it was courtneycakes - i don't know how that could be deemed inappropriate. but your comment did lead me into my other issue, which is that safari opens blank pages for any website i go to, including icloud. to see what might be going on, i sent the url to open in the view source app, and it showed some odd-looking data, which i'll paste here....
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="base-uri 'self' *.icloud.com *.icloud.com.cn; default-src 'none'; script-src 'self' 'sha256-+EzdkhdyoQE+d4iZq8H4QFbKPEouacBTNYRb5lsSW5k=' 'sha256-8TF1wA3U/oTfoceHyT8ZFggaPO1fnlBkATd0AjB70oc=' 'sha256-BntKjHrcVBVtPpjTqmF6ncxwFx6jYqpliXQouRhIkTg='; style-src 'self'; img-src 'self'; media-src 'self'; font-src 'self'; connect-src 'self' *.icloud.com *.icloud.com.cn; frame-src 'self'; form-action 'self' *.icloud.com *.icloud.com.cn; child-src blob: 'self'"><meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"><!--[if IE 7
]><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
var IEengine = 7;
</script><!
[endif]--><!--[if IE 8
]><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
var IEengine = 8;
</script><!
[endif]--><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="../resources/images/touch-icon-pad-retina"><link rel="stylesheet" href="/static_pages/unsupported_mobile/2417Project28/en-us/styles.css"><script type="text/javascript" src="/static_pages/unsupported_mobile/2417Project28/en-us/bundle.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">var B,Browser=B=function(){for(var e=navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase(),t=((e.match(/.+(?:rv|it|ra|ie)[\/: ]([\d.]+)/)||[])[1]||"").split("."),i=0;i<t.length;i++)t[i]=parseInt(t[i],10);for(vara=0,i=0;i<t.length;i++)a+=Math.pow(10,3*(0-i))*t[i];t=a,e={mobileSafari:/apple.*mobile.*safari/.test(e)?t:NaN,iPad:!!/ipad/.test(e)&&!!/applewebkit/.test(e)&&parseFloat(e.substring(e.indexOf("os ")+"os ".length,e.indexOf(" like mac os x")).split("_").join(".")),iPhone:!!/iphone/.test(e)&&!!/applewebkit/.test(e)&&parseFloat(e.substring(e.indexOf("os ")+"os ".length,e.indexOf(" like mac os x")).split("_").join(".")),android:!!/android/.test(e)};returne.iPhone=e.iPhone||e.android,e}();BUILD_INFO={buildNumber:"2417Project28",buildLocale:"en-us"}</script><title>Your browser is not currently supported.</title><script type="text/javascript">functioncreateCORSRequest(e,t){var s=new XMLHttpRequest;return"withCredentials"in s?(s.open(e,t,!0),s.withCredentials=!0):s=null,s.setRequestHeader("Content-type","text/plain"),s}function showSignOutIfUserSignedIn(){vare=createCORSRequest("POST","https://setup.icloud.com/setup/ws/1/validate");e&&(e.onload=function(e){var t,s=e.target||e.currentTarget,n=s.status,e=s.responseText;200===n&&(s='<div class="user-signed-in">You are signed in as:<div class="user-name">%{userName}</div><div class="user-sign-out">Sign Out</div></div>',e=(n=JSON.parse(e)).dsInfo.fullName.replace(/&/g,"&").replace(/</g,"<").replace(/>/g,">").replace(/"/g,"""),t=n.dsInfo.hsaEnabled,s=s.replace(/%\{userName\}/g,e),document.querySelector(".user-details").innerHTML=s,document.querySelector(".user-signed-in .user-sign-out").addEventListener("ontouchstart"in window?"touchend":"click",function(){var e=createCORSRequest("POST","https://setup.icloud.com/setup/ws/1/logout");e.onload=function(e){200===(e.target||e.currentTarget).status&&document.querySelector(".user-details").remove()},e.send(JSON.stringify(t?{trustBrowser:!1}:{}))}))},e.send())}showSignOutIfUserSignedIn()</script></head><body><div class="wrapper"><div unselectable="on" class="main error"><span class="cloudy"></span><div unselectable="on" class="subject message-text">Your browser is not currently supported.</div><div unselectable="on" class="caption message-text">Try using another browser. You may also be able to use iCloud with the mail, contacts and calendar apps on your device.</div><div class="footer-details"><div class="status-div"><a class="footer-message learn-more-text" href="http://www.apple.com/icloud/get-started">Learn More </a><a class="footer-message learn-more-icon" href="http://www.apple.com/icloud/get-started"></a></div><div class="user-details"></div><div unselectable="on" class="copyright">Copyright © %{year} Apple Inc. All rights reserved.</div><script type="text/javascript">vardate,year,copyright,copyrights=document.getElementsByClassName("copyright");copyrights.length&&(year=(date=new Date).getFullYear(),(copyright=copyrights[0]).innerText=copyright.innerText.replace(/%\{year\}/g,year))</script></div></div></div></body></html>
i should also note that i tried logging into the icloud website in four other browsers, and each one opened to a page that said my browser isn't supported.
