Do not by any means assume that "most" people will understand the reference to David and Goliath. Trust me, I know. The odds are far better than even that most people will not get it.

Few people read the Bible any more, even church people. They might read stuff that other people wrote about something in the Bible.

And since the vast majority of Americans almost never attend church, guess what that means for the average Joe getting references such as David & Goliath?

One of those uncommon folks whose site doesn't have an RSS link- and where I regret the lack of same...

Jerry is a Man for All Seasons in all things.

Actually, Pournelle's site does have an atom feed: http://www.jerrypournelle.com/atom.xml

Pournelle's "A Step Farther Out" makes up an embarrassingly large part of my world-view (well, that and Starship Troopers, but let's not get into that right now). Reading A Step Farther Out in the midst of the early 80's gloom and doom was a breath of fresh for this Western Canadian lad. All around me, the media was saying that we'd die because that durn cowboy in the White House was going to blow us up or we'd die because of overpopulation or we'd die because of acid rain, and here was this science fiction author telling me in this silly little book that not only would the human race survive, but we'd survive with STYLE.

Hope wasn't in great abundance back in 1981, but it was in that book, and to this day I still treasure the words that I read back then.

Mr Pournelle is very much worth reading daily.

I'd love to have a tenth of his intelligence, education and wisdom.

I agree with your high opinion of Jerry Pournelle.

I've had the privilege of knowing Jerry and his sweet wife Roberta for over 25 years (my wife and I visited them at their home just last summer). Jerry is brilliant and incredibly well-read. He has an amazing memory and a broad-yet-detailed grasp of history on the order of Victor Davis Hanson. His politics are a bit more complex and harder to pigeon-hole than is apparent to those try to dismiss him as a right-wing curmudgeon. And while I don't always agree with Jerry, I'd think three times before taking him on in a debate -- he'd mop the floor with me.

Thanks for the shout out to him; he deserves to be more widely read. ..bruce..

Does Jerry still carry a sword cane?

@Corrector: Thank you. I am in your debt.