I'm Eric Carroll & I'm thinking.

Two Reasons to Quit the Rat Race

Reasons you should quit the rat race:

Reason #1: You are a human (duh).

Reason #2: Rats are icky.

Why I Don’t Use Location Services

I don’t use location or check-in services because the only people that care to know where I am already have my mobile number.

Why Everything Is Dirtier - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily

Thanks to Mark Gidman for pointing out this enlightening article about laundry detergent and absurd government regulations that derail innovation and damage businesses.

From Everything is Dirtier by Jeffrey A. Tucker:

“The difference wasn’t obvious at first. But as time has gone on, other changes began to take place, like the mandates for machines that use less water (as Mark Thornton writes about), along with mandates for tepid temperatures of water in our homes. In the end, the result is dramatic. It all amounts to dirty, yellowing clothes.

This is the exact opposite of what we expect in markets, in which products are ever better and cheaper due to innovation, expansion of the division of labor, and competition. But with government regulation, the results are deliberately the opposite. We pay ever-higher prices for shoddy results.”

And how does it happen? Slowly.

“Do we see what is happening here? I can detect very little in the way of public knowledge, much less outcry. In the old Cold War days, I recall wondering how it was that the Soviet people could have put up with state-caused impoverishment for decade after decade, and wondering why people didn’t just rise up and overthrow their impoverishers. Now I’m beginning to see why. If this all happens slowly and quietly, there is no point at which the reality of cause and effect dawns on people.”

Go read the whole article. Then go buy some trisodium phosphate (TSP) (note the review on it).

iTunes Music Store Customer Service

A week or two ago, I purchased Owl City’s latest album All Things Bright and Beautiful from the iTunes Music Store. A few days later, I received an email letting me know that I overpaid for the album and that they were giving me two iTunes Music Store credits. I appreciated the offer and made a mental note to look for some songs to purchase later. I checked and, sure enough, I had two credits showing.

While I was working later that night, I received that same email again and again. Before the night was over, I had received a total of four emails. Upon checking my iTunes account, I had a total of eight credits. Obviously, there was a bug or something going on so I contacted their customer service/support to let them know about it.

I didn’t want to keep getting credits I didn’t deserve and certainly didn’t want to take advantage of the situation. Mainly, I wanted to alert them to the issue in case there was a wide-spread issue with more accounts.

I kept receiving more emails and more credits while Apple’s iTunes support team took longer than their typical 24 hour turn response time to get back with me. About a day and a half after my message to them, they responded to my message about my eight credits. Apparently, they had an influx of emails that delayed their reply. They apologized and let me know that multiple customer service reps had refunded me the credits at the same time. I was told I could keep the eight credits.

While I appreciated getting to keep the eight credits, I had to respond as I had received more emails and credits before they could respond. In total, I had received a total of 14 emails and 28 credits.

I let them know about this and they escalated it to the next level of support. I was never annoyed or anything at all, but they kept apologizing for the inconvenience (I thought it was more inconvenient for them than it was for me).

When it was all said and done, they told me to keep the 28 credits. I was impressed that they were fine with me keeping seven times the amount I was due.

Now I just have to decide on what to buy with them.