diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/kramdown_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/kramdown_parser.rb
index b4237881..be9e80b4 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/kramdown_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/kramdown_parser.rb
@@ -14,14 +14,10 @@ module Jekyll
         def convert(content)
           # Check for use of coderay
           if @config['kramdown']['use_coderay']
-            @config['kramdown'].merge!({
-              :coderay_wrap               => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_wrap'],
-              :coderay_line_numbers       => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_line_numbers'],
-              :coderay_line_number_start  => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_line_number_start'],
-              :coderay_tab_width          => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_tab_width'],
-              :coderay_bold_every         => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_bold_every'],
-              :coderay_css                => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_css']
-            })
+            %w[wrap line_numbers line_numbers_start tab_width bold_every css default_lang].each do |opt|
+              key = "coderay_#{opt}"
+              @config['kramdown'][key.to_sym] = @config['kramdown']['coderay'][key] unless @config['kramdown'].has_key?(key)
+            end
           end
 
           Kramdown::Document.new(content, @config["kramdown"].symbolize_keys).to_html
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb b/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
index d2302d4d..5f493800 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
@@ -84,6 +84,16 @@ module Jekyll
       raise e
     end
 
+    # Convert this Convertible's data to a Hash suitable for use by Liquid.
+    #
+    # Returns the Hash representation of this Convertible.
+    def to_liquid(attrs = nil)
+      further_data = Hash[(attrs || self.class::ATTRIBUTES_FOR_LIQUID).map { |attribute|
+        [attribute, send(attribute)]
+      }]
+      data.deep_merge(further_data)
+    end
+
     # Recursively render layouts
     #
     # layouts - a list of the layouts
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/page.rb b/lib/jekyll/page.rb
index bbdeb868..dd602a03 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/page.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/page.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,13 @@ module Jekyll
     attr_accessor :name, :ext, :basename
     attr_accessor :data, :content, :output
 
+    # Attributes for Liquid templates
+    ATTRIBUTES_FOR_LIQUID = %w[
+      url
+      content
+      path
+    ]
+
     # Initialize a new Page.
     #
     # site - The Site object.
@@ -108,21 +115,16 @@ module Jekyll
       do_layout(payload, layouts)
     end
 
-    # Convert this Page's data to a Hash suitable for use by Liquid.
-    #
-    # Returns the Hash representation of this Page.
-    def to_liquid
-      self.data.deep_merge({
-        "url"        => self.url,
-        "content"    => self.content,
-        "path"       => self.data['path'] || path })
-    end
-
     # The path to the source file
     #
     # Returns the path to the source file
     def path
-      File.join(@dir, @name).sub(/\A\//, '')
+      self.data.fetch('path', self.relative_path.sub(/\A\//, ''))
+    end
+
+    # The path to the page source file, relative to the site source
+    def relative_path
+      File.join(@dir, @name)
     end
 
     # Obtain destination path.
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/post.rb b/lib/jekyll/post.rb
index 54e9fa47..291921ff 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/post.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/post.rb
@@ -3,10 +3,6 @@ module Jekyll
     include Comparable
     include Convertible
 
-    class << self
-      attr_accessor :lsi
-    end
-
     # Valid post name regex.
     MATCHER = /^(.+\/)*(\d+-\d+-\d+)-(.*)(\.[^.]+)$/
 
@@ -109,18 +105,19 @@ module Jekyll
     #
     # Returns excerpt string.
     def excerpt
-      if self.data.has_key? 'excerpt'
-        self.data['excerpt']
-      else
-        self.extracted_excerpt.to_s
-      end
+      self.data.fetch('excerpt', self.extracted_excerpt.to_s)
     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(' ')
+      self.data.fetch("title", self.titleized_slug)
+    end
+
+    # Turns the post slug into a suitable title
+    def titleized_slug
+      self.slug.split('-').select {|w| w.capitalize! || w }.join(' ')
     end
 
     # Public: the path to the post relative to the site source,
@@ -130,7 +127,12 @@ module Jekyll
     #
     # Returns the path to the file relative to the site source
     def path
-      self.data['path'] || File.join(@dir, '_posts', @name).sub(/\A\//, '')
+      self.data.fetch('path', self.relative_path.sub(/\A\//, ''))
+    end
+
+    # The path to the post source file, relative to the site source
+    def relative_path
+      File.join(@dir, '_posts', @name)
     end
 
     # Compares Post objects. First compares the Post date. If the dates are
@@ -269,16 +271,6 @@ module Jekyll
       path
     end
 
-    # Convert this post into a Hash for use in Liquid templates.
-    #
-    # Returns the representative Hash.
-    def to_liquid(attrs = ATTRIBUTES_FOR_LIQUID)
-      further_data = Hash[attrs.map { |attribute|
-        [attribute, send(attribute)]
-      }]
-      data.deep_merge(further_data)
-    end
-
     # Returns the shorthand String identifier of this Post.
     def inspect
       "<Post: #{self.id}>"
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/site.rb b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
index 7f2cda2e..9be1e0ae 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/site.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
@@ -13,20 +13,14 @@ module Jekyll
     def initialize(config)
       self.config          = config.clone
 
-      self.safe            = config['safe']
+      %w[safe lsi pygments baseurl exclude include future show_drafts limit_posts keep_files].each do |opt|
+        self.send("#{opt}=", config[opt])
+      end
+
       self.source          = File.expand_path(config['source'])
       self.dest            = File.expand_path(config['destination'])
       self.plugins         = plugins_path
-      self.lsi             = config['lsi']
-      self.pygments        = config['pygments']
-      self.baseurl         = config['baseurl']
       self.permalink_style = config['permalink'].to_sym
-      self.exclude         = config['exclude']
-      self.include         = config['include']
-      self.future          = config['future']
-      self.show_drafts     = config['show_drafts']
-      self.limit_posts     = config['limit_posts']
-      self.keep_files      = config['keep_files']
 
       self.reset
       self.setup
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/include.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/include.rb
index ce1350b1..74858b0a 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/include.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/include.rb
@@ -51,6 +51,18 @@ eos
       def render(context)
         includes_dir = File.join(context.registers[:site].source, '_includes')
 
+        return error if error = validate_file(includes_dir)
+
+        source = File.read(File.join(includes_dir, @file))
+        partial = Liquid::Template.parse(source)
+
+        context.stack do
+          context['include'] = parse_params(context) if @params
+          partial.render(context)
+        end
+      end
+
+      def validate_file(includes_dir)
         if File.symlink?(includes_dir)
           return "Includes directory '#{includes_dir}' cannot be a symlink"
         end
@@ -59,19 +71,11 @@ eos
           return "Include file '#{@file}' contains invalid characters or sequences"
         end
 
-        Dir.chdir(includes_dir) do
-          choices = Dir['**/*'].reject { |x| File.symlink?(x) }
-          if choices.include?(@file)
-            source = File.read(@file)
-            partial = Liquid::Template.parse(source)
-
-            context.stack do
-              context['include'] = parse_params(context) if @params
-              partial.render(context)
-            end
-          else
-            "Included file '#{@file}' not found in _includes directory"
-          end
+        file = File.join(includes_dir, @file)
+        if !File.exists?(file)
+          return "Included file #{@file} not found in _includes directory"
+        elsif File.symlink?(file)
+          return "The included file '_includes/#{@file}' should not be a symlink"
         end
       end
     end