text:
|For the location titled "Brotherhood" in Fallout, see Lost Hills.
For the game, see Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
The Brotherhood of Steel is a quasi-religious technological organization operating across the ruins of post-war North America, with its roots stemming from the United States Armed Forces and the government-sponsored scientific community from before the Great War.
- 1 Background
- 2 Structure
- 3 Divisions and locations
- 4 Military
- 5 Relations with the outside
- 6 Technology
- 7 Notes
- 8 Development
- 9 Appearances
- 10 Gallery
- 11 Sources
- 12 References
The Brotherhood of Steel was founded by Roger Maxson, a captain in the United States Army. Led by Colonel Robert Spindel, Maxson was part of a team sent on January 3, 2076 to monitor progress at a West-Tek facility in California, which was conducting research on behalf of the American government. On January 7, 2077, all West-Tek research and personnel – Maxson and his team included – were relocated to the newly constructed Mariposa Military Base in an effort to enhance security.
On October 10, 2077, Captain Maxson and his men discovered, to their horror, that the West-Tek scientists at Mariposa were using military prisoners as unwilling test subjects for their genetically engineered Forced Evolutionary Virus (F.E.V.). Morale in the base quickly collapsed and Colonel Spindel suffered a mental breakdown, eventually committing suicide five days later. In the midst of the crisis, Maxson's men turned to him for leadership. Captain Maxson proceeded to interrogate Robert Anderson, the chief scientist of the West-Tek research team stationed at Mariposa, learning the extent of their experiments. Anderson, along with most of his research team, were subsequently executed for their crimes.
Maxson, now in control of the base, declared his desertion from the United States Army via radio on October 20. To his confusion, he received no response from the chain-of-command, as the U.S. Army was currently focused on escalating conflicts with the Chinese. Three days later on October 23, both nations launched their entire nuclear arsenals. Within two hours, the Great War had ended and much of the Earth was reduced to a radioactive wasteland. On October 21 Maxson ordered that the families, including his, be brought inside the base to protect them.[1] The Mariposa Military Base survived the onslaught, its numerous safety protocols protecting the soldiers within from the radiation and the F.E.V., which had been accidentally released and was now seeping into the newborn Wasteland. Two days after the attack, on October 25, Captain Maxson sent one of his men, Platner, outside in protective power armor to scout the area and gather readings on the atmosphere. Platner reported no significant amounts of radiation in the surrounding area.
After burying the bodies of Anderson and his executed staff members, Captain Maxson and his men raided the base for various supplies and weapons schematics before sealing Mariposa and venturing off into the desert. The following weeks of travel inflicted casualties on the party at the hands of various raider gangs and the harsh conditions of the Wasteland. In November 2077, Captain Maxson eventually led his band of survivors to the safety of Lost Hills, a government fallout shelter. This journey came to be immortalized in Brotherhood lore as "the Exodus".
In time, Captain Maxson set the bunker as the headquarters for his new organization, the Brotherhood of Steel. As the Brotherhood's first High Elder, Maxson sought to use Lost Hills' resources to help rebuild civilization – no matter the cost.
Early Years
Relatively little is known about the early years of the Brotherhood of Steel. In 2134, an emerging faction of the Brotherhood, led by Sergeant Dennis Allen, petitioned the Council of Elders for permission to explore the remnants of the West-Tek research facility in search of technological artifacts. In the wake of the Great War, the facility was left a highly irradiated ruin referred to by locals as "the Glow". The Elders thus denied Sergeant Allen's request, prompting him and his followers to splinter from the Brotherhood, taking some advanced weapons and technology with them. Despite this incident, the Brotherhood of Steel continued to grow in strength under the guidance of Elder Maxson, further refining their technology and gradually forming the orders of Knights, Scribes, and Paladins that are known today. That following year, Roger Maxson died of cancer. His son, Maxson II, succeeded him as High Elder.
In the 2150's, the Brotherhood began extending their influence out into the surrounding areas, quickly asserting their place as one of the major powers of New California of the post-War West Coast. The early 50's saw the emergence of a prominent raider group known as the Vipers, who quickly established a base of operations in the badlands to the south of Lost Hills. Driven by a near-religious frenzy, the Vipers' raids become bolder and more frequent over time, eventually attracting the attention of the Brotherhood of Steel.
In 2155, the Brotherhood sent a handful of squads out into the Wasteland to track the Vipers down. To the Elders, this seemed a glorified training exercise, as they were convinced that a small detachment of Brotherhood troops in power armor would be sufficient to deal with a band of raiders, no matter how large. One Brotherhood squad, led by High Elder Maxson II himself, located the Vipers. Expecting the raiders to break and run at the sight of such a heavily armed force, Maxson did not take into account the Vipers' zeal and ferocity... or their poisoned weapons. A single arrow nicked the High Elder while he had his helmet off, leading to his death a few hours later. John Maxson, grandson of Roger, took up the role of High Elder.
In the wake of this incident, the newly appointed Head Paladin Rhombus launched a full-scale campaign against the Vipers, hunting them down and driving them to near-extinction over the course of a month. The few remaining Vipers managed to scatter north and east to the Sierra Madre mountain range. It was towards the end of this campaign that the Brotherhood sent a handful of scouts and emissaries to the Hub in order to track down these runaway Vipers. It was from these beginnings that the Hub and the Brotherhood of Steel opened full trade relations. (Caravans had delivered to the Brotherhood in the past, but in the wake of the Vipers' destruction, caravan trains now ran directly from the Hub to the Brotherhood's headquarters at Lost Hills on a regular basis.)
The Super Mutants
Several years after the Viper campaign, the Brotherhood of Steel encountered an enemy far more formidable than any band of raiders. In October of 2161, a Brotherhood patrol stumbled upon the corpse of a super mutant. The remains were transported back to Lost Hills for study by Head Scribe Vree.
In 2162, the Vault-Dweller arrived at the Lost Hills bunker, seeking entry into the Brotherhood. His request was not taken seriously and he was tasked with retrieving the records of Sergeant Dennis Allen's expedition from the hazardous ruins of the Glow, a fool's errand commonly used to deter would-be Brotherhood members. To the Brotherhood's surprise, not only did the Vault-Dweller return from the West-Tek facility alive, but he had also succeeded in his fool's errand and recovered a holodisk recording of Allen's doomed expedition. As a result, the Vault-Dweller became the first outsider in decades to be accepted into the Brotherhood of Steel, despite the protests of a few members.
It was from the Vault-Dweller that the Brotherhood subsequently learned of the Master's mutant army and its plans to forcibly convert the surviving human population into Super Mutants. With the support of High Elder John Maxson, the Vault-Dweller was able to convince the Council of Elders to deploy a squad of Paladins to Mariposa, where the Master's F.E.V. vats were located. With the assistance of the Brotherhood, the Vault-Dweller managed to defeat the Master and disrupt his mutant army. They also helped drive some mutants away from other human outposts.[2] At this point in time, the Brotherhood of Steel stood as the most technologically advanced faction in New California. Although the remaining super mutants and the nascent Gun Runners had access to comparably advanced weaponry, the Brotherhood had a monopoly on power armor, supercomputers, and advanced medical technologies, such as cybernetics. With this technology slowly being introduced into New California, the Brotherhood of Steel became a major research and development house.[2]
In the wake of the Master's defeat, the Brotherhood of Steel began arguing amongst itself over the need for new recruits versus their secrecy as an organization. In the end, most of the Elders ruled against the sharing of their technology with outsiders, confident that their organization could survive on their traditional principles. The minority who opposed this ruling were sent eastward to track down the last remnants of the Master's army via a small fleet of airships. When these airships crash-landed near the ruins of Chicago, the surviving individuals founded the Midwestern chapter of the Brotherhood. In the following years, the Brotherhood continued to expand somewhat, establishing small outposts throughout California, as well as launching expeditions to regions such as Washington, D.C., and the Mojave.
In addition, the end of the Master was accompanied by the birth of the New California Republic (NCR). What began in the small farming community of Shady Sands quickly blossomed into a spirited effort to reclaim what was lost in the Great War. As the young NCR expanded, the Lost Hills region was incorporated into the growing nation in the form of the newly founded state of Maxson. While the bunker itself still remained under the control of the Brotherhood, the NCR held jurisdiction over the lands outside. Though tensions simmered between the two factions, peaceful relations remained.
The Enclave
By 2242, the Brotherhood of Steel were but a fraction of the power they had been once before. With the emergence of the Enclave, the Brotherhood found that they were no longer the most advanced faction in the Wasteland. Intimidated and lacking the resources to deal with this new foe, the best the Brotherhood could manage was just to keep an eye on the newcomers. To this end, several previously-dormant bunkers and outposts in areas of Enclave activity were reactivated.
Eventually, the Brotherhood learned of the Enclave's Vertibird technology. Lacking any similar technology of their own, the Brotherhood saw itself as vulnerable to a possible Enclave invasion. In light of this possibility, Matthew, an operative stationed in the San Francisco outpost, was requested to enlist the aid of the Chosen One to steal a set of Vertibird schematics from a major Enclave outpost at Navarro.
Although the Chosen One was successful in his mission, it is unknown if the Vertibird plans ever reached the High Council, as Operative Matthew was killed by Agent Frank Horrigan a short time after the mission's completion. However, with the destruction of their oil rig base and NCR forces subsequently hunting down remaining members, the Enclave ceased to pose a threat on the West Coast.
War with the NCR
|The following is based on Van Buren and has not been confirmed by canon sources.
By 2231, Jeremy Maxson had assumed the position of High Elder. Vocal in his ideas of pushing Brotherhood operations eastward, Maxson was also notably aggressive in his "hoarding" of pre-War technology. The High Elder sought to restore the Brotherhood of Steel to power by wresting any and all advanced technology from the hands of "lesser people" by any means necessary. Naturally, this led to disputes with the New California Republic, which had always been in favor of utilizing advanced technology for the benefit of society. Not long after the destruction of the Enclave, conflict erupted between the Brotherhood and the NCR.
With their superior technology, the Brotherhood managed to hold out against the NCR, even coming close to achieving total victory and avoiding a protracted conflict altogether, However, the Lost Hills Brotherhood's technological advantage was gradually outmatched by the sheer size of the NCR military; no matter how many troops the NCR lost, they always seemed to have more. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood, a selective and isolationist group, lacked sorely in numbers. This discrepancy in troop numbers caused major issues for the Brotherhood, fundamental weakness that has been constant until recently as the Brotherhood has started recruiting from the outside. The Brotherhood was forced to retreat into their bunkers, where they remained in hiding. However according to terminals on the Prydwen, the Brotherhood has been able to come out of hiding in the west and is operating on the surface again once more.
|End of information based on Van Buren.
The Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood would still be fighting the NCR in 2274. After establishing a base at the HELIOS One solar plant, the Mojave Brotherhood soon found itself at odds with the NCR and its growing power in the region. Eventually, the NCR sought to control HELIOS One and the Brotherhood. Under orders from their Elder, (against the will of his Paladins) the Brotherhood refused to leave. This led to a confrontation between the two and while the Brotherhood's superior technology and training was able to inflict outstanding losses on the NCR, eventually the NCR's superior numbers prevailed, eventually forcing the Brotherhood to retreat. With nearly half the chapter dead, the Mojave Brotherhood retreated to Hidden Valley, where Paladin McNamara, in light of the disappearance of Elder Elijah following the battle, took the role of Elder upon himself and placed the complex under lockdown. The Brotherhoods loss can be put down to its indefensible location, its low manpower, and its poor leadership in Elder Elijah. Colonel Moore states that had the Brotherhood not suffered from such poor leadership, and had been able to utilize its training, then despite their numerical advantage, the NCR would still have lost. Since then, the Brotherhood's presence in the Mojave Wasteland has been restricted to only a few scouting missions, a point of major controversy within the chapter. The Courier however may prove to the elder that the NCR is no where near as strong as he thinks it is, causing Elder McNamara to lift the lockdown, allowing patrols into the wastes once more.
Operations in the East
In the year 2254, the Brotherhood sent a large contingent under the leadership of Owyn Lyons eastward. Their primary goal was to make contact with the lost Midwestern Brotherhood chapter, who had previously been sent east to hunt down the remnants of the Master's army. The contingent failed to make contact with the Midwestern Brotherhood and ended up overshooting their target, marching all the way to Pittsburgh. Upon arrival, it became obvious to Elder Lyons that the East Coast was in far worse condition than the West, and thus he made radical changes to the Brotherhood doctrine. The first step was to eradicate the slavers of the Pitt, after which the contingent continued on to the nation's capitol. Once there, the Brotherhood worked tirelessly to eradicate the Super Mutant threat and help the people of the Capital Wasteland. A new threat soon challenged them in the form of a resurgent Enclave, which had relocated to Raven Rock and silently rebuilt itself into an effective fighting force. In the end, the conflict came down to a fight over Project Purity.
By 2287, the Brotherhood is still engaged in the ongoing conflict with the NCR, but in the East they saw a significant resurgence led by Arthur Maxson. After establishing themselves in the Capital Wasteland, they moved northward in a mission to locate and destroy the Institute. To facilitate this, they, over a period of six years, constructed a pre-war style airship known as the Prydwen to transport a large contingent of troops to the Commonwealth in order to destroy The Institute and salvage what tech remained once they finished. Notably, Arthur Maxson himself has led numerous changes to Brotherhood policy. The Brotherhood hearkens back to its traditional methods of technology collecting, although it remains reasonably trustful of human outsiders and is still willing to accept wastelanders into their ranks. There is evidence The West Coast may have also followed suit, due to their overwhelming acceptance and reverence for Elder Maxson in light of his ideals and namesake. The Brotherhood also has a hardline stance against abominations since Maxson took charge, notably wishing to eradicate Synths, Super Mutants and Feral Ghouls. Ghouls are treated with suspicion, but far more leniency. It is clear that from the sheer amount of troops and advanced weaponry that the Brotherhood were victorious against the Enclave in D.C. They have a vast supply of Vertibird aircraft to facilitate the transport of Brotherhood forces across the Commonwealth. However, there have been some changes to Brotherhood equipment. The Brotherhood no longer equips all of its troops in power armor, that right is reserved only for the rank of Knight and above, Initiates are denied this right until they pass training. However their power armor is far more advanced than their previous standard issue model, they now equip their forces with the more advanced T-60 power armor instead of the older T-51 or T-45s.
The Brotherhood of Steel is a neo-knightly order that rose from the ashes of the United States military in the years following the Great War of 2077. The organization's tenets include the eradication of mutants and the veneration of technology. In recent years the Brotherhood has broken its trend of reluctancy in sharing advanced technology with their fellow Wastelanders. They generally consider them too irresponsible and unpredictable to be trusted with such technology, however the Brotherhood has recently been more trustful of wastelanders, and has established relationships with settlements and traders on the east coast akin to their early relationships with factions on the west coast, where they had been known to trade their technology with frontier communities and the NCR.
Although the Brotherhood has always been portrayed as aloof, as time went on more negative aspects of their beliefs have been increasingly emphasized as their power has decreased. Originally they stood for relatively benign goals of preservation. Indeed, in one of the possible endings in Fallout; they voluntarily reintroduce technology, engage in novel research, and actively assist those inhabiting the wasteland. Later, in Fallout Tactics, the Midwestern faction eventually would go on to become a near-fascist state, but only if a specific ending is chosen in which this faction assumes the new leadership of a prejudiced General Barnaky. A different ending involves the Midwestern Brotherhood working together with the humans and non-humans of the Midwestern wasteland for the greater good, and create a post-apocalyptic utopia (however, it should be noted that none of the endings of Fallout Tactics has yet been assumed as canon, and so is open to speculation). By the time of Van Buren/New Vegas the main Brotherhood is strongly paranoid, it not only seeks to preserve technology, but actively remove it from outsiders, is disinterested in nonmilitary assets, and engages in little if any work to actually improve their tech. Much of the Brotherhood's belief system is enshrined in a document known as the Codex, which acts as an important source of information on regulations and rules that members must adhere to. The East Coast Brotherhood is different from the West Coast, seeming to want to help others instead of collect vital technology, but this created a faction focused entirely on collecting tech in the east, the Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts.
Symbolism of the insignia
In the Brotherhood symbol, the gears represent their engineering knowledge, the sword is their will to defend themselves, the wings represent the uplifting hope that the acquisition of lost technology represents for mankind's salvation following the devastation of the Great War, and the circle represents the fraternal unity that makes the organization a true brotherhood.[3]
Another interpretation is that the Brotherhood's symbol represents each of the organizations different orders. The sword represents the Paladins, the wings represent the Elders (the "wings" control the movement of the sword), the large gear represents the Knights, and the two smaller gears represent the Scribes and the Initiates, whose services keep the Knights supplied with the information and the manpower required to get their jobs done.[4] This interpretation could also be supported by looking at the Outcast's insignia, which is absent of wings & shows that they do not need Elders or their equivalents.
|The following is based on Fallout Tactics and some details might contradict canon.
While both the original Brotherhood of Steel in New California and the East Coast faction of the Brotherhood use different colors for different elements of the symbol (blue for the wings, gray for the sword and black for the gears), the Midwestern Brotherhood uses several mono color variations. A blue version is used by the Midwestern Brotherhood's Knights and Paladins, a black one by the Scribes and an orange one by the Elders. The golden/yellow variant seems to symbolize the Midwestern Brotherhood as a whole. The Midwestern version of the Brotherhood symbol is also reversed horizontally - the large gear is to the right of the smaller ones, not to the left as in the original.
|End of information based on Fallout Tactics.
The Brotherhood is mostly composed of the descendants of those military officers, soldiers, and scientists, but aside from some outsiders among their ranks, the Brotherhood is as close to pure-strain humanity (prime normals) that may be found outside of a Vault or the Enclave. A notable exception is the Midwestern Brotherhood who were known to recruit ghouls and other mutants into their ranks.
The ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel are generally recognized as being composed of the best and the brightest remaining to humanity, which means the BoS is a relatively small organization, at least compared to the New California Republic. They make up for this with their intimidating arsenal of pre-and-post-Great War technology: they have laser and plasma weapons, power armor, surgical cybernetic enhancements, combat implants, and Brotherhood Paladins have the ability to erase an entire town from the map without a scratch. The vast majority of BoS members are born into the Brotherhood - they very rarely accept outsiders into their ranks. While not an official policy, many members believe that in order to survive, all members are obligated to procreate. This results in a lack of tolerance for same-sex relationships, at least when the proponents of the aforementioned stance are concerned. Those born in the Brotherhood that want to be neither Scribes, Knights nor Paladins are free to leave - the Brotherhood does not believe in forcing anyone to serve them against their will. Although, members who decide to leave the Brotherhood will face the punishment of death for sharing any medical or scientific knowledge they have acquired with any outside faction.
While they have great reverence for technology, most of the Brotherhood members have little regard for non-technical fields of knowledge (and even for non-combat-related technology). Even most of the Scribes do not care about history, and some Brotherhood of Steel Initiates do not even know who Roger Maxson, the founder of the Brotherhood, was.
Divisions and locations
West Coast Brotherhood (Founding Chapter)
The headquarters of the Brotherhood is the Lost Hills bunker in California, the seat of the Brotherhood's High Elder and its ruling council, and the place where the organization was founded. It is also the center of their research and military activities. However, by 2242, the Brotherhood was spread across the wastes of California in small bunkers and installations hidden from the eyes of common folk, and finding them all and wiping them out would be a difficult and dangerous task.
Their installations include bunkers in the Den, San Francisco, and Shady Sands (capital of the New California Republic). All Brotherhood outposts are formally subject to the Lost Hills' ruling council's authority, even if they sometimes tend to act independently, especially if they are located far from California and contact with the headquarters is rare. The Lost Hills bunker is surrounded by the town of Maxson, which, while named after the founder of the Brotherhood, is officially outside Brotherhood rule and is a state of the New California Republic. The later conflict between the Republic and the Brotherhood most likely resulted in the destruction of many of the Brotherhood's bunkers in New California.
Mojave Chapter
The Brotherhood's bunker is located in Hidden Valley, directly east of the settlement of Goodsprings in the Mojave Wasteland. It is surrounded by powerful underground fans that serve as a high-tech defense system, creating artificial sandstorms which allow the inhabitants to travel to and from the bunker under cover. It also serves as a kind of electronic disturbance to any and all outside factions' targeting sensors, therefore rendering the bunker safe from detection.
Prior to 2276 the Mojave Brotherhood had been very active in the region before their crippling defeat at HELIOS One by NCR Forces and were forced underground on the orders of their new leader Elder McNamara. Due to a complete lockdown ordered to preserve what remaining soldiers he had, McNamara relies solely on teams that were trapped outside of the bunker for intel and trusted undercover operatives to bring food and supplies back to those trapped inside.
Despite their seclusion from the outside world they still are regarded as a powerful faction in the region, this is shown in Mr. House's calculations as they painted the Brotherhood insurgency to be the greatest threat to his reign in the Mojave Wasteland in the long-term.
East Coast Brotherhood
On the East Coast, the East Coast division of the Brotherhood established a base called the Citadel, built into and beneath the ruins of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. This faction was led by the idealistic Elder Owyn Lyons who decided to make the protection of the human inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland from super mutants and other threats his top priority, instead of the acquisition and preservation of technology. While Lyons was officially recognized by the ruling council at Lost Hills as the leader of a Brotherhood faction, because of his changed priorities he received no support from California and his faction, for all intents and purposes, was independent. Without reinforcements from the West Coast, Lyons was forced to recruit locally, but, as most new wastelander conscripts are overeager, unskilled, or both, the survival rate of these local members was atrocious. Elder Lyons' daughter Sarah commanded her own elite squad, Lyons' Pride. These soldiers help preserve the Capital Wasteland by holding back the super mutants, who tend to remain in the urban ruins of Washington, D.C.
As the war with the super mutants intensified, the Enclave returns in the flesh after relocating from New California several years prior. Their radio broadcasts had been heard for years on Wasteland radios. In a bold first move they seized the Jefferson Memorial's "Project Purity" (a project intended to provide clean water to the wasteland), and subsequently consolidated their power throughout the Capital Wasteland. At first favoring caution, Elder Lyons soon changed his mind, engaging the Enclave in a full-scale battle after the Enclave acquires possession of Vault 87's G.E.C.K. and nearly activating Project Purity. With the aid of Liberty Prime, the Enclave was ousted from the Jefferson Memorial and into uncertain disarray. After the events of Broken Steel, the East Coast chapter had become as powerful and well-equipped as their fellow chapters back west, possibly even more so.
There are members of Lyons' expeditionary force to the East Coast who preferred to stay faithful to the Brotherhood's original goals of locating and preserving technology and knowledge. These members of the Brotherhood left the Citadel to take up residence in Fort Independence, and stylized themselves as the Brotherhood Outcasts.[5] In addition to carrying out Lyon's original orders, the Outcasts are also trying to re-establish contact with the western Elders, and have Lyons placed in front of a firing squad.
Between 2277 and 2287, Elder Lyons died and, after a series of other Elders, the chapter came under the leadership of Elder Arthur Maxson. They spent years developing the Prydwen, a large airship to act as a mobile base, and acquired large quantities of Vertibirds and T-60 power armor, as well as energy weapons. They also spent years sending recon teams, such as Recon Squad Gladius, to the Commonwealth to investigate the region. Some time later, the rest of the Brotherhood's main force arrived in the Commonwealth aboard the Prydwen, and began their offensive against the Institute. Once they arrived, the Brotherhood conducted an air assault on the feral ghouls occupying Boston Airport, and established their main base of operations there. They are capable of and frequently conduct air assault operations, especially when inserting patrol teams and assaulting objectives such as Bunker Hill.
|The following is based on Fallout Tactics and some details might contradict canon.
Midwest Brotherhood
The Midwestern branch, a splinter faction which lost contact with the Brotherhood leadership at Lost Hills has been an independent organization since the 2160s, when the airships of its founders crashed near Chicago. Unlike the original, isolationist Brotherhood, this faction rules over a large part of the area between the former states of Illinois and Kansas and drafts tribals from villages under Brotherhood protection into its ranks. While more open to the outside world, this faction of the Brotherhood is by no means altruistic - the villagers under Brotherhood rule, while protected from raiders and mutants, live in fear of the infamous Brotherhood Inquisitors. The Midwestern Brotherhood main bases were bunkers that were probably pre-Great War military bunkers that were found, taken, and rebuilt. In accordance with the Brotherhood's military roots, they were renamed Bunkers Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. The Midwestern Brotherhood power armor is very similar to the advanced power armor Mk II, and may be a variant of it.
|End of information based on Fallout Tactics.
|The following is based on Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and has not been confirmed by canon sources.
Texas Brotherhood
After the death of John Maxson, Rhombus, the head of the Brotherhood's Paladins, became the new High Elder. After the death of the Master, the Brotherhood of Steel helped the other human outposts of New California drive the mutant armies away with minimal loss of life on both sides of the conflict. However, a super mutant faction under the leadership of Attis moved east and attempted to recreate the mutant army in Texas using the Secret Vault. Rhombus, despite some criticism from the ruling council of the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel, started a crusade against the still existent threat of the super mutant army, now led by Attis. They traveled eastward to Texas. There, he discovered a prototype Vault which was abandoned and installed the Brotherhood's main base of operation in this area. Their principal mission was to eradicate the menace of all super mutants. For this reason, they created a new Texas Brotherhood icon, which featured a pair of wings, topped by dual pistols, all of a red color.
|End of information based on Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
|The following is based on Van Buren and has not been confirmed by canon sources.
Colorado Detachment
While not necessarily a separate chapter, a fairly large group of Brotherhood soldiers and staff were sent to the Maxson Bunker in southern Colorado.
In the year 2231, High Elder Jeremy Maxson decided that it was time to expand Brotherhood operations into the east, and he sent an expeditionary force composed of five Paladins to confirm the location of pre-war Senator Todd Peterson's bunker. The expedition leader, Andrea Brixley, discovered the bunker, disabled its security, and opened it for habitation. For over a decade, she and her fellow Paladins explored the east, and forged relationships with many of the local tribes that inhabited the area.
In the year 2242, Jeremy Maxson renamed the bunker after his famous ancestor, Roger Maxson, and later sent a full complement of troops for occupation there. Andrea Brixley was promoted to Elder, given the rank of General, and was placed in charge of the bunker. The remainder of her exploratory team were given the title of Elder as well. It was not long afterward that the war with the New California Republic was announced, and the bunker was re-suited for war.
|End of information based on Van Buren.
Montana Brotherhood
A bunker exists in Montana and is at some point the home of Elder Patrocolus.
The Brotherhood of Steel has characteristics similar to that of today's military such as standard armor (T-45d power armor, T-51b power armor, or T-60 power armor), standard weapons (laser rifle and the laser pistol), standard ammunition (microfusion cells, small energy cells and electron charge packs). They also have training equal to that of pre-war US military training and trade training, have a chain of command, various bases, supply their own troops and have distinct branches/trades (i.e. Paladins and Scribes) that cover combat and support roles within the organization.
The Brotherhood of Steel is organized into different ranks: Initiates are trainees who are expected to perform well enough in the training process to be promoted to Senior Initiates, and later to Apprentices. After proving themselves, Apprentices are promoted to the rank of Journeyman Knights or Scribes. The next rank is Knight Sergeant/Senior Scribe, Knight Captain, and finally the leader of each of these orders is the Paladin and the Head Scribe.
Brotherhood Scribes are responsible for investigating and reverse-engineering the ancient technologies, maintaining the current technology of the Brotherhood and even experimenting with new weapons and other useful devices. Scribes rarely leave the safety of the Brotherhood's bunkers and outposts, but they are sometimes called into the field to examine a piece of technology or perform a task beyond the skills of the Brotherhood's soldiers.
Brotherhood Knights are responsible for manufacturing the weapons and other pieces of technology used by the Brotherhood, although they also take part in combat activities. After many years of service and experience, the best Knights are promoted to Paladins - the pinnacle rank of the Brotherhood military. Paladins are in charge of all security and outside activities. The Paladin ranks are Junior Paladin, Paladin, Senior Paladin, Star Paladin and Head Paladin. Paladins who survive to their later years become Elders, and they make up the Brotherhood's ruling council. Among this branch of the Brotherhood an additional rank, Sentinel, exists between Paladin and Elder. The leader of the council and the Brotherhood itself is the High Elder, usually descended from the Maxson family.
Relations with the outside
While they are generally not hostile to others without a good reason, members of the Brotherhood are not interested in justice for the obviously weaker and less fortunate wastelanders around them. They largely focus on keeping their secrecy and preserving and developing technology, which they often put above human life since technology is irreplaceable in the post-nuclear wastelands—lives are not. Their motives are often unclear, and Brotherhood members are not people to be trifled with. It is safe to say, however, that if a group of Brotherhood Paladins appears to be helping outsiders, their motives are not altruistic.
The Brotherhood does not like to share their choicest technological bits with others, despite the obvious benefits their technology could bring to the Wasteland. It is a commonly accepted truth within the Brotherhood that the people of the Wasteland are not responsible enough to use (and maintain) all of the technology they have at their disposal. They are known for trading some of their technologies with frontier communities and the states of the New California Republic in exchange for food and other resources, but they keep the more sensitive and advanced technologies to themselves.
Attitude towards mutants
The Brotherhood's attitude towards mutants ranges from dislike (e.g. in the case of ghouls) to outright hostility (in the case of super mutants). Early contact with the Master's super mutants was mostly hostile, and the BoS helped drive the majority of the mutant armies away from California. The Brotherhood grew angry when various salvaging operations began in the Glow, a location which the Brotherhood came to regard highly both for their fallen comrades and the pre-Great War technology located there, with Dayglow ghouls at the forefront. Most Brotherhood members came to see ghouls as filthy scavengers. In the years after the Master's defeat in New California, many super mutants settled peacefully among humans and the Brotherhood was no longer hostile to them.
Military technology is the Brotherhood's main priority, and their efforts over the centuries have equipped them with a powerful array of power armor, energy weapons, defense turrets, combat implants, and computers. Their devotion to the cause of collecting technology is such that they are willing to go to war in order to obtain it, even against much larger organizations such as the NCR.
Although less advanced than the Enclave, Brotherhood soldiers are generally equipped with energy weaponry and suits of power armor, usually either the T-60, T-51b or T-45d models, all three of them were designed before the Great War. Recon armor and combat armor is also widely used, primarily by scouts, knights, and initiates. In addition, the Brotherhood has access to some of the best medical technology available in the post-war world, and other technologies such as cybernetics and surgical implants.
The Brotherhood also has access to advanced computers which they have found in various military bases and Vault-Tec Vaults such as the Lost Hills bunker, the ruins of the Pentagon, Bunkers Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Hidden Valley and the Vault prototype.
They also possess heavy duty combat robots that have assisted them in battle, like the intimidating sentry bots, and even a 40-foot Communist-hating metal giant in the hands of the East Coast detachment.
- Despite being relatively small in numbers (compared to groups such as the NCR), the Brotherhood is probably the most widely spread faction in post-war America.
- They are the only group outside of the Enclave (and some raider leaders in the Commonwealth) that uses power armor (and that can train others to use it). Some NCR soldiers in the Mojave Wasteland, however, wear non-functioning power armor.
- Most members of the Brotherhood are usually gruff in dealing with outsiders and usually extremely rude towards mutated creatures such as ghouls or super mutants.
- The Brotherhood is extremely territorial when it comes to technology and will defend any technological relic to the death. In Fallout: New Vegas it is mentioned that an elder was severely punished for destroying a piece of unknown technology.
- Despite revering pre-war technology, the Brotherhood has no interest in medical technology like prosthetic organs or Auto-Docs.
- According to the Citadel terminal entries, the Brotherhood in Lost Hill began protecting Maxson in the NCR before or by 2277. It also mentions an internal conflict, possibly a civil war, in the Brotherhood of Steel on the West Coast. This conflict forced Arthur Maxson to live in the Citadel.
- Although Rhombus isn't specified as a Maxson, he is assumed to be a Maxson or be an exception until the next of-age Maxson can be an elder. He is the only known high elder unspecified as a Maxson.
- The West Coast Division of the Brotherhood is struggling and facing extreme casualties and defeats in their war against the NCR, while the East Coast, particularly the Current Division led by Elder Arthur Maxson, is possibly at its highest peak. With a force of tens of thousands BoS members in its army and their ability to acquire more members, a huge arsenal of Laser Weaponry and T-60 Power Armor (far superior to the West Coast Standard Issue T-51B Power Armor) which became the standard issue armor for BoS Knights in the East Coast, with the ability to manufacture many more according to Paladin Danse, a vast supply of Vertibirds acquired from their war against the Enclave, and a new and improved Liberty Prime, they are able to project their power and influence throughout all of the eastern seaboard. With the destruction of the Enclave, the East Coast Division of the BoS is currently the most powerful and technologically advanced military force in the Post-War America.
The Brotherhood of Steel were based on a completely hostile faction known as the Guardians in the 1987 game Wasteland which is known to be the predecessor to Fallout.
The Brotherhood of Steel appears in all Fallout games to date.
This article is based mostly on the description of the Brotherhood from Chris Avellone's Fallout Bible #6 (which was partly based on Chris Taylor's Fallout: Warfare background), updates in subsequent issues of the Bible, and information taken from holodisks and dialogue in Fallout and Fallout 2. Some information is taken from Fallout Tactics (mostly from the intro), Van Buren, and even from Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel background, but in all instances it is marked as such.
Holodisks about the Brotherhood of Steel
Fallout Tactics
Cleanup (Issue: This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations.)
To meet Nukapedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. Please help by improving the article.
- ↑ Captain Maxson's diary
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Brotherhood of Steel ending
- ↑ Description of the symbol seen when clicking on the insignia in Fallout (PRO SCEN.MSG)
- ↑ Chris Avellone, Fallout Bible 6
- ↑ Fallout 3 Faction Profile – the Brotherhood of Steel by Emil Pagliarulo


text:
Marlins looking for continued growth in second half
Limited by injuries the first two months, young club rebounded with solid June
MIAMI -- For much of the first half, the Marlins were looking to stay healthy and develop an identity. In the second half, the youthful squad will be striving for improvement.
The club is already seeing it, even though it hasn't fully been reflected in the standings.
"That's the big thing with this team this year, we talk about making progress," president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said. "Again, the ultimate way to measure progress is wins and losses, but you don't always get that from a young team."
Once the decision was made last offseason to redirect and build around a core of young players, the organization sold 2013 as a "transition year."
It asked for patience, which isn't always easy to receive in the bottom-line business of big league baseball. Winning is the expectation. But to achieve it will take some time.
After a disappointing last-place finish in 2012, upper management opted for a fresh start in hopes of building towards a better tomorrow.
In the first half, the Marlins got a taste of how rough things can get when everything goes wrong. They endured two months of extreme growing pains. But not all was lost, as since June 1, they have shown signs of coming of age, and the successes that can come with it.
The first two months, it felt like the team was headed for a historically bad season. The Marlins were 14-41 in April and May. But from the last day of May through July 4, the club started to grow up, seemingly before Miami fans' eyes.
First-half awards
|MVP: Marcell Ozuna Promoted from Double-A Jacksonville to replace the injured Giancarlo Stanton on the last day of April, Ozuna provided immediate energy and production on a team looking for direction.
|Cy Young: Jose Fernandez After making the Opening Day roster without having previously pitched above Class A, the 20-year-old not only proved he belonged, he showed he can also dominate at the big league level.
|Rookie: Adeiny Hechavarria We could obviously go with either Fernandez and Ozuna, but they are receiving other first-half honors. So the rookie award is going to Hechavarria, the slick-fielding shortstop who has played Gold Glove-caliber defense. He missed time because of injury in April, and his loss was felt. Obviously, Hechavarria's hitting is still developing.
|Top reliever: Steve Cishek Like the rest of the team, Cishek struggled mightily in April, but he has steadily improved since. The sidearm-throwing right-hander has embraced and solidified the closer's role.
The Marlins went 19-11 during that stretch, enjoying the most wins of any National League club and falling just one shy of the Red Sox, who topped all teams in victories.
The resurgence started in early June, when right fielder Giancarlo Stanton and first baseman Logan Morrison came off the disabled list and Nathan Eovaldi joined the rotation. Suddenly, a team battered and beaten up by injuries was getting back to full strength. And behind strong pitching, Miami was able to enjoy a solid six weeks heading into the All-Star break.
"We're a different team, different attitude and everything," manager Mike Redmond said. "Those first two months, when we had 11 or 12 guys on the DL, it was rough. We just didn't have enough guys to bring up to cover it. Now, to get everyone back, especially the pitching, it's good."
The Marlins may be entering the second half in the NL East basement, but they're showing they have pieces to build around. Stanton, Morrison, Jose Fernandez, Eovaldi, Adeiny Hechavarria, Marcell Ozuna, Derek Dietrich and Rob Brantly are providing the foundation.
For a team simply looking to continue developing, results in the second half will carry weight as the organization looks forward to 2014 and beyond.
"You have to continually measure those things and take steps forward," Beinfest said. "I think that's what's going on with this team right now. If that continues to happen, then the wins should happen with more regularity."
Because of injuries or out of necessity, Miami has already called up some Minor Leaguers who were not expected to be up until after the All-Star break. Ozuna and Dietrich are two of the regulars who opened the year at Double-A.
Players to watch in second half
|Giancarlo Stanton The Marlins saw what their lineup looked like without Stanton in May, when the slugger missed the month with a strained right hamstring. His return has provided an immediate boost, and he is more than capable of posting big power numbers in the second half, if he stays healthy.
|Jose Fernandez Before throwing his first big league pitch, team management made it clear the rookie was on an innings limit. The range was set around 150-170, so at some point, he is expected to be scaled back. It hasn't been announced when or how that will happen.
|Christian Yelich The organization's top prospect could be called up at any time after the All-Star break. If not for an abdominal strain that landed him on the disabled list, the 21-year-old might have been promoted from Double-A Jacksonville already. Yelich is one of the top hitting prospects in the game, and he promises to be a fixture in the lineup for years to come.
In the second half, the club will be awaiting the arrival of outfielder Christian Yelich, its No. 1 ranked prospect, according to MLB.com. Yelich and Fernandez were teammates a year ago at Class A Jupiter. They project as future faces of the franchise.
Fernandez, who turns 21 on July 31, was supposed to open the season at Double-A Jacksonville. But when Eovaldi and Henderson Alvarez each opened the season on the disabled list, the call was made to promote the 20-year-old, who had not pitched above Class A ball.
The team was counting on Morrison and Stanton to be major pieces in the middle of the order, but neither was available until June.
Finally, with a number of key pieces back, the organization can evaluate to see what it has.
"As a manager, you can sit here and say, 'This is the team we initially thought we would have out of Spring Training,'" Redmond said. "I was hoping that we would be able to evaluate those guys over the first two months of the season. But really, it's just started over the last couple of weeks.
"I like the depth that we have now, especially with our pitching, and our offense has been scrappy. We have a couple of young guys who are in there and bring energy every night. It's a fun group."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Behind the scenes, people are moving about, reading papers and commenting on filings and jockeying around the words of a paragraph to make it "feel" nicer. We don't like using the word "community," one might say, because it is a sympathetic word, and we do not need sympathy at this hearing. Thousands of dollars an hour are thrown at the problem for however long the team needs to work on it. I bet there were a few nice late-night sushi orders.
These are the stars of the show -- two copyright and trademark filing teams, potentially backed up by a litigation team, positioning over the DotA trademark ownership issue. Last week on The Lawbringer, I gave a summary of what is happening between Valve, Blizzard, Riot Games, and the DotA community, concluding that the fight over who owns the DotA name has to be fought now because of a fight brewing for years as the genre grew.
In order to expand our minds just a bit and start thinking like we want to understand the problem, we need to build a framework around the DotA issue with questions about what this is all about. Let's boil the issues down to simple questions.


text:
You want to know what is the best place to live. With the Life Quality Index, or LQI, we make it a lot easier to decide which place is better to live.
The LQI is calculated by combining all our data on transportation, safety, health, affordability, entertainment, demographics, leisure and other essentials for everyday life. All our data comes from very reliable sources, like the MTA, NYPD, Google, Socrata, Foursquare and the U.S. Census to offer you the best information to find the right place to live.
You want to be free to go wherever you want, when you want. So in our LQI we use all the available data on public transport, taxi services, parking places and the distance to the city center or the next borough when calculating the livability of a place.
Life is all about the small things, so if you have everything you need nearby, then that is a great plus! When we calculate the Daily Life for the LQI, we take everything into account. Ranging from the distance to the nearest convenience stores and places of worship to Wi-Fi Hotspots and financial services.
You want to feel safe in your new home, so in the LQI you will be able to find all our data on crime levels and the nearest police and fire stations for that particular place.
Health is important to us all. In the LQI we include everything related to your well-being: the proximity to health and medical facilities, but also pollution levels, the proximity you live to busy truck routes or factories, and even the number of noise complaints.
Let's face it, what would life be without restaurants, bars, cafes, museums and other entertainment venues? That's why we include it in our LQI.
We use data on demographics to calculate our Life Quality Index. We all want to feel welcome in our community and at home in our neighborhood. Things like average income, education levels, and poverty index are all taken into account to create the LQI.
Place I Live is a convenient tool which helps people know more about areas in cities. You can look through different Life Quality Index categories on the map and see important locations as well as statistical data.
This page has comprehensive information about Helena St. By viewing the categories on the map you can not only find locations near you that you might need but also things to do on Helena St and around it.
|Bird`s eye
These different categories along with shown locations display statistical data that can help you learn more about community and environment of Helena St. This can help you while making smart decisions about real estate or what to improve in the area. If you want to know and track data changes, just sign up for the updates. You can also leave your views on life quality of Helena St in the comment section.
|There are no reviews yet. Be first!
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text:
DETROIT – Bobby Ferguson will return to court in September to be retried on federal bid-rigging charges.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson set the date of Sept. 10 for the former Detroit contractor.
Read: Court order for Bobby Ferguson re-trial July 5, 2013
Lawson also set Aug. 21 as the date for a final pre-trial date and Aug. 21 as the deadline for any plea agreements.
Earlier this week, Ferguson was assigned a court-appointed attorney -- Mike Rataj.
Read: Ferguson convinces judge he can't afford attorney
Read: Ferguson won't give judge personal financial information
Ferguson's first trial on the charges -- which include conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice -- ended with a mistrial last year.
He's accused of obtaining millions of dollars in public works contracts through false statements and bid collusion.
He's also accused of making false statements in a proposal as part of the Garden View Estates project, a public housing development in Detroit.
In a separate trial earlier this year, Ferguson was found guilty in March of racketeering and corruption charges in a trial he faced alongside with Kwame Kilpatrick.


text: This is the report that has it all about the US cellular industry. It not only provides overviews of current statistics, architecture descriptions and histories, and current comparisons, but its centerpieces of each major section are forecasts through 2019. There are forecasts for traffic, for active devices, for average Busy Hour traffic per device, for devices and traffic by carrier. There are also forecasts for device sales (very different from active devices) and for operating systems sales. Every forecast is also accompanied by an exhaustive analysis.


text:
Creativity, experience and more
Great design delivers optimal results in style, performance and value, all in harmony with current and future prosperity. Anything less sells us all short. It is recommended to participate with those showing a demonstrated global track record of success with good consideration for your project and our world.
Design that provides great results at no extra cost to the environment. This is more than a goal, it's standard practice here :
"Best green practice design is more than a cliché, it embodies our future."
2019-2020 creating a new local and global initiative for good business practice SRD Pro Active Top 25%.
2016-18 completing Design and Management of communications for an innovative global Youth program to benefit our world is the current focus and direction.
√ Developing the Youth sustainability initiative Young Australians' Plan for the Planet
√ Supporting the global sustainability initiative Young Persons' Plan for the Planet
: Listen to a recent Podcast on the growing global success... Global Policy at the Coalface
: Sample live Broadcast on completing program modules... Completing Discovery & Build Phases
√ Actively encouraging the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
√ Greener paper consulting and greener print broking expertise
√ University / Group Talks and lectures on a range of greener design and EcoDesign subjects
DesignOz is well experienced in creating positive results. Your input and our creativity and knowledge turned into commercial benefits plus the satisfaction of knowing best green practice is always being applied as appropriate. Branding, graphics, style, brochures, artwork, websites, packaging, products, photography and more, all produced with a minimum fuss and least environmental footprint for maximum returns/result.
"Our director is proudly the curator / founder of SRD Change National"


text:
INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA has suspended Texas basketball player Myck Kabongo of Toronto for 23 games for accepting impermissible benefits and providing false statements during an investigation into the infractions.
The Division I committee on student-athlete reinstatement announced the suspension Friday.
Kabongo also must repay US$475 to a charity of his choice. The NCAA will count all 11 games that Kabongo has missed toward the suspension. Texas had self-imposed a 10-game penalty.
The NCAA said Kabongo accepted airfare and personal training instruction and then provided false and misleading information about the infractions during two interviews with university officials.
Yahoo Sports has reported that the NCAA was examining whether Rich Paul, the agent for LeBron James, was involved in a trip Kabongo took to Cleveland last spring that included at least one workout with professional trainer Jerry Powell.
Texas officials were notified of the decision last week, the NCAA said. An appeal was heard Thursday, and the NCAA decided to overturn the original decision to suspend Kabongo for the entire season.
"Our thoughts now are with Myck Kabongo and his family," Texas coach Rick Barnes said in a statement Friday night. "We feel for Myck. He made some mistakes early in this process, and he put himself in a tough position. That said, he was truthful and forthcoming when he talked with the NCAA.
"We couldn't ask for a guy with better character in the way he has handled this situation. ... When I talked to him tonight after the decision had been made, Myck's thoughts were only about our team and our program. That is a tribute to Myck and his family, and it tells you everything you need to know about Myck."
Kabongo started 34 games last season, averaging 9.6 points and 5.2 assists, and has been projected as a possible first-round NBA draft pick in 2013. Born in Congo and raised in Toronto, he spent his first three seasons of high school at St. Benedict's Prep School in Newark, N.J., and finished at Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev.
"I appreciate Myck's attitude through all of this," Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said in a statement. "He has co-operated fully with the university and the NCAA and he has absolutely taken care of his business academically. Myck has grown through this experience and continues to be an important part of the team. I know he will continue to be that and we're all looking forward to seeing him back on the court later this season."


text:
ROCKFORD — Kenny Litteral knows what others are thinking when they see the looks of people like him walking down the street. They try to figure out what drives people to become homeless.
INSIDE: If you go
BELOW: If you go
ROCKFORD — Kenny Litteral knows what others are thinking when they see the looks of people like him walking down the street.
They try to figure out what drives people to become homeless. They wonder if it's a lifestyle choice, substance abuse problem or a stroke of bad luck that put them in their situations.
They stare and lock their car doors. And if they aren't judging, they're ignoring.
"They are not just a part of the scene. They are not just an eyesore downtown. They're people," Litteral said he wants to tell them. "They have lives. They get up and go to work."
He said neither scenario is fair to this group. And neither scenario allows others to see the beauty in the people or their situations.
"We're not bad people, just bad circumstances," Litteral said.
A local art project may soon be able to change that.
The Bethesda Covenant Church gave Litteral and 11 others disposable cameras to capture what life is like for the homeless. Their goal: snap pictures of what it's really like to live in the Rock River Valley without always having a roof over their heads.
The amateur photographers were told that their pictures would be shown in the "Without Walls" homeless art project, which will be displayed at Fall ArtScene this Friday and Saturday. Money from sold artwork will benefit this group of photographers and Carpenter's Place, a nonprofit that provides resources to homeless adults.
Some photos taken are gut wrenching, showing the long lines that people wait in to receive a hot meal, said Therese Rowinski, a local artist and church member. Others display the word
"Abandoned" in graffiti or a stoic shot of the Rockford Rescue Mission.
One group of photos shows the objects the photographer was most grateful for, like a hot shower or a washer and dryer.
But then there are others that showed the area's beautiful architecture that people miss in the every day hustle and bustle.
"The photos show the beauty around that they see and that we don't because we're hurrying around," Rowinski said.
The project allows people to take a step back and think about the little things that many people take for granted, said Cathy Barsema, director of guest services for Carpenter's Place. It allows them to see the good in the homeless and the things they come to realize through their struggles.
People would then learn that Litteral is a talented artist who likes to draw and paint. They would see he's the type of guy who took the necessary substance abuse classes and employment programs to turn his life around.
"If you get out of the stereotype of someone on the street taking away from society, it gives you the opportunity to look at the person," she said.
Jennifer Wheeler: 815-987-1354; email@example.com; @jenmwheeler
What: Fall ArtScene
Where: The "Without Walls" project will be displayed at the Bethesda Covenant Church, 2101 E. State St,. Rockford.
When: 5 to 9 p.m. today and 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday
Cost: Fall ArtScene is free. "Without Walls" images cost between $50 and $80.
For more information: Call the church at 815-397-4212 or artist Therese Rowinski at 815-985-8462.


text:
We are a web and mobile development firm located in Seattle, Washington. Established in 2007, we have a seven-year track record of building awesome websites for hundreds of people and companies, including some big names like Yahoo!, Nike, EMC and ClickBooth.
We don't just design your website and then hand it off to you — we test it, stage it, and make sure it's compatible on all devices prior to launch...and that includes every single page on your site — from the search results page to the 404 error page. We leave
no detail untouched and we'll even (optionally) maintain and manage your website.
In addition, we provide ongoing phone consultation throughout the development process. This means we discuss your project and the details with you every 7-10 days. You can be assured that both parties are always on the same page and communication is always crystal clear. Not many other firms provide this level of service and constant communication.
We work completely in-house and do not outsource any of our work. We love doing what we do, so we work 24-7, which means we're often working on the weekends and sometimes even holidays. You'll also always deal with a founder – we don't believe in passing our clients off to associates. We're confident you'll be happy from the very beginning to the very end of your project.Check Out Our Servicesor Get Started
Check out our services and learn how our process works...
We're strong believers in the "goal-oriented design process", meaning that we design with the goals and behaviors of end-users in mind. Here is exactly how our process works:
We begin with a one-on-one consultation where we talk about the design and related objectives. This process takes one hour.
After we finish the consultation, we'll move into wire-framing where we create a basic blueprint for your design. This process takes 5-7 days.
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Nate has been a user experience and graphic designer for over a decade.
Matthew is our resident code-ninja. He engages in our most difficult production battles, and always emerges victorious.Follow @mattblancarte
Now that you've met us, let's create an awesome site for you.I'm Ready to Get Started


text:
Unconventional closer Ziegler still gets job done
Submariner mirrors style of former Kansas City reliever Quisenberry
PHOENIX -- In 1984, when he was just a boy, Brad Ziegler moved to Kansas City with his family and quickly became a Royals fan. A year later, he watched as the Royals, led by closer Dan Quisenberry, beat the Cardinals in the World Series.
While Ziegler certainly enjoyed watching Quisenberry pitch with his unique submarine-style arm angle, he never thought of him as a role model for a future career.
"The '85 Royals, we had just moved to Kansas City in '84, I was 5 or 6 years old at the time, so it wasn't like I was old enough to emulate him or anything like that, but I did watch him," Ziegler said.
Ziegler switched from a starting pitcher with a three-quarters arm angle to a submariner in 2007, transforming himself from a fringe big league starter to a quality Major League reliever. He burst on the scene with the A's in record-breaking fashion in '08, not giving up a run in his first 39 big league innings to quickly become one of the game's better setup men.
Last season, Ziegler led all relievers in inducing double plays with 21, the most since Doug Sisk reached the same number for the Orioles in 1988. He became the pitcher D-backs manager Kirk Gibson turned to when there were men on base and a double play was required.
This year, after watching closer J.J. Putz go down with an injury and fellow relievers Heath Bell and David Hernandez struggle, Gibson turned to Ziegler to fill the closer's role.
Quisenberry led the American League in saves from 1982-85, and another submariner, Kent Tekulve, served as the Pirates closer in that same era. Neither of them were strikeout pitchers, which is usually what teams look for these days from their closer.
"Back in the day, the Dan Quisenberrys and the Kent Tekulves, there were a lot of guys that did that," Gibson said. "Not so much anymore."
But with the D-backs closers giving up home runs, Gibson liked the fact that Ziegler keeps the ball on the ground, and therefore in the ballpark. Given the D-backs outstanding defense this year, Gibson is comfortable taking his chances with balls put in play.
Since taking over the closer's role, Ziegler, who picked up an extra-innings save earlier this year, is 5-for-5 in save opportunities. He's thrown seven innings and struck out just four, but has not walked a batter or allowed a run.
"He's been good and he's handled the pressure pretty good," Gibson said. "He's kept the ball on the ground. That's kind of what we were thinking."
One of the keys to Ziegler being able to close effectively is his improvement against left-handed hitters.
After last season, lefties owned an average better than .300 against Ziegler in his career. In order to better his chances against lefties, Ziegler spent the offseason and Spring Training working on rediscovering his changeup to give him another weapon in addition to his fastball and slider.
Ziegler lost his feel for the changeup some time in 2009, no longer able to throw it for a strike.
"The changeup, even the last few years, has always had good movement to it, but it was the command that was the problem," Ziegler said. "One of the issues I had with it last year is it was always falling out into the right-handed batter's box. So to a left-handed hitter, it was never in the zone, it was never over the plate. It was always starting out outside and moving further out. So it wasn't even a pitch they had to honor. It was just kind of a show pitch, but I wanted to make it more of a pitch that they had to respect, that they had to occasionally swing at, and hopefully not do a whole lot with it when they hit it."
So far, so good on that front.


text:
Key Driver vs. Network Analysis in R
Want to share your content on R-bloggers? click here if you have a blog, or here if you don't.
When marketing researchers speak of driver analysis, they are referring to an input-output model with overall satisfaction as the output and performance ratings of specific product and service components as the inputs. The causal model is straightforward: brands provide the stuff customers want, customers see this and they are happy. What customers perceive is reported in their brand performance ratings (e.g., ease of use, low cost, and quality). Customer happiness is measured by an overall satisfaction rating or other output such as recommendation or retention. Finally, the R statistical programming language estimates the impact of changing inputs using any of its regression functions (e.g., the linear model function lm).
The machine analogy clarifies how we need predictors that are manipulated (as in an experiment) or at least measured independently of each other and the output. Unfortunately, we seldom get either conceptually or statistical independent variables from our customer satisfaction questionnaires. In my last post, I reviewed a considerable amount of evidence that customer performance ratings often are confounded with each other and with measures of overall satisfaction. In fact, all the ratings of both the "input" and the "output" appear to be manifestations of a single underlying affect dimension. No one is arguing that the delivery of features and services do not impact satisfaction, only that customer ratings do not provide the data needed to estimate those effects. I am not the first to reach such a conclusion.
Several examples of the input-output model are provided in a Marketing Science paper by Buschken, Otter and Allenby (the last author is associated with the R package bayesm). In each of these examples there is an overall or global evaluation accompanied by a list of what they call partial evaluations. In one study the dependent variable was "this hospital would be my first choice" and then a list of independent variables asking about perceptions of the hospital as a safe place, conveniently located, having skilled doctors, and so on. Everything was rated on a nine-point agreement scale.
The authors note that these product and service perceptions were intended to be conceptually independent. That is, the perceptions can be correlated because they reflect real co-variation as hospitals seek to provide a consistent level of service, but it is still reasonable to estimate the effect of any one driver controlling for the other drivers, (e.g., having skilled doctors controlling for convenient location and safe place). In fact, the key driver analyst is trying to include all the important determinants without being redundant. Consequently, one expects that the set of input variables would have dimension close to the number of drivers because each predictor is measuring something unique. One would not expect to find multicollinearity among the drivers or endogeneity between the input and the output as if all the ratings "effectively ask about total satisfaction" (p. 2).
Nevertheless, the Marketing Science article does find evidence for a single dimension underlying the inputs. In response, the paper suggests a Bayesian mixture model to separate those respondents who are "able and motivated to provide separate evaluations for each component" from those who "may fail to think clearly about the component evaluations" (p.3). Although there are likely to be individual differences, the discussion section of the paper points to the type of survey item as the likely cause of low-dimensional predictors. They conclude that regression-based driver analysis is inadequate "when survey items are not specific enough to engage respondents beyond an overall sentiment" (p.30). As support for this conclusion, the paper distinguishes between the one-dimensional general items from the Florida vacation data set (e.g., fun, exciting, interesting, and enjoyable) and the multidimensional concrete items from the Smartphone data set (e.g., weight, toggle or navigation wheel, and battery stamina).
Trying to Save the Input-Output Model or Moving On to Network Analysis
The Buschken, Otter and Allenby paper can be seen as an attempt to salvage the input-output model by separating respondents into clusters that did and did not provide conceptually independent ratings. Their limited success, however, was restricted to a rating scale that asked about specific details and required respondents to recall actual usage experiences. Yet, the problem of endogeneity still remains with the global evaluation working backwards and "coloring" the performance ratings for the components. More importantly, such "fixes" are not models of the associative processes accounting for rating data.
The good news is the R offers several ways of displaying and representing associative processes in network structures. In fact, my first post introduced such a network visualization of key driver analysis. As shown below, the nodes are the rating items and the lines represent correlations. Higher correlations between the ratings result in thicker green lines. All the lines are green because all the correlations are positive. The nodes were given different color to suggest item groupings. Thus, the "output" ratings of overall satisfaction, likelihood to recommend and willingness to fly again are all shown with the same purple color. In addition, the "inputs" have been given different colors to show three groupings: the red booking process, the green aircraft features, and the aqua customer service.
I would argue that such a network is a more accurate representation than a regression equation. All the ratings have equal status. There are no inputs and outputs. For example, an announcement at the end of the flight reminding passengers about the frequent flyer miles they earned and inviting them back for their next flight may have an impact on some respondent's willingness to fly again. Unlike a regression model, the network suggests that drawing attention to one's frequent flyer miles might alter their memories and their ratings of the most highly associated items. Just thinking about a free trip or upgrade might improve my perceptions of the seat comfort and roominess and remember the service as better than it was. If this is a halo effect, it is real and exploited by the airlines.
Borsboom and Cramer have taken this approach further in their network analysis of psychopathology. The symptoms of a disorder are causally interconnected with worry causing insomnia which causes fatigue and then feeds back to increase worry. Their paper includes R code for the package that I used to produce the above figure (qgraph) and a graphical modeling package for causal inference (pcalg).
Model Selection Makes a Difference
Much of our thinking seems to be dominated by causal modeling, with or without latent variables (e.g., structural equations). Consequently, we tend not to see the feedback loops and associations among all our perceptions and ratings. Continuing with our airline example, I can minimize confounding by asking about very specific events (e.g., "Were you asked if you wanted something to drink?"). However, more general questions (e.g., "Were the flight attendants helpful?") can be answered by remembering our impression without having to recall every interaction with the flight attendants. In such cases we tend to find high correlations among all the ratings as if we were measuring a single underlying affect dimension. Regression analysis is simply not appropriate or informative under these conditions.
The network model, on the other hand, encourages us to treat all the ratings as associations without needing to separate them into inputs and outputs. For example, nudge theory suggests that small changes can have big impacts. Not only can I increase your retention likelihood by offering you a discount on your next purchase, I might also be able to increase your satisfaction with your current purchase. In marketing research we are often ask to report the one thing that will have the greatest impact. That one thing is to stop thinking that there is one leverage point with maximum return when there are multiple leverage points that need our attention.
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Today is Monday, March 18, the 77th day of 2013. There are 288 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On March 18, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Gideon v. Wainwright, ruled unanimously that state courts were required to provide legal counsel to criminal defendants who could not afford to hire an attorney on their own.
On this date:
In 1766, Britain repealed the Stamp Act of 1765.
In 1837, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, was born in Caldwell, N.J.
In 1913, King George I of Greece was assassinated in Thessaloniki.
In 1937, some 300 people, mostly children, were killed in a gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas.
In 1938, Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas nationalized his country's petroleum reserves and took control of foreign-owned oil facilities.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which was put in charge of interning Japanese-Americans, with Milton S. Eisenhower (the younger brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower) as its director.
In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill. (Hawaii became a state on Aug. 21, 1959.)
In 1962, France and Algerian rebels signed the Evian Accords, a cease-fire agreement which took effect the next day, ending the Algerian War.
In 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov went outside his Voskhod 2 capsule, secured by a tether.
In 1974, most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the United States.
In 1980, Frank Gotti, the 12-year-old youngest son of mobster John Gotti, was struck and killed by a car driven by John Favara, a neighbor in Queens, N.Y. (The following July, Favara vanished, the apparent victim of a gang hit.)
In 1990, thieves made off with 13 works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (the crime remains unsolved).
Ten years ago: A jury in Corpus Christi, Texas, cleared Bayer Corp. of liability in a $560 million lawsuit that accused the pharmaceutical giant of ignoring research linking the cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol to dozens of deaths. In Salt Lake City, Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee were charged with aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, who was found with them six days earlier. (Although both were initially found incompetent to stand trial, Mitchell was eventually convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault, while Barzee pleaded guilty to kidnapping and unlawful transportation charges.) Olympic gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes won the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete.
Five years ago: Democrat Barack Obama confronted America's racial divide head-on with a speech in Philadelphia in which he urged the nation to break "a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years." German Chancellor Angela Merkel earned a standing ovation from Israel's parliament with a speech that included a tribute to the victims of the Holocaust. Oscar-winning filmmaker Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient") died in London at age 54.
One year ago: Mitt Romney scored an overwhelming win in Puerto Rico's Republican presidential primary, trouncing chief rival Rick Santorum.
Today's Birthdays: Composer John Kander is 86. Nobel peace laureate and former South African president F.W. de Klerk is 77. Country singer Charley Pride is 75. Actor Kevin Dobson is 70. Actor Brad Dourif is 63. Jazz musician Bill Frisell is 62. Singer Irene Cara is 54. Movie writer-director Luc Besson is 54. Actor Geoffrey Owens is 52. Actor Thomas Ian Griffith is 51. Singer-songwriter James McMurtry is 51. Singer-actress Vanessa L. Williams is 50. Olympic gold medal speedskater Bonnie Blair is 49. Country musician Scott Saunders (Sons of the Desert) is 49. Rock musician Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) is 47. Rock singer-musician Miki Berenyi (ber-EN'-ee) is 46. Rapper-actress-talk show host Queen Latifah is 43. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is 41. Actor-comedian Dane Cook is 41. Rock musician Stuart Zender is 39. Singers Jaron and Evan Lowenstein are 39. Actress-singer-dancer Sutton Foster (TV: "Bunheads") is 38. Singer Devin Lima (LFO) is 36. Rock singer Adam Levine (Maroon 5) is 34. Rock musician Daren Taylor (Airborne Toxic Event) is 33. Olympic gold medal figure skater Alexei Yagudin is 33. Actor Adam Pally is 31. Actress-dancer Julia Goldani Telles (TV: "Bunheads") is 18.
Thought for Today: "Liberty is from God, liberties from the devil." — Old German proverb.
Today in History - Monday, March 18, 2013
Today is Monday, March 18, the 77th day of 2013. There are 288 days left in the year.


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Export 4 results:
Filtres: Author is Weng, Yuan-Cheng [Enlever les filtres]
Molecular imaging of nestin in neuroinflammatory conditions reveals marked signal induction in activated microglia. J Neuroinflammation. 2017;14(1):45.
Toll-like receptor 2 deficiency leads to delayed exacerbation of ischemic injury. J Neuroinflammation. 2012;9:191.
Accumulation of dietary docosahexaenoic acid in the brain attenuates acute immune response and development of postischemic neuronal damage. Stroke. 2011;42(10):2903-9.
Model system for live imaging of neuronal responses to injury and repair. Mol Imaging. 2011;10(6):434-45.


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Sterile, disposable corneal trephine blade
Katena Trephine Blades are machined from solid stainless steel rods to ensure they are perfectly round and dimensionally accurate. Each blade is seated in a specifically designed nylon holder and secured by a spring clip to protect it during storage and handling. Additionally, each unit is sealed in a space saving, clear plastic tray and is supplied sterile.


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Norwegian Christmas
I grew up near a town named Baltic, S.D. about 15 miles north of Sioux Falls. Baltic was first named St. Olaf, after the Norwegian king, of course, and after that it was Keyes and finally Baltic – after the ocean, of course. I have absolutely no idea why it was named Keyes.
When I lived there, particularly during my earliest years, Baltic was as Norwegian as the King of Norway or King Oscar Sardines – probably even more so. Until I was eight, you probably heard Norwegian spoken by the old bachelor farmers and maids more than English. Words like nayda and fie filled the summer atmosphere thicker than flies at a picnic or cats at a lutefisk cookoff.
As winter settled in and we started to virtually die of boredom, Dad would take Mom and me over to the Kirkebys, his cousins. For three or four hours, Dad and Sigfried and his sister Thora would regale one another over stories – some remembered, some fabricated, I suspect – of their youth. Every word was in Norwegian and Mom, who didn't understand a word of it, was driven to insanity.
When it got really cold – I mean really cold – Fred Thompson would emerge like a hermit crab from his hermitage along the snow-caked Big Sioux River bottom. I always liked Fred. He could have lived during the Fur Trade era and done very well. That's because that was how he lived when I knew him.
Fred hunted and trapped and sometimes wore the critters he'd skinned up to our farmhouse on the hill. Walking three, four miles well into his 60s, Fred would settle down into a kitchen chair, tug a can of Velvet and papers from his pocket, or sometimes even a "tailor-made". Everyone smoked then. Mom, Dad and Fred who might sneak out a little bottle of peppermint schnapps from his beaver coat and mix it into his coffee or maybe take a short snort right out of the bottle. He let me try a sip once of the 100 proof stuff when I was seven, and when I said it tasted like candy, Mom got mad and made him put it away.
Whenever Christmastime approached, Mom baked like mad. She always baked too many cookies, too many bars, too much bread. But it was never enough. As though on cue, as soon as the bread was baked or the cookies cooled, the Kirkebys and Fred would descend on our house like wolverines after a wounded rabbit.
And if we were really lucky, Dad's aunt Josie would come and help cook.
Aunt Josie was a legend. The Renner Corner just north of Sioux Falls still uses her spechema recipe (I probably murdered the spelling), a spiced meat that my brother-in-law and nephew sit and carve up with knives like cave men whenever they come for a visit.
Aunt Josie had mastered the art of cooking lutefisk in a wood range with oak. It emerged from the oven the consistency of roast beef and smelled heavenly (honest). Add the boiled potatoes, melted butter, Swedish meatballs, flatbrod, krumkake and lefse, and you had a feast fit for a Norwegian king.
When Aunt Josie entered the kitchen, everyone turned silent. This was her domain, her realm. No one dared lift a measuring spoon. She would drift quietly to the cupboard and take out of one of Mom's aprons and turn, decades of knowledge emblazoned on her brow, and we would wait for her pronouncement as attentively as Oedipus would have listened to the Oracle at Delphi.
"Are we ready to make lefse?" Aunt Josie would ask.
Everyone would nod, as though ready to follow a gunnery sergeant into battle. Aunt Josie would get them through this, they knew. Because she was the best.
I'd like to say this is Aunt Josie's lefse recipe, but it isn't. I got it online.
Recipe for lefse
10 pounds potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1. Cover potatoes with water and cook until tender. Run hot potatoes through a potato ricer. Place into a large bowl. Beat butter, cream, salt, and sugar into the hot riced potatoes. Let cool to room temperature.
2. Stir flour into the potato mixture. Pull off pieces of the dough and form into walnut size balls. Lightly flour a pastry cloth and roll out lefse balls to 1/8 inch thickness.
3. Cook on a hot (400 degree F/200 C) griddle until bubbles form and each side has browned. Place on a damp towel to cool slightly and then cover with damp towel until ready to serve.
Christmas on the Farm
And oh, by the way. Lisa Hansen will be making lefse from noon to 4 p.m. today at Christmas on the Farm at the Peterson Point Historic Farmstead, just south of the Emmet County Nature Center.
You'll also find sleigh rides, kids crafts and games and homebaked goodies (including some of Norwegian origin, no doubt).


text: Low ceilings and quiet nooks are what you'll find behind the glass facade and revolving door that is set into the hallway next-door to Terrace Pointe Café at Wynn. At La Cave—Wine & Food Hideaway you'll savor Chef Billy DeMarco's menu of small-plate items from the sea, farm, oven, garden, grill and butcher, paired with artisanal draught beers and an impressive wine list. La Cave offers three distinct environments—the cellar, the front bar area illuminated from above by a sign proclaiming In Vino Veritas, the rustic yet refined dining room, and a patio that looks out over the elegantly-landscaped Wynn resort pool and gardens.


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The Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome Foundation is the first and only international 501c.3. nonprofit organization solely dedicated to providing immediate and lifesaving educational, emotional and financial support to families, medical professionals and other caregivers before, during and after a diagnosis of twin to twin transfusion syndrome. We are dedicated to saving the babies, improving their future health and care, providing NICU, special needs and bereavement support, furthering medical research and keeping families together the way twins are meant to be.
Confirm at First Ultrasound (Hopefully by 12 Weeks)1. Is the placenta monochorionic?
Ask at Weekly Ultrasounds (Starting at Week 16 to Delivery)7. What is the largest vertical pocket of fluid for each baby?
-Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) is a disease of the placenta (or afterbirth) that affects identical twin pregnancies.
-TTTS affects identical twins (or higher multiple gestations) who share a common monochorionic placenta.
-The shared placenta contains abnormal blood vessels which connect the umbilical cord and circulations of the twins.
-The common placenta may also be shared unequally by the twins
-The events in pregnancy that lead to TTTS are all random.
-TTTS is not hereditary or genetic, nor caused by anything the parents did or did not do.
-TTTS can happen to anyone.