My father-in-law, Bennat Mullen, died unexpectedly on Saturday.  He was the sweetest, gentlest and most considerate man I’ve ever known.  He could devour a challenging book or just listen to the wind in the trees with the same simple joy, wonder and engagement he brought to everything.  Bennat was that rare sort who would ask what you thought about something and then attend carefully to your answer.  He didn’t look for his next chance to speak.  He sought his next chance to listen and learn.  Bennat met all with the conviction that he could learn something from them, and like Chaucer’s Clerk from Oxford, “gladly would he learn and gladly teach.”

Education was Bennat’s lifelong passion and key to his achievements.  He came from nothing.  “Dirt poor” aptly describes his early family life.  No one before him had finished school.  Even the odd spelling of “Bennat” is legacy to his parents’ near-illiteracy.  But, thanks to the Air Force and the miracle of the G.I. Bill, Bennat Mullen rose from the hardscrabble, attended college, became a school principal, earned a Ph.D. and emerged an esteemed Professor of Education.  He made the world a better place by teaching teachers.  Who among us is not indebted for that? Continue reading →

This is one of those occasional personal posts that has nothing to do with e-discovery.  If you’re looking for the usual fare, please stop reading because this post is about lagniappes.

For the last week, I’ve been in Australia’s capital, Canberra, delivering the keynote speech at the first-ever X-Ways Forensics Users Conference and conducting a forensic witness skills workshop for the Australian Federal Police.  I flew to Australia from New Orleans, where I’d delivered three presentations in a day for the Louisiana State Bar Association.  It’s been quite the busy week; so, after a picturesque drive to Sydney this morning and bidding goodbye to my top bloke and host, Zoran Iliev, I was glad for a few moments to catch my breath in this incomparable city of bridge, bay and soaring Opera House. Continue reading →

T’was the night before Christmas
at Ball in Your Court.
Not a syllable’s stirring.
We’re sipping mulled port!

The chestnuts are roasting, the wassailing’s started;
Don’t look for a posting ‘til Santa’s departed.
Au revoir data hash, and adieu data mapping.
I really must dash– I’ve got to get wrapping!

Thank you, dear reader, for all the perusing.
I hope it’s been helpful (and sometimes amusing).
And thank you, dear reader, for sharing your comments.
I cherish them deeply, those kudos and laments.

So, chide me and check me,
be quick to correct me;
I rarely get everything right.
Till next time we dish here,
I send you this wish, dear:
Merry Christmas, y’all, and to y’all a good night.

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.

Along the right gutter of this page is a blogroll with links to the contributions of other e-discovery bloggers.  Two of the best of these are written by friends; so, I’m happy to note that Sharon Nelson’s, Ride the Lightning, and Bow Tie Law blogger Josh Gilliland’s other law blog, The Legal Geeks, have both been named to the ABA Journal’s Top 100 Blawg list. Congratulations Sharon and Josh!

But now they need our help squashing the competition like pesky bugs.

If you’re like me, you’ve spent the last few days immersed in family and feasting, and you’re looking for one more reason to delay the work that’s our last hurrah of 2013.  Here it is:

Please go to http://www.abajournal.com/blawg100 and vote for Ride the Lightning in the Legal Tech category and The Legal Geeks in the For Fun category.  It won’t take a minute or cost a penny, and you will be doing a solid to two good folks who give back so much.  Hope your Thanksgiving was delicious.

This post will have nothing to do with e-discovery or computer forensics, so feel free to pass it by.  I write this from 37°36.83’ N latitude and 025°40.65 W longitude, which puts me in the Azores, the first land I’ve seen in days, and a sign that Lisbon is less than a thousand miles away.  There are a fast diminishing two miles of Atlantic Ocean beneath our keel as we make way at 20 knots in light-to-moderate seas.

Though I would love to report that we are crossing under sail and I am at the helm; in fact, my wife and I are aboard the Royal Caribbean vessel, Liberty of the Seas on our 30^th cruise and third Atlantic crossing.  We are using the Liberty as a means to get across the pond and enjoy some quick stops in Lisbon, Seville and Barcelona before making our way north to the Netherlands to catch a flower parade in Haarlem and roam Holland and Belgium by car.

We love going to and from Europe by ship.  There’s no jet lag, and it costs less than flying while delivering a far more civilized experienced than a seat in any carrier’s first class cabin.  Plus, there is nothing more relaxing than a week in the open ocean with no land in sight save brief glimpse of Bermuda.  No port stops.  No tenders.  No excursions.  And after so many cruises, no abiding need to attend any towel folding seminars or magic shows.  No compulsion to ride the surf simulator one more time or tour the bridge.  Been there.  Done that.

Instead, I’ve enjoyed sleeping in, taking breakfast in the cabin and watching tons of movies.  A cruise vacation can be almost anything you want it to be.  It can be a social experience, or a private one.  You can eat, drink and gamble like a Barbary pirate or eat spa cuisine, take Pilates and enjoy a state-of-the-art workout facility.  There’s live music of all sorts, and something to do (or ignore) from dawn to midnight.  There are lectures and pickup basketball games and production shows.  Food is served at some venue aboard at any time, so you needn’t be a slave to the ship’s schedule.

But there is no shuffleboard, and you can skip bingo, if you wish.

If you’d like to learn more about the cruising experience, my wife contributes to a site called Cruisecritics.com under the handle “Artemis;” so, read her thorough (and thoroughly enjoyable) reviews there.  Here is our cruising experience, in case you’re seeking information on a particular vessel or line:

1. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) Liberty of the Seas – Transatlantic – April 2013
2. Celebrity Reflection – Holidays 2012
3. RCCL Freedom of the Seas – Western Caribbean – June 2012
4. RCCL Splendour of the Seas – Brazil & Argentina – Spring Break 2012
5. Pacific Sunrise – Whitsundays, Australia – November 2011
6. Cunard Queen Mary II – Westbound Transatlantic – July 2011
7. RCCL Oasis of the Seas Eastern Caribbean – Spring Break 2011
8. Celebrity Summit – Bermuda – August 2010
9. Celebrity Solstice – Eastern Caribbean – Spring Break 2010
10. Carnival Conquest – Western Caribbean – Holidays 2008
11. RCCL Liberty of the Seas – Eastern Caribbean – August 2008
12. Caribbean Princess – Eastern Caribbean – Spring Break 2008
13. Turkish Blue Cruise – Mediterranean – July 2007
14. RCCL Liberty of the Seas – 2-night pre-inaugural – May 2007
15. Grand Princess – Western Caribbean – Thanksgiving 2006
16. Carnival Conquest -– Western Caribbean – June 2006
17. Sun Princess – Southern Caribbean – Holidays 2005
18. Holland America Rotterdam – Baltics – July 2005
19. Carnival Miracle – Western Caribbean – June 2005
20. Abercrombie & Kent Sun Boat IV – Nile, Egypt – June 2004
21. Celebrity Millennium – Mediterranean – June 2004
22. RCCL Mariner of the Seas – Eastern Caribbean – Holidays 2003
23. RCCL Serenade of the Seas – Westbound Transatlantic – Maiden 08/04/03
24. Star Princess – Mexican Riviera – Holidays 2002
25. Dawn Princess – Alaska – July 2002
26. Norwegian Cruise Lines Star – Hawaii – June 2002
27. RCCL Rhapsody of the Seas – Western Caribbean – Holidays 2001 (TX-to-Aruba)
28. RCCL Rhapsody of the Seas – Western Caribbean – Holidays 2001 (Aruba-to-FL)
29. RCCL Explorer of the Seas – Eastern Caribbean – Holidays 2000
30. Norwegian Cruise Lines Sea – Western Caribbean – Holidays 1999