It's been five years since Penn Jillette announced the end of his radio show, and it's funny to think back on the things about me that have changed since then.  Hearing Penn and Michael Goudeau again having the same kinds of interesting conversations that hooked me back in 2006 has really brought a lot of things back to me.

For one thing, I'd almost forgotten how fun it was to listen to Penn in this kind of format.  In the intervening years, I've learned new things, changed my opinions on some matters, and tried to develop my thoughts and arguments about issues that I care about.  But what has seemed to remain constant is how even though I don't always agree with Penn, when I do agree with him it's almost spooky how much the man mirrors my thoughts.

When he said that hate crimes were thought crimes, that was awesome because I've said the exact same thing in many discussions and have never heard the argument coming from anybody else's mouth.  And I've made the argument before that people should be able to hire or fire employees for whatever reasons they want.

And Penn's thoughts on the kid who committed suicide and how it was unfair to convict the asshole who posted the video really resonated with me.

But even when I disagree with him, he's fun to listen to.  My favourite podcasts are the ones where you can disagree with the host without feeling like you're being insulted for doing so.  Penn's one of those people who manages to pull it off beautifully, and that's something I hope to accomplish with my own podcasts as well.

Anyway, I'm happy to be listening to Penn and Goudeau once more.  It may be only once a week now, but I listen to a lot of other podcasts these days so I'm not sure if I could handle five times a week anymore.  But even just this much is like being re-acquainted with an old friend.