyll
       return [] unless posts.size > 1
 
       if self.site.lsi
-        self.class.lsi ||= begin
-          puts "Starting the classifier..."
-          lsi = Classifier::LSI.new(:auto_rebuild => false)
-          $stdout.print("  Populating LSI... ");$stdout.flush
-          posts.each { |x| $stdout.print(".");$stdout.flush;lsi.add_item(x) }
-          $stdout.print("\n  Rebuilding LSI index... ")
-          lsi.build_index
-          puts ""
-          lsi
-        end
+        build_index
 
         related = self.class.lsi.find_related(self.content, 11)
         related - [self]
@@ -230,6 +255,19 @@ module Jekyll
       end
     end
 
+    def build_index
+      self.class.lsi ||= begin
+        puts "Starting the classifier..."
+        lsi = Classifier::LSI.new(:auto_rebuild => false)
+        $stdout.print("  Populating LSI... "); $stdout.flush
+        posts.each { |x| $stdout.print("."); $stdout.flush; lsi.add_item(x) }
+        $stdout.print("\n  Rebuilding LSI index... ")
+        lsi.build_index
+        puts ""
+        lsi
+      end
+    end
+
     # Add any necessary layouts to this post.
     #
     # layouts      - A Hash of {"name" => "layout"}.
@@ -262,18 +300,10 @@ module Jekyll
     #
     # Returns the representative Hash.
     def to_liquid
-      self.data.deep_merge({
-        "title"      => self.data["title"] || self.slug.split('-').select {|w| w.capitalize! || w }.join(' '),
-        "url"        => self.url,
-        "date"       => self.date,
-        "id"         => self.id,
-        "categories" => self.categories,
-        "next"       => self.next,
-        "previous"   => self.previous,
-        "tags"       => self.tags,
-        "content"    => self.content,
-        "excerpt"    => self.excerpt,
-        "path"       => self.data['path'] || File.join(@dir, '_posts', @name).sub(/\A\//, '') })
+      further_data = Hash[ATTRIBUTES_FOR_LIQUID.map { |attribute|
+        [attribute, send(attribute)]
+      }]
+      data.deep_merge(further_data)
     end
 
     # Returns the shorthand String identifier of this Post.