guess I'll just have to wait some more. I think I will install a clean copy of the current Firefox browser and see if I can get it actually to work decently with os x. I gave up on it when it started crashing every three minutes or so and/or just going so slow that it seemed to have crashed. Safari is quicker and leaner but Firefox's extensibility can't be beat. but I wonder to what extent that is a double-edged sword: it seems to slow down noticeably once I add a very modest number of extensions, or that's what it used to do. will see what happens if I put everything I want on it new from scratch.
I can get a crepe before going home. I should probably find something to do for about half an hour after that so as not to increase my chances of seasickness on BART.