Attack of the Brackets…
A few days back, I wrote of a problem with this blog not displaying correctly in Internet Explorer. Of course I used the opportunity to goad readers who are still stuck in the slow lane with IE to consider a better alternative browser, such as my favorite, Firefox.
After reviewing my template code, trying a different template, looking at everything under the sun that I knew to look at (that took 43 seconds), my safe fallback position engaged. WWFD? Just what the hell would Frank do? Screw it. Let ‘em eat cake. Or get Firefox. That flushed the entire matter out of my head. Aaahh… the refreshing breeze of a good catharsis… Knowing you are right, but even if you are wrong, it’s OK, because you chose to be, and that makes it right… Or something like that…
A few nights later I had a dream. And in that dream a vision came to me. A vision from hell sent by Lucifer hisownself. A vision in which I was falling, spiraling downward, being hooked and gouged and scraped and cut by the dreaded SQUARE BRACKETS… When I awoke, lathered in sweat, head spinning in panic, it came to me… “deja freaking vu”.
Once before I had visited this strange land where nothing is as it seems, where everything is out of kilter. I don’t even know what a kilter is, but it sounds good here, so I’ll stick with it. The answer back then, and the answer still, is the dreaded SQUARE BRACKETS. I like using them instead of the more pedestrian parentheses. But, alas, Word Press does not like them for some strange reason. A quick search of the last few postings uncovered a faux pas, a senior moment (which I am), a blonde moment (’cept I ain’t) in which I absently minded used the freaking SQUARE BRACKETS. Then a quick edit of that post to change the ^7y#&! freaking SQUARE BRACKETS, and my sidebar was back where it was supposed to be, conjoined up and down the spine with the main posting window.
All seems to be OK now in Firefox and IE, regardless of resolution. You Opera, Safari, and Netscape dudes and dudettes please report any problems you see so that I can once again declare to all the land: “Screw it!”
The gods are in their respective heavens. All is right with the world. Life is beautiful. Que sera, sera… Or as Chevy Chase would say, “Tierra del Fuego”…
(This post is dedicated to Joy who through her comments triggered my adrenalin and other glands into spontaneous action. Thanks, Joy!)
7 Comments so far
…and other glands….GULP. Winston, if I didn’t love the hell out of you, I’d be dying right now. Am I blushing? I think I’m blushing. I accept this dedication in the best way possible. Thanks cookie. -J.
Hallo Winston, did you really dream about your blog? Thanks for the tip, I like the square ones too.
It’s [still] OK in Opera V9.00, Winston :-]
BTW, Kilter is a fictional character, mentioned in L. Frank Baum’s book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. But that’s actually irrelevant.
“Kilter” comes from “Kelter” which is a still we use in Germany when brewing and distilling alcohol.
Thus, to be ‘out of kilter’ is to be pretty drunk, i.e. not working properly. And ‘Kelter’ probably came from ‘Kelt’ or ‘Celt’, the people distilling the mead ;-]
Stu Savory [a Celt] ;-]
JOY:
AINELIVIA: I dream IN my blog, but not about it…
STU: Thanks for the educational comment. Wondering if you pronounce it ‘kelt’ or ’selt’. The push over here is for the hard k sound, but most of us have a difficult time with that since we originally learned the soft s sound.
I use IE and it comes in perfectly. I loved your dream. Lately, I have tossed and turned and there have been no good dreams to remember and write about.
Now I know what out of kilter really means. See blogging is so educational.
No square brackets?? That would drive me crazy–because I follow the convention, common to journalists (even ex ones) to edit something within quoted text to conform to grammar, tense or what have you.
And here I’m thinking of going to Wordpress. I’m with you: Why doesn’t the world just get off IE?
Thanks for the heads-up.
{][][]]]]}}}{{[[these? i don’t think i have ever used them..since i started the traveling down memory lane posts..i dream about my blog all the time..i write it in my sleep, i dream about what i have written and some times i have nightmares about the posts…should i seek help? JOY brings joy…she da woman…