wget http://some.dudes.site/cool_stuff.tar
    untar cool_stuff.tar
    cd cool_stuff
    ls

Oh but whoopsy-doodle, cool_stuff comes with this extra-cool script:

    cat ./ls
    
    #!/usr/bin/my-favorite-scripting-language
    
    do_sneaky_things :with => AllOfYourStuff && `rm -rf /`

If you're diligent to

  ls cool_stuff

before changing directories, it's less of an issue. And `rm -fr /' is less likely than `rm -fr ~', since most people don't need root access to call `ls'.

But still, I don't add '.' to my path because the only time I directly reference files in my current directory, it's because of a Zsh suffix alias.