FRONT END, BACK END, HIGH LEVEL, LOW LEVEL Part II by James Lincoln Warren Yesterday I explained the computer programming concepts spelled out in the title, but to before moving on, allow me to recapitulate. The front end of a computer application is the part that interfaces with the user of the device the application […]

FRONT END, BACK END, HIGH LEVEL, LOW LEVEL Part I by James Lincoln Warren I know you’re disappointed to see me instead of Leigh, but his computer problems are still so severe he couldn’t be with us today. And if Leigh, who was a star at IBM, has computer problems, you know that they’re pretty […]

AGAINST THE GRAIN by James Lincoln Warren I live in one of the strangest places on earth. In L.A., appearance is everything. I often wonder how living in Los Angeles falsely colors my perception of the rest of the world—inhabiting a city famous for glitz and glamor as well as for extremely localized urban discord […]

I live in Los Angeles, but my father lives in San Antonio. The other day, I got a phone call from him—he’d been cleaning out a closet in his home and come across a box full of comic books. I had bought them back in the 1970s, and he wanted to know if I wanted […]

EDITOR! EDITOR! by James Lincoln Warren I am fond of claiming that a writer without an editor is like a criminal defendant without a defense attorney. If you don’t have one, you’re probably going down. And along the same lines, the writer who steadfastly insists on being the sole editor of his own work has […]

RUM-TITTY-TITTY-TUM-TAH-TEE by James Lincoln Warren It has happened to every one of us. It’s one of those common experiences that unites all of humanity in universal experience. It probably has some deep neurological foundation, and might provide profound insight into the very nature of consciousness. If only it weren’t so damn irritating. I’m referring to […]

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN by James Lincoln Warren “Brevity,” ironically quoth Polonius (Hamlet, Act I scene ii), perhaps the most voluble windbag in all of literature, “is the soul of wit.” And as this website is called Criminal Brief, the Gentle Reader may excuse me for being uncharacteristically succinct this week. A lot of advice […]