If thou seeketh the old home page of The Vision at Harvard, Volume VII, then click here.

This page is dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks, and to the courage of the New York City police and fire departments whose members braved the ultimate danger in the course of duty. Their valor shall never be forgotten.

Hi there, unsuspecting Web surfer. Somehow, due to some horrible misalignment of the stars or a punishment for being personally ousted by Donald Trump's grandson on Apprentice Season 36, you've managed to wander over to my Website. Or maybe you were just looking for a little pit stop on your latest voyage through the wild dirt roads of the information superhighway, and followed the neon signs on that search engine. (Hey, we all get lost sometimes.) Whatever the reason, I, Wes Ulm, your friendly neighborhood Webmaster, will do my utmost to make your little sojourn here enjoyable while you're waiting for Ebay or Amazon to load up on that browser of yours.

I'm an MD/PhD graduate of Harvard Medical School and a resident in pediatrics at UCLA medical center.  (It's very complicated.)  But I don't want this page to be about what I live and breathe every day-- that's my meal ticket, after all. I have a few general-interest articles on the art and science of medicine here, as well as some techie-ish articles on matters close to my clinical and scientific heart (gene therapy, novel management strategies for multi-drug resistant neoplastic disease, and many other topics that will bring you many vexed and puzzled looks at cocktail parties).  However, this Website is mostly for all the other topics that for inexplicable reasons has occupied my attention at 2 in the morning in years past.  In fact, since I'll soon be starting my residency, most of what you see on this site will be from years past-- original contributions will, uh, be on hold for a little while.  Articles on history and linguistics, two longtime passions, that I hope will be both interesting and useful for you. Also some trivia, philosophy, fiction, policy, movies, music, and other little odds-and-ends that the World Wide Web was just tailor-made for.

N.B.:  Unless otherwise stated, all material on this Webpage and all subsidiary pages is copyrighted, ©2003- by Wes Ulm.  Feel free to cite any writing contained herein as “Wes Ulm’s homepage, Harvard University Personal Website”

Again, if you're looking for The Vision Vol. VII homepage, it's right here.

Wes's Wild and Woolly History Section

Looking for a page on history that makes it jump off the (Web)page? Something that demonstrates the relevance of ancient events to our modern world and answers all those nagging "I wonder how..." questions? A page that seriously boasts a section called "sleeper history," about lesser-known historical events and figures that have had a massive impact on the course of world events? A page that'll help you finally win back that "I got broke and wasted in Las Vegas" T-shirt from your buddy via a well-placed (and well-informed) bet in Trivial Pursuit? Well, this is the page for you. I've been writing historical essays for over a dozen years now, dating back to college, and some of my articles have been gathered together in book form. On this site, I've put together some of my amassed writings to provide some readily readable and digestible historical goodies, all those cool political movements and individuals and battles that you never encountered in school, but which continue to exert their effects on the modern world.

Wes's Languages and Linguistics Page

Ever had that burning urge to just plunge in and learn a dozen foreign languages or so? Nah, I didn't think so, but for reasons inexplicable even to him, your friendly neighborhood webmaster did. And he's got a section tailor-made for the aspiring multilingualist in you. My Languages section uses my own (not-yet) patented "practical linguistics" techniques to help you learn and master a foreign language rapidly, efficiently, and-- most importantly-- with maximal retention for the long term. There are also some scattered articles on linguistic history, etymology, and policy, but overall this is a how-to guide designed to be of practical utility for you as you embark on your journey to twist your tongue around in all kinds of new and different ways. I've tried to make this especially useful for the hyper-busy person who doesn't have much time to travel, providing with you with an easy-to-use instructional toolkit to help you learn a language even in the midst of a 12-hour no-holds-barred workday. And, uh, no, I don't pitch these techniques on television infomercials at 4 in the morning.

So You Want to be a Jeopardy! Contestant

I competed on the Jeopardy! (with Alex Trebek) quiz show back in 1997-1998 and did much better than I deserved—5 shows and Tournament of Champions that year.  Winning on this thing is more a matter of buzzer timing and category/clue selection than raw knowledge, since prior screening ensures that all contestants have the last of these.  This page contains some tips on everything from auditioning to Final Jeopardy! wagering to how to manage that tricky buzzer. (under construction as of February 2004)

Das Ulm-Projekt:  Eine kollaborative Bemühung

Seit mehr als 6 Jahre—mit Beginn ungefähr in der Mitte meines PhD Programms-- hab’ ich ein ganz großes Interesse aufgezogen, in der Möglichkeit, eine Menschliche Zelle wesentlich „von Grund auf“ zu entwickeln und aufzubauen.  Das heißt, ich will mit elementaren Komponenten anfangen, dann mathematische „Auswahlsregeln“ wiederholt und rekursiv anwenden (und sie sich selbst fein abstimmen), um eine menschliche eukaryotische Zelle mit vollen selbst-aufrechterhaltenden Fähigkeiten zu schaffen.  Die Makromolekülen, die die Zelle entstehen, werden durch ihre mathematische Äquivalenten vertretet, dann in einem simulierten System entwickelt.  Um die Evolution immer mehr komplexere Strukturen zu modellieren, brauchen wir sowie ein „Entwicklerprogramm“ (the „Evolver“), um die Änderungen einzuführen, und auch ein „Wählungsprogramm“ (the „Selector“), um die Evolution der Zelle zu richten.  Mein Zweck hier ist wesentlich, die Evolution der Zelle, der Geweben, und der Organe zu rekapitulieren um "Bilder" zu schaffen und aufzuzeichnen.  Damit können wir die entscheidenden Einzelheiten jeder Stufe der Evolution sehr klar beobachten und bemerken, um die zellulare Physiologie und Pathophysiologie leicht zu modellieren und verstehen.  Als wir die Zelle und ihre grundlegende Funktionen vertreten, so können wir auch die Ursachen und Ursprüngen der wichtigsten Krankheiten-- w.z.B. Krebs, ansteckenden Krankheiten, Autoimmunerkrankgungen, und anderen wichtigen Krankheitsklassen.  Dann-- vielleicht die interessanteste Anwendung-- auch molekülare Therapien dieser Krankheiten zu entwickeln, bei der Selektion und Evolution von Therapien in demselben System.  Somit handeln wir das Emergenz und die Evolution der Zelle, ihre Physiologie und Pathophysiologie, und die Therapien der Krankheiten, auf dem Niveau der reinen Information selbst. 

Ich hab' schon viel von diesem Projekt angefangen, aber am wichtigsten ist diese eine kollaborative Bemühung.   Ihre Teilnahme ist willkommen!  Bitte klicken sie auf dem Link, um mehr über diesem Projekt zu lernen.

  
The "Ulm-Project"-- basically a pun on my surname, which is a German city (in the vein of "Manhattan" or "Philadelphia" project)-- is something I started in my salad days (aka 2001) that's gradually been picking up steam since I got my MD and PhD degrees, and I guess suitably crazy enough for the objective involved.  I'm endeavoring to evolve a human cell from the ground up, then tissues, then organs.  Not in a Petri dish or a lab flask, but in a simulated environment with the basic macromolecules represented by mathematical equivalents, with "Evolver" and "Selector" programs to push the code to evolve as a functional cell, then on to more complex tissues and systems.  The idea is to recapitulate the evolutionary process that has fostered these complex structures and to capture snapshots on the history of this evolution and basic cellular processes like division, apoptosis, migration, and so on.  Then to model pathophysiology in the same manner, with the rise of e.g. cancer cells or viral infection modeled within the same environment.  Then to evolve something of particular interest-- molecular therapies to treat those nasty cellular and tissue deviations that cause disease.  It's more-or-less conceived as a toolbox for rapid development of molecular therapies and tissue engineering.  What I have now is the fruit of 6 years goofing around-- er, "toiling" (I guess they're about the same thing in this case)-- on just how practically to get something like this done.  Whether it works-- that's another matter entirely.  (It's all in German for now-- long story.)

Random Rants and Raves:  Wes's Policy section

I've always had a bit of the newspaper op-ed columnist in me, and this section contains articles which reveal my musings on various policy issues large or small, pressing or frivolous. A brief summary of my basic political philosophy is here. I'm placing articles here on everything from humane treatment of animals in the food industry to concerns about Social Security-- with what is, I hope, a refreshing perspective on all of it. Click here to survey the goods.

Wes's Usenet and Blogs section

A personal archive of my various essays, debates, troll-hunting, and venting for various reasons (in English and otherwise) on Usenet newsgroups, public blogs, and discussion boards.  I’m a sporadic contributor to Usenet but, with that medium’s capacity to instantly enable discussion across the globe among people with a common interest in a topic, it is at its best something like the ultimate seminar forum.

The Physician-Scientist Mini-Manual

There’s a lot of literature out in the public domain and bookstores about getting into medical school and MD/PhD programs; there’s comparatively little on what to do when you’re there.  The paucity of reference material is especially pronounced for MD/PhD students, for whom preparation and a sense of what to expect is critical in such a rigorous program.  I’m one of those dual-degree-ers in a Harvard-MIT joint program (HST for anyone in the know), and for my own reference I compiled a short list a while ago on tips to navigate the perilous waters of the MD and PhD programs— especially how to conserve and maximize that precious resource of time, including all those little things both scientific (labeling schemes, pipettes, and the like) and personal (housing, billing schemes).  Some of this might be useful to budding physician-scientists just embarking on their long paths, so I’m posting it up here.  (under construction as of February 2004)

Wes’s Little Citysearch Page:  Movies, Music, Restaurants, and other Pleasantries

Your Webmaster has found a way to carve out a 25^th hour in the day occasionally for leisure, and Boston has a pretty nice array of weekend options if you’re willing to fork over a sizable portion of your monthly salary.  On this page, some further sites on movies, music, dining options, and those other goodies that make sure Jack’s not such a dull boy.  I’ll periodically add to this page as those sporadic opportunities for, like, getting out arise. 

Wes’s Travelogues Page

AKA Wes’s lame attempt to imitate the Let’s Go and Fodor’s travel guides.  I’ve been trekking around quite a bit over the past year, with a conference in Singapore in February of 2004 and a July 2004 excursion to Taiwan with my girlfriend, bringing me to the majestic shores of East Asia.  Travelogues provide a delightful way to recount the experiences of a trip (not to mention keep everything straight in the midst of jet-lagged induced brain fog), so I’ve assembled a few of them here.

So who is this Wes guy, anyway?  Check out my mini autobiographical section with lots of pics.  (No, I don’t have any America’s Most Wanted pictures here.  I’ve long finished my days as a Global Criminal Mastermind ®.)

Check out Wes’s Xanga page:  Blogs about whatever stray neurons are firing up in Wes’s head on those rare occasions when he’s near a computer with an Ethernet connection and has, uh, like, free time or something.

For my little 5-minute CV, click here.

If you need to contact me, please do so here.

Wes’s Little Sci-Fi Novel

A little appetizer here, like a Krispy Kreme window where you can observe the product in its preparation stages.  I’ve been amassing books on history and sci-fi since college days, and here’s a peek into one of the products.   Click here.  For more information on the budding spacetimes idea in the novel that’s been piquing some interest, click here for a more extensive description.  Update 12/04:  Time constraints (a.k.a. med school) mean that I’ll probably have to skim off the most audience-friendly ideas from the novel and route them into short stories that I can actually finish and publish.  Here are a few that have been garnering interest.

 

Popular dens of iniquity—er, pages on this site

A few that seem to be grabbing the most attention:

The Certified Humane movement:  Supporting better treatment of farm animals at the grocery store aisle.

My Spanish Armada page:  Myths and facts about history’s most confused and misunderstood battle

My Iraq Analysis page (as of Feb.-Mar. 2004):  Historical context and subtleties of a foreign policy conundrum

My little as-yet unpublished sci-fi novel (I’m flattered)

Links

Those indispensable search engines

Hyperlink Prioritization Algorithm-based

Google            Yahoo   Altavista   Lycos/Hotbot    MSN    AlltheWeb.com   Wisenut  Webcrawler  Excite   Northern Light Search

Content Prioritization Algorithm-Based

Teoma   AskJeeves   Overture  

Metasearch

Gigablast    Dogpile    Mamma metasearch   

That ultimate source of undigested, gut-bustingly funny, it-could-so-easily-be-true journalism, The Onion.

Network news Websites (pretty nicely designed, good for a quick read): CBS, ABC,  MSNBC, FOX, BBC

©2003- Wes Ulm (J. Wesley Ulm) (Jacob Ulm)