Welcome To William Bent Station and Project Aquarius Station
Space Theme Weekends.
William Bent Station Kansas City Space Interests'
first Space theme weekend format was developed as a Delta
Vee Network initiative. It was developed with inspiration from
"Old Bent's Fort" in Bend County Colorado. In the 1830's William
Bent and his brother Charles Bent in Westport Missouri, made plans
to build a trading post fort on the Santa Fe and California trails
near the USA and Mexican border then located near the Arkansas River
in the Colorado territory. William Bent's first stockade fort was
near or in what is now the city of Pueblo Colorado. It was not
successful. He then built a mud brick fort farther east and that was
more successful. It became a major trading post between the US and
Mexico and a rest stop for settlers traveling on the pioneer
trails. Fort William as it was known reportedly burned in 1849
and was left unoccupied from then on until the 20th Century.
The fort was rebuilt in the 1970's and is now maintained as an
historic site by the Parks Service. Charles Bent went on to be
elected the first Governor of New Mexico and died trying to stop a
riot. William Bent became an advocate of Native American
issues. He married an American Indian lady and returned Kansas
City. He built a house near what is now the Country Club Plaza, on
55th Street and Ward Parkway. It still stands today as an
historic site called the Bend / Ward Home.
Fort William was a largely self supporting community with many
goods manufactured on site. It is a good 1830's analogy on a Moon
base or Mars base. The Delta Vee Network updated the technology
elements of the Fort William concept and replaced the
1830's stuff with Space Age technology. So the concept is hands on
study of the uses of practical technology. It is a how to
event on all of the stuff you need to know to live on Earth and
in Space.
William Bent was an advocate of Native American issues so the
learning format is based on a Lakota teaching format, called the
Sixteen Mysteries of Wakan Tanka. This includes science information
and human relations information as well. It is simply not in a
western civilization format. It does not really fit into
conventional western science but it works. It is science from a
different cultural background.
National Space Society members are generally not included in
William Bent Station events. What has happened in the past is NSS
members try to take over the project instead of participate. So you
are excluded. It is not that we don't like you, it is because we
can't afford the risk. The Delta Vee Network is a very low budget
Space Interest group and can not afford any stumbling blocks. If you
did not invent something you should not try to patent it, the
inventor will be very upset and not return even after you are gone.
If you try to claim ownership of something that is not yours, the
owners will never invite you back. It takes years for the Delta Vee
Network to build back membership, so we try to avoid conflicts.
Due to the actions of a few NSS members you are not welcome
here, until you can use your innate intellect in coordination with
wisdom, knowledge; fortitude, council; piety; and respect for your
creator. You are not bad people, this is just an example
of bad human dynamics that requires learning experiences and
personal growth. Until a later time when multi group
interaction can be carried out productively.
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Project Aquarius Station
With the above mentioned situation it became clear that there
needed to be an NSS specific Space Theme event and Project Aquarius
was established. All projects and technology used with Project
Aquarius are public domain prior art. No inventive projects are
conducted. We have found that NSS members find public domain
technology just as interesting as inventive technology. Many people
don't see the difference. We still get people that tell us they are
going to patent something from an event for themselves and we are
just going to have to go along with it. Then they go off and spend
$15,000 to file for a patent only to discover the technology
has long since been invented. Public domain technology is
not a deterrent against people like this but it does provide a self
inflicted punishment. Project Aquarius starts off with a notice that
all projects and technology used are public domain and there
will be no inventive technology shown. Sometimes people get up and
leave. Once we have discouraged the patent seekers the
event begins.
Project Aquarius is based very loosely on NASA astronaut training
and the US Army Survival Training Field Guide.
1. The first stage is a study of the Solar system.
Chapter One: The Sun and Mercury
Chapter Two: Venus
Chapter Three: Earth and Luna
Chapter Four: Mars
Chapter 5: The Asteroid Belt
Chapter Six: Jupiter
Chapter Seven: Saturn
Chapter Eight: Uranus
Chapter Nine: Neptune
Chapter Ten: Pluto and minor planets
Chapter Eleven: The Oort Cloud, Kiepier Belt and possible
undiscovered gas giant planet
or brown dwarf star in the outer solar system.
Chapter Twelve: General Physical Science
Chapter Thirteen: General Biology
Chapter Fourteen: General Chemistry
Chapter Fifteen: General Geology and Ecology
Chapter Sixteen Camping with minimal equipment
Chapter Seventeen: Learning how to make the rudiments of
living.
Chapter Eighteen: Aviation, Workshop on how to fly a model
balloon; model airplane, model helicopter; model rocket. If you
can't launch a model rocket you can't launch a real one.
Chapter Nineteen: How to make electricity. A workshop on how to
make batteries. If you can't make a wet cell battery what are you
talking about Space Solar Power for?
Chapter Twenty: How to make a rope. A workshop on rope making. If
you can't make a rope you can't make a Space tether.
Chapter Twenty One: How to make soap. Soap making is
the oldest process technology. If you can not make a very
rudimentary soap you will have a difficult time mastering extraction
of helium 3 on the Moon. So get the simple things accomplished first
and then go on to the more complex.
Chapter Twenty Two: Bushcraft book review by Richard Graves. A
quick study of Bushcraft and its contents How do you make stuff?
Chapter Twenty Three: A review of The US Army survival
field guide. This is one of the most comprehensive
resources on surviving in the field. It should be part of every
camper's reference library.
Chapter Twenty Four: The Project Aquarius Weekend. After you have
passed all of the fairly easy hurdles of the previous chapters. You
should be ready for the Project Aquarius Weekend camping trip.
The prerequisites of this are that you should own your own tent
and camping supplies. We can find rental tents for you but it is
cheaper in the long run to have the equipment yourself. You
can purchase a four person tent for about $30 at a discount
warehouse. It costs you about $10 per night to rent a tent. You must
also have your own insurance and pass a background check. After all
of the criminals have been weeded out, the remaining group of law
abiding citizens goes on the Project Aquarius weekend. On several
occasions nobody passed the background check and the event was
cancelled. We are not calling NSS members criminals and we are not
saying you can't be trusted. It is just that we have on
occasion encountered those enthusiastic few that are criminals. This
makes the background check required to ensure a safe weekend in the
wilderness away from the infrastructure of law enforcement. You
would not want to go on a camping trip with someone you can't trust,
so we narrow it down to the provably trustworthy. After completion
of the weekend you get an unacredited certificate of completion,
saying you passed the courses of study by examination. So you
have something you can hang on the wall.
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Chapter Contact: George Howard Email: kcnssh18@aol.com
THE NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY VISION STATEMENT
IT IS OUR HUMAN DESTINY TO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY AMONG THE STARS IN
PERMANENT SPACE COMMUNITIES...
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THE NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY HEART OF AMERICA CHAPTER PLEDGE
In order for Humans to live, work and play among the stars in
permanent Space communities we must become beings that strive to do
only that which is good and correct. The technology of living in
Space is complex, but the most difficult aspect of living in Space
is human tendencies. Humans are born with innate intellect but do
not have innate wisdom, we must learn this. Without learned wisdom
humans tend to put knowledge gained to the most immediate misuse.
Training yourself to be a well behaved person is a key factor in
learning to live in Space communities and on Earth. One very simple
method of conduct that Space interest group chapters can implement
is a chapter pledge. You don't have to take the pledge but your
chapter membership is free if you do.
The Heart of America chapter pledge is:
On my honor, I will strive to use my innate intellect in
coordination with: wisdom, understanding; council, fortitude;
knowledge, piety; respect for the creator.
On my honor, I will strive to avoid: pride, covetousness; lust,
anger; gluttony, envy; sloth.
If you accept this pledge your chapter membership is free, if you
do not then your chapter membership is the standard $20.00 per
year.
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