Yes, Russia does do this. Evidence has surfaced (just like Russia sending troops and equipment to invade Ukraine) of locations and the amount these people are being paid to post Russian propaganda.

The nice thing about these trolls is they are easy to spot for several reasons including:

1) They use the word fascist when describing Ukrainian leaders
2) They use the words junta and Kiev in the same sentence
3) They describe Ukrainian troops as Nazis
4) They consistently ask for proof of Russian equipment and men invading Ukraine despite giving them photos and videos from Russian state tv showing this. It's like talking to a Creationist: no matter how much evidence you have to show they're wrong, they'll never believe you
5) They talk of Eastern Ukraine being part of Russia anyway so the Ukrainian troops are actually the invaders

Once you spot these trolls, it's easy to ignore and flag them.

they are able to change their thoughts and opinions and recognize that what they're being told to think doesn't match up with reality.

Apparently all those people are dead and Putin has been able to destroy history. Despite the overwhelming evidence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the vast majority of Russians still believe one or more of the below items as told to them by Putin and his state-controlled media. Just a quick rundown of the lies encompass:

- the U.S. was behind the overthrow of Yanukovych (False. Once again our vaunted experts were surprised by the downfall of a country's leader)

- Yanukovych fleeing was the result of a U.S. coup (False. Similar to above, but slightly different as the Russians are claiming the U.S. sponsored a coup, which it wasn't. Yanukovych fled because the Ukrainian parliament abandoned him when he ordered the murder of protestors in Maidan Square)

- the current Ukrainian government are fascists (False. Fascists are people like Putin who use taxpayer money to support selected businesses or people. Also, it is well known that Putin's government orders the confiscation of personal and business property to be managed under state control. Witness the annexation of Crimea and how businesses there are feeling this effect)

- the current Ukrainian government are Nazis (False. Only one militia group, Azov battalion, is known to use Nazi symbols and/or policies in their organization. As they are not under direct control of the government, they're privately funded, to claim the entire Ukrainian government are Nazis is of course false)

- the Ukrainian government ordered attacks on Russian speakers in the East when it came to power (False. No such attacks by government forces has ever been documented, even by the people claiming such attacks.)

- the Ukrainian government shot down the Malaysian airliner (False. Substantial evidence shows the Russian-backed rebels shot down the plane thinking it was a Ukrainian military plane and then bragged about it on Twitter and elsewhere before they retracted their statements once the truth was known)

- there are no Russian troops fighting in Ukraine (False. Documented graves of dead Russian soldiers show a MINIMUM of 1,000 troops dead. Other estimates gathered by Russian mothers has put the estimate closer to 5,000. It is known 100 or so died in one incident in late 2014 around Donetsk. Further, Russian state tv showed the equivalent of Russian marines fighting at the Donetsk airport with their arm patches visible).

- Russia is not supplying equipment to the rebels (False. Near daily convoys of Russian equipment are seen crossing into Eastern Ukraine, this is in addition to equipment captured by government forces, equipment which is only manufactured in Russia and never owned by the Ukrainian military.)

Raid drives are transparently removable and can be placed in a bank vault.

The question is silly. Which language to choose depends on the task at hand, not arbitrary religion. I was using C++ when it was "C with classes", wrote books and articles about it -- and my answer is to use the tool best suited to a given task and target platform. I've used Objective C when it fits my goal. I dislike questions asked only to invent false reasons for making a choice.

... by hiring Doug Crockford back.

Why would anybody let that happen?

Pretty sure they don't need "phones".

LLAP

Nye is a dangerous undereducated idiot. Feynman was a scientist, Pauling was a scientist, Nye has a mech eng degree, a patent on ballet slippers, published no papers, his books were commercial efforts for Disney that had princesses on the cover and he's been a comedian for most of his life.

He reads what others write for him to present, he's a talking head who reads what he's paid to and does not abide by the principles of science.

My kids know more science than he does and he is the last person you want adjudicating anything to do with science.

I saw a 'gator right at the edge of the VAB parking lot last month. In a drainage ditch, up to the fence, cars parked right on the other side.

With luck, they'll start incorporating our radio transceivers. I hear that SpaceX flies with several USRPs now, so that's not completely unrealistic. That might be as close as I can get. Anyone who can get me a base invitation, though, would be greatly appreciated and I'd be happy to do some entertaining speeches while there. I need a base invite for Vandenberg, too. I got in to the official viewing site for the first try of the last launch (and that scrubbed too), but this next one is on Pad 6.

... and lined with Nokia phones.

I was in Florida to speak at Orlando Hamcation and went to see the DISCOVR launch at Kennedy Space Center. I paid $50 to be at LC-39 for the launch, an observation tower made from a disused gantry on the Nasa Causeway between the pads and the Vehicle Assembly Building. A crawler was parked next door! A hot sandwich buffet, chips, and sodas were served. It was cold and windy! I watched for a few hours and unfortunately the launch scrubbed due to high stratospheric winds.

The next day, Delaware North Corporation, which operates tourism at KSC, decided not to open LC-39 or the Saturn 5 center for the launch. This was the third launch attempt and I guess they decided most people had left. I was annoyed.

The closest beach was going to be closed in the evening, it's a sensitive ecological area. I ended up seeing the launch from Jetty Park. This turned out not to be such a great location, the tower wasn't visible at all and the first 10 seconds of the rocket in flight were obscured before we saw it over a hill.

What's a better viewing location?

Okay, good work. But in their model, do they make the assumption that everyone on the continent is trying to make for Glacier National Park? Because, now that they've told everyone that's what they should do, I think their model should account for that.

This is why we have logic analyzers.

I used to write hard drive firmware.

Here's what I would do: pull the controller board off a drive. Write a piece of software that emulates the physical drive to take it out of the equation.

You have to find a way to read the firmware. If you have to desolder a chop ad read it that's ok. Do this to many drives and eventually you'l find one of these that isn't like the other.

Now figure out what it's doing.
The firmware on those drives is not in the slightest bit complicated it's actually very straightforward.

Old SCSI drives circa late 80s is where I'd start looking.