Emotional about Google Emojis

UPDATE:  After updating my browser, options to turn of the ugly ducklings appeared as a selector drop down next to my hangout name.  Still, if you move options to another place, at least leave a forwarding address! (This is why I hate upgraded stuff.  One forever has to hunt around to figure out wither stuff went --- the only thing I enjoy looking for is Easter Eggs...!)

Update to the update:  The ducks are back.  My side of the chat displays duck free, but now, people sending me emoticons still cause a duck invasion on my screen.  Solution:  revert to the old hangout, lose Hangout groups.  Oh well, there's always IRC for group chats I guess.

8():

If you're using Google hangouts or Gmail, you probably have noticed the invasion of hideous blobs that look like demented rubber ducks, where once classic smilies graced your mails and other utterances.

And there is no way of turning this 'feature' off, neither in gmail nor in hangout.

Ve hav ways and mezzods of making you use our stoopid design.

Nope. Not. Even. For. Free.  And not even if you paid me. Gerrroffff my lawn!!!1!!!

(Why so angry?)

I dunno.  It's an invasion of my personal space, and whilst I'm all for new inventions, I don't like being dictated to.  Plus, did I mention those emojis simply are hideous?

And yes, I also resent the waste of time of me having to research and then set up a new email client.

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, here is a comprehensive collection of kiddie chic eyesores, in their full gory:

Git being a git.

I needed to revert a commit I made.

So....

$ git revert 83720d9ddad4d1021e3cf0b416ebd7a761771cae
Please supply the message using either -m or -F option.

$ git revert 83720d9ddad4d1021e3cf0b416ebd7a761771cae -m "Revert mistaken approach"
error: switch `m' expects a numerical value

$ git revert -m "Revert mistaken approach" 83720d9ddad4d1021e3cf0b416ebd7a761771cae
error: switch `m' expects a numerical value

(writes logmesg file...)

$git revert 83720d9ddad4d1021e3cf0b416ebd7a761771cae -F logmesg

fatal: bad revision 'logmesg'

$ git revert -F logmesg 83720d9ddad4d1021e3cf0b416ebd7a761771cae 

fatal: bad revision 'logmesg'

Grrr.

All that was needed was to simply: 

$ git revert 83720d9ddad4d1021e3cf0b416ebd7a761771cae

$ git commit -a -m "Revert mistaken approach"

Moral: Don't believe everything you read.  Especially not error messages.

How to make bug hunting difficult (Professional Edition)

Step One:  Write a snazzy system error report GUI.

Step Two:  Be sure to not allow 'select all'.

Step Three: Do not enable copy and paste.

(Yes you can take screenshots.  But really. )

I'm giving up on Python

Python is a pretty language in general, it has lots of very cool features and there is a lot to like.

But, is has no braces.

It's uneditable, unless you want to spend hours hitting the TAB button,  taking great care not to introduce unnecessary errors.

You cannot move code around trivially.

You cannot auto-indent it.

It's like using a chisel and a granite slab to code.  Or driving a Ferrari in England.  Or hiking in high heels.

No, Nein, Нет, Non, Naï, לא, Nej, Nee, 无,  Minime, いいえ, NOPE.

(I have no issues with editing an existing Python program. Just wouldn't code a whole one.)

Google Chrome Scrollbar Annoyance

For some reason, it was decided that web developers get to set the width of the Chrome scrollbar.

That's like allowing the petrol station to reset the width of my steering wheel.

I do not see a reason why users are expected to trawl the web for a fix and get lucky that the nth enigmatic recipe or extension works, or are advised to fiddle around with CSS code in order to restore a core functionality that should be set at OS level.

If I cannot trivially make it work, then lots of people won't either. 

*grump*

Ps.: How much user time is wasted on this 'feature'? 

Programming a bunny to test the sheep's programming

I like the way he goes to nip the sheep's legs the moment they get uppity --- that bunny learned well from the dog's example!

On another, unrelated note, this time about naff UIs:

Google now helpfully tries to force users to 'add' an unrelated account to their list of your accounts, which is something you find out if you have a guest who wants to use your computer to check their email.

The only way to prevent Google from linking both your accounts for eternity is to remove your all cookies and then your guest can log in unmolested.

Of course you then need to delete all your cookies once more afterwards if you want to log in with your account again,  what a waste of user's time!

Maybe Google should leave herding to the rabbits...