1) Believe me, I refreshed like, like cold beer on a hot day. I also switched templates several times before reactivating Kubrick to make sure I was forcing a proper refresh.
2) I chmod every time I upload.
3) I have also tried copying the original style.css file alone to my themes directory. The problem persists.
In response to your question: No, not WordPress – I deleted the theme’s directory, i.e. themes/default and uploaded it again. More than once, I think, in my frenzied attempts to RESTORE ORDER.