Please check out my new video on YouTube.  Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mo2KJKRAP8

This is the last working day of 2007 and for me, I didn't feel like getting out of bed.  It snowed here again last night, a clumpy, wet snow that had mostly already melted when I opened my window this morning.  The window framed a listless landscape of mostly black and white, all color seemingly lost to the inevitable onset of winter, and Mother Nature's cold breath blowing from the ice caps at the top of the world.

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Lustful moments frozen in meaningless time

lodged neath icy borders of meaningful rime

have thus our lost fantasies frought

banned from our hearts but not from our thoughts

Wilder-2007

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Christmas Day, It was 64 degrees in Edmond.  Today, as I hear Patch barking in the back yard, I gaze out the window and notice that it is snowing, the ground already white.

Growing up in the warmer and more predicable climes of Louisiana, it took me a while to get used to the rapid weather changes we have here in Oklahoma.  Those of us that live here joke about it but to our State's weather predictors it must be a nightmare.

They don't wake up in a cold lather worrying about it, though because they are usually already awake, chasing tornados and wild storms, and reporting their impending paths to frightened Okies.

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Old red sandstone house in eastern Logan County, Oklahoma.  The long-abandoned house sits on a hill overlooking the nearby Cimarron River.

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Ghana Leader: Oil Reserves at 3B Barrels: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance.

Authors r. r. bryan and Eric Wilder behind the wellhead of a recently completed gas well in Major County, Oklahoma.

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Here is a picture of a hidden swimming hole on the edge of a pasture in Noble County, Oklahoma.  It is a hundred feet or so from a recently completed Herington gas well.

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I awoke this morning to learn that my family and I were not the only ones affected by Oklahoma Ice Storm 2007.  Tonight, 618,000 people are without electric power, hotels and motels filled to capacity.  I drove through much of Oklahoma City today and was surprised at the damage I observed.  Branches from broken trees littered yards and roadways.  What's in store?  A major winter snow storm this Friday.  Okies are tough but it's cold so please say a little prayer for Oklahoma.

http://www.ericwilder.com  http://www.gondwanapress.com 

Bloomberg.com: Energy

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I wasn’t born yet on this date in 1941, but those alive at the time remember vividly the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Franklin Roosevelt called it “the day that will live in infamy.”

One of the reasons cited for the Japanese attack was because the U.S. had halted oil exports to the oil-starved island nation.

The “Greatest Generation” gave up its beliefs in isolationism and quickly rose to the occasion. What ensued was the greatest war ever fought in the history of this world.

Today is Pearl Harbor Day and I beg those of you like me - those not around during World War II - to remember your parent’s, and your grandparent’s sacrifices because, truly, without them you would now be living in a third-world country, praying to a strange God and enduring the tyranny of an unsympathetic ruler. Remember their bravery.

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Someone sent this to me today.  Very interesting.

$100 oil. Will this be the iceberg that rips open the prow of our economy? Perhaps I have an odd take on this, but when I look at 'C' note oil I still see a bargain for the user. Consider what petroleum provides us: hours of additional leisure each day, freedom from the exhaustion of providing our own locomotion, travel in relative comfort instead of exposure to the elements. And is $100 really all that much for 42 gallons of freedom? Consider some other liquids:

Coke Zero (NYSE: KO): a barrel of oil holds 42 gallons, or 5,376 oz. A 12-oz Coke Zero at vending machine prices would cost $448 a barrel.

Deer urine: Used by hunters to attract their prey, runs $10 for 2 oz. for the good stuff, fresh from a buck in rut, from Timber Valley Freshscent ("100% Fresh Urine. Shipped Cold From Our Deer To Your Door."), or $26,880 per barrel.

Starbucks latte (NASDAQ:SBUX): at around $4 for a 12-ouncer, this black gold will set you back $1,792 a barrel.

Whiskas: a milk specially made for lactose-intolerant cats sells for $1.29 for a 6.75 oz box. A barrel would retail for $1,027.

And while oil provides essential transport, it pales by comparison with fluids that offer divine regard. In that respect, how could one complain about the cost of a Transparent Virgin Mary full of water from Lourdes, the site of St. Bernadette's miracle. The bottle sells for a mere $26.71 for 350 ml, or roughly $11,996 a barrel.

Oil -- it seems like a bargain to me.

Barrel of home printer ink: $114,508

Barrel of Dom. Romane Conti 1997: $325,946

Barrel of 12oz. Cokes: $448

Barrel of holy water from Lourdes : $11,996

Oil -- it seems like a bargain to me.

http://www.ericwilder.com  http://www.gondwanapress.com

I just finished watching a frustrating day of college football where the top two teams in the nation bit the dust.  Does college football need a playoff?  Hello!!  For those of you that care, here is the Wilder Final Football Poll, at least the top five:

1. Arkansas
2. ULM
3. Appalachian State
4. Pittsburg
5. Texas Tech

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