I've been on mailing lists before, and take it for granted that "unsubscribe" means "right now". For Microsoft, it means "within the next 10 days". I wonder, is that business days or calendar days?

I submitted feedback to Microsoft a while ago as part of a survey they were doing, I don't even remember what it was. But every now and then, they send me additional survey requests. I got another one today and finally made the effort to click "unsubscribe". A moment later, I received the following automated email response:

From: winsurv@microsoft.com Subject: Windows Feedback Program removal confirmation Date: November 27, 2008 2:49:44 PM CST To: ******************

We have received your request to leave the automated feedback program and survey feedback program. Your request will be processed within the next 10 days.

I just took the Test of Civic Literacy. There are 33 questions, some of which were a little challenging, while others were just.... not challenging.

For example:

21) Name two countries that were our enemies during World War II.
A. Canada and Mexico
B. Germany and Japan
C. England and Spain
D. China and Russia

According to their survey results, ~67% of respondents answered correctly. That means 33% got it wrong! Think about that. Roughly 1 in 3 people could not figure out the answer! I knew there were stupid people in this country, but this shouldn't even count as being smart. Everyone should just blurt this one out, no thought required. Canada and Mexico? w.t.f.

Another stunning question...

28) A progressive tax:
A. encourages more investment from those with higher incomes
B. is illustrated by a 6% sales tax
C. requires those with higher incomes to pay a higher ratio of taxes to income
D. requires every income class to pay the same ratio of taxes to income
E. earmarks revenues for poverty reduction

1 in 2 people answered this incorrectly. Now, maybe this one is a little "harder", requires some reasoning if you aren't sure what "progressive tax" means. But the respondents included elected officials (at some point in time, at various levels, doesn't specify exactly which positions). And they break down the results explicitly:

• 49.97% elected officials got this correct, which means
  
• 50.03% got it wrong!!
  

Again, we're talking about elected officials.

If 1 in 2 elected officials are incapable of deducing the correct answer from the choices presented, how can they figure anything else out? And these people are in charge of our government? This is like a really twisted, sick joke.

By the way, the survey results state the following:

Of the 2,508 People surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their life. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, compared to 49% for those who have not held an elected office. Officeholders are less likely than other respondents to correctly answer 29 of the 33 test questions.