There are several free short URL scripts for your own domain out there. Which one do you recommend, which one is secure enough and prevents such simple exploits at least?
You, in contrast don't even "look knowledgeable". You're just rude.
I've found a link for you with just one Google search, which refers to cases like that. Even worse these banks don't even need to go bust to force you out of your home.
I know, it's easier to troll than to research yourself:
I didn't say ANYTHING about "mortgages". I was referring to the financial crisis as a whole. Please mind what I said not what you thought I have said.
According to your financial crisis definition "People lost their homes because they couldn't pay the mortgage." you might as well say that it rains because water comes down from the sky.
So what did he do with the 18k? Buy ice cream? You probably mean that he didn't finance the whole house with this money but this does not mean that you can't do it.
Please read this for some basic understanding my dear non-"idiotic" friend:
"The root cause for the current crisis seems to be the excessive use of leverage.
To take an example, a company with a net worth of US$ 25 billion borrowed 26 times its net worth and creates leveraged funds of US$ 650 billion to invest or lend them. When a small portion of the company's investments turns bad, as is the norm for the industry, the company's capital is under threat. To put things in perspective a 3.8 percent misjudgment in their books was enough to wipe out their shareholders' capital of $ US 25 billion."
"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3.""
Just because many people agree with you doesn't mean you are right. It's often opportunism. M$ will surely try block it, either technically or by law. For the uninitiated M$ is the short version for Microsoft.
I may be childish, but it has been the unofficial acronym for at least a decade so obviously whole generations of children use it.
Last but not least: Voting everything down you don't agree with is childish. I argue with people and don't vote them down like some bury brigade just because I disagree.
Sorry, I don't want to explain the financial crisis to you but in short it was something like this: The financial system broke down, banks either went bankrupt or had to be rescued by tax payer money.
As a result of the financial crisis many people lost their homes. Maybe that was too complex for you to understand the connection and you still trust your bank. That's OK for you, it's your choice. Still many people don't trust banks anymore with good reason.
Last time I said that GMail is unreliable and thus you should not use it for crucial communications I was downvoted by at least a 12 people. I wonder if those people believe it when CNN tells you it's repeatedly broken.
Unless of course many HN readers work at Google ;-)
The problem with sites like LinkedIn is that they own your name and can sell it back to you. When you use them they own your contacts as well and will stop you from contacting your peers when you don't pay (LinkedIn competitor Xing already did that to some users).
Before we reach the age of data portability or proper ownership of data you have to limit the power of third parties over your name. You have to use those services or someone else might do for you unofficially but you have to keep your name and contacts to yourself.
So basically you need a good SEO and CRM strategy where you own your name and contacts yourself independently of services like LinkedIn or Facebook.