Join me in my office for a moment.

Please take a seat. No, not the seat piled with yesterday’s mail. Here, take the one with the tax forms and the stapler on it. Just move those aside. Put them anywhere. Yes, on top of the box of pickling jars is fine. Just watch out for the yoga mats and the bag full of used wrapping paper. I know, I could throw it away, but it’s perfectly good. And you never know when you might need it. now if I could only find my laptop.

Welcome to my junk problem. None of this junk is actually junk: It all has a practical purpose, or used to, or could again in the future. But what might be “useful stuff” in a 2,000-square-foot home quickly becomes cluttered junk in my “one plus” apartment.

You might think that outer space is so big that it would be immune from the junk effect. yet because most of the stuff we send into space occupies a relatively small region less than 2,000 kilometers from the surface of Earth, space is more like my cluttered office than it is the expansive basement of your average McMansion. Low-Earth orbit is littered with defunct satellites, spent rockets and even astronaut trash.

NASA’s Orbital Debris Program estimates that there are almost 20,000 pieces of large debris ( “large” being a technical term for “bigger than a grapefruit” ), half a million particles measuring between 1 and 10 cm in diameter, and tens of millions of pieces of even tinier detritus, like paint flakes, circling the Earth today.

All of that trash endangers active satellites and can even pose a threat to astronauts on the space shuttle and aboard the International Space Station. In fact, much of what we know about the smallest impactors, which can’t be tracked with radar like larger debris can, comes from looking at tiny pocks and dents in space shuttles after they’ve returned to Earth.

Though these vessels are shielded against the hail of fine-grained debris they encounter, they occasionally have to fire their engines to maneuver out of the path of larger chunks of junk. In two instances in 2008 and 2009, astronauts on the International Space Station took shelter in their Soyuz “lifeboat” when NASA tracked debris on a near-collision-course. Luckily, the debris passed without hitting the space station.

The worse news is that debris breeds debris: When two pieces of space junk hit each other, they create a cascade of wreckage that increases the risk of future collisions. the new fragments are smaller than the original debris pieces, but because they’re traveling at 7 or 8 kilometers per second, they still carry enough energy to do serious damage. some scientists have predicted a worst-case scenario in which space debris multiplies so quickly that we become trapped on Earth; it will no longer be worth the risk to send new satellites and spacecraft into orbit.

What can we do about all that space junk? on paper, at least, there are plenty of solutions. you could use lasers to vaporize the debris — though you might accidentally start World War III in the process. less disturbing to international policymakers would be a kinder, gentler laser that could nudge dangerous debris off course using the faint pressure of light itself. Others have suggested dispatching orbiting garbage trucks to scoop up trash, or attaching propulsion systems to debris on the fly so that the junk can power itself out of orbit and crash down to Earth.

But as anyone who has ever participated in the ritual of spring cleaning knows, it’s more important (and easier) to keep the junk from accumulating than it is to clean it up once it’s already there. Space agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency are already thinking about how to reduce the junk that’s stranded in space. It’s a technical problem, but also a diplomatic, legal and economic one.

Cleaning up my office? that involves some diplomacy as well, but only with my husband. Maybe a little spring cleaning gift would do the trick. And I already have the paper to wrap it in.

Kate Becker is a science writer living in Boston. Contact her at spacecrafty.com, or connect via Facebook (facebook.com/katembecker) or Twitter (@kmbecker).

<a href="http://www.dailycamera.com/science-columnists/ci_17694137tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.dailycamera.com/science-columnists/ci_17694137Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:58:00 GMT 00:00″>Kate Becker: Outer space due for a little spring cleaning?

Know your rights

THE Bar Council Human Rights Committee is organising a forum called

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants was the forerunner of boutique hotels in the US and now has more than 50 hotels. April Hutchinson catches up with dynamic CEO and president Niki Leondakis IF YOU DO a search for Kimpton on Twitter, one of the many things that pops up is “socially-conscious sipping”. whatever, that is right?
Socially-conscious sipping is what guests are doing during the complimentary wine hour held at Kimpton’s hotels each evening. the wine hours give guests a chance to wind down, given many of them will be travelling on their own for business. It’s also a chance to showcase one of the many measures Kimpton makes to ensure its hotels are as environmentally aware as they can be, and to ‘do the right thing’. Emily Wines, who is Kimpton’s aptly named wine director and master sommelier, chooses the wines based on their ethical and environmental values, working with local producers and offering biodynamic and organic wines. Explore on Twitter further and you will find a couple who are doing the “Kimpton Crawl” – such fans are they of the hotels and their pet-friendly policies, that they are travelling across the US for a year with their dog, staying in 25 Kimpton hotels along the way and blogging as they go. Stories like these go some way to explaining why the hotels have become almost a household name amongst savvy travellers. for many in the UK, Kimpton is probably not a massively-known brand, but it is the forerunner of boutique hotels in the US. Brits do however make up the biggest international guest segment for Kimpton, so some of us must be switched on to the hotels. President and chief operating officer of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Niki Leondakis doesn’t rule out overseas plans but until then, travellers can content themselves with trying one of the 50 or so hotels across cities and resorts in the US. Leondakis has been with the firm for close on 18 years and has seen it grow significantly, instilling her strong values along the way and carrying on the tradition of founder Bill Kimpton. Here, she explains the company’s philosophy.  What is the ethos of a Kimpton hotel?Our founder, the late bill Kimpton, travelled extensively in Europe and loved the style of boutique hotels there, but found nothing of the same nature in the US so he decided to start his own, opening our first in San Francisco and that is where we are still based today. All our hotels are boutique style, locally-inspired, design-focused, around 200-room size on average, with individual chef-run restaurants and a high level of personal care and staff ready to customise each guest’s stay. they are mainly urban, but we also have resorts. another common stream is that of wellbeing. We all live stressful lives these days and we appreciate this, so at the hotels we want to try and help guests create an in-room spa experience when they stay with us and to look after themselves. there are on-demand yoga videos, yoga mat supplied for guests in the rooms and we’ve just started partnering with health and nutrition expert Joy Bauer to create nutritious meals for room service. they are all 500 calories or less so guests can eat light and healthy if they choose to. We are also offering in-room video clips to help travellers maintain a balanced life on the road. We want to try and make people feel at home, not like they are in a hotel, so the complimentary wine hours we mentioned already help people socialise while staying with us.  How has the company grown?We have 51 hotels now across the US but there are plenty of other places we want to be. Over the next two to three years, we are focused on places like South Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, Nashville, Cincinatti, more in new York – wherever our customers are travelling to, we want to be there. We probably open around four hotels a year – we have our second hotel in Philadelphia opening in 2012 and one in Phoenix. Our ideal model is adaptive conversions and to re-use historic buildings; we both operate and own hotels. the last couple of years have been tough. But the recession for us created a lot of opportunities in both areas – to take on the management of some great hotels that came to us looking for help and also to acquire some others which unfortunately had to sell. for 2011, the projections are good, but we still operate in a fragile environment and food and energy costs are rising so much. A lot of your hotels seem female-friendly – is this a specific focus?We appeal to a wide and inclusive demographic – from families who are treated to our kids’ programmes through to a big following in the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community, but yes, we definitely noticed we have a high proportion of female travellers. We felt that this was because they appreciated our attention to detail, our style and design and also responded to the desire we have as hoteliers to make people feel comfortable. the number one stress for women travellers is safety and security so we do all we can to alleviate those worries for them. We also make sure via our Forgot It We’ve Got It programme that women can rely on us for the things they need, from straightening irons to fashion tape! We also make sure there are full-length mirrors and well-lit make-up mirrors in the rooms, as well as our bathrobes in animal prints to make them feel feminine.  As a woman, have you found it hard to get ahead in business yourself?I started off in the restaurant business and worked in food and beverage departments with other hotels. I used to come across things like being asked to show staff how to serve the afternoon tea, when I knew I was capable of so much more. I always tried not to make my career and business a gender issue and just worked hard. But there were many times when actually, I realised my gender was an issue – for some. I also realised that getting ahead in the hospitality business was more of a struggle for some women than it was for me, so I started a mentoring programme. Today, Kimpton’s Mentor Program is for everyone and it pays attention to whatever peoples’ specific needs might be. I always try to look at situations as a group of businesspeople trying to work together, but you do still have to understand the dynamics of how men and women think and operate differently in business environments. Are travellers increasingly eco-savvy?Absolutely, but I think because of our San Francisco roots and because of Bill’s beliefs, ‘doing the right thing’ has always been in our DNA. We were into CSR before it was even called that and a ‘fashionable’ thing to do. Guests just expect us to be like that now, and we are. bill believed it was our responsibility to do things better and to part of the community. We had ‘green roofs’ before it was even popular, and in 2005, we standardised eco policy across the hotels. We now have more than 100 operating practices, including things like using non-toxic cleaning products in the rooms, offering organic items in the mini-bar, recycling receptacles in guestrooms, using responsibly fished seafood, all the way through to our Wines That Care programme, under which we select wines for our hotels’ wine hours from wineries chosen for their dedication to the earth and local communities. And almost all our hotels are now Green Seal certified. Is it important to support the communities you work in?We support several charities on a national level, such as Dress for Success, which provides support to low-income women. It’s an inspiring thing to be involved in, as we provide job interview suits and career development assistance to low-income women so they can help themselves to further their potential. We also work with Red Ribbon Day, the HIV and AIDS charity. We also work with the Nature Conservancy nationally and help locally over the summer months to clean up turn urban wastelands into better community spaces. Each hotel also supports a charity locally to them choosing to get involved at a grass roots level to whatever feels relevant to them, whether it’s something culturally, the arts or within their community. What other trends have you noticed?The rise in the number of people travelling with pets! That has gone through the roof. We have all sorts stay with their owners in our hotels, from ferrets to llamas as well as dogs and cats and you have to appreciate how attached people are to these animals. I have cats myself but wouldn’t travel with them; although my mother travels with hers! everyone is different. Surveys show people with pets are less stressed and in keeping with that, we offer a service called Guppy Love, where guests can request a goldfish to stay overnight in their guestroom to help relieve stress. What about the role of social media?We are also obviously adapting to that and to its role in our guests lives. It is not to be seen directly as a sales revenue channel. We use it to listen to our guests, to have conversations with them and to relate to them. It is invaluable to be able to search and see what people are saying about you and set the pace for discussion too. Individual hotels have their own personality and we have an overall Twitter stream for Kimpton. I also use it to speak to all our staff and had our own “twitterchat” recently, a tweet session which meant as many as 6,500 employees at any one time were all able to have a conversation via Twitter, which was great and really productive. Of course, I also make a point of visiting each hotel at least once a year in person! All staff need to have access to each other and to management and feel connected to what is going on within the company. It helps to keep our culture thriving. We’re also proud to be a Fortune 100 ‘best place to work’ company. Treat people well and they will treat your customers well. What are plans for the 30th?We will be giving away 30 weekends on Facebook and will have offers and discounts around April 1, which is when we celebrate and will do a lot internally, as it also gives us chance to honour the memory of bill. 

ALL ABOUT NIKIBorn in West Springfield, Massachusetts, Niki’s first role was as a manager for Marriott in 1982 in Nashville, Tennessee. she held food and beverage director roles with Ritz-Carlton before joining Kimpton in 1993 as director of restaurant operations. she was subsequently promoted to executive vice-president for hotels too, becoming chief operating officer in 2003 and president in 2010. What is your favourite city? I love London and Paris equally. both have incredible museums, history, architecture, shopping and world-class historic hotels. I love spending time in Paris trying restaurants and enjoying its culinary history. I love London for its royal traditions and British humour. 
Where was your first holiday? Crete, Greece
What is your little luxury in life? Currently, a little indulgence at home is Molton Brown linen spray.How do you get through a flight? my Andrea Bocelli airplane playlist on my iPod, Chamomile tea, skinny jeans, ballet pumps and a cashmere wrap.
Best thing about your job? The constant flow of inspiration that comes from being surrounded by the creative people I work with, and the imaginative hotel environments and ways of caring for our guests that they bring about.  
What is your best tip to get ahead? Know what you are passionate about and find a job or career that allows you to tap into passions. If you’re passionate about what you do, success follows.Who are your favourite designers? I love fashion! I like to mix things, so a bit of Gap with Balenciaga, Prada or Chanel.How often do you travel? A lot! my husband was booking some flights for us the other day and he asked me if I was aware I had 75,000 miles on United to use! I travel around the US a lot for work obviously, and about three overseas business trips a year. on a personal level, we are adventurous travellers and like to explore places such as Bhutan and Burma – that was a trip we made this year and it just blew me away. Makes you realise how much we take for granted.
  

<a href="http://www.ttglive.com/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=3208370&CMPI_SHARED_articleId=4638520&CMPI_SHARED_ImageArticleId=4638520&CMPI_SHARED_articleIdRelated=4638520&CMPI_SHARED_ToolsArticleId=4638520&CMPI_SHARED_CommentArticleId=4638520&articleTitle=Keeping%20Kimpton%20ahead%20of%20the%20gametag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.ttglive.com/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=3208370″>Keeping Kimpton ahead of the game – ttglive

Colorful Yoga Mats (TM) 1/ 1″ Extra-Thick Deluxe Classic Yoga, Pilates & exercising Mat

Jade (Orange County, CA)

The mat has excellent thickness, and appears to become quite non-slip. nonetheless, such as the evaluation from an additional consumer, I too was disappointed inside the colour as soon as my item arrived. I got the Burgundy mat, which has a swatch displaying a deep red, but when the mat arrived, it was a lot more of a plum purple, or a “Barney” purple. I do not totally hate the colour, but I assume i’m going to attempt to return it for a lot more of some thing my taste. nonetheless, now i’m quite cautious to acquire an additional colour, fearing it too will likely be totally various than what I anticipate. I may just go with brown, hopefully you cannot mess that one particular up too a lot.

Anastacia (San Francisco, CA USA)

A excellent mat — thick, extended, non-slippery. one particular dilemma: the colour patches tend not to show the actual colors, and several colour names are quite negative descriptions of the colors shown. This could be unfortunate for any item, but is specially upsetting in this situation due to the fact the manufacturer, clearly, has place a whole lot of effort in creating all these colors and is targeting these buyers who care about colors and want a specific one particular.

I have ordered two mats: orange and dark green. The orange was fine: it was darker and a lot more saturated than on the photo, but quite close towards the colour on the patch. nonetheless, the “gark green” mat could possibly be very best described as “teal”, and had practically nothing to complete using the colour of the “dark geen” patch. It was the closest towards the “teal green” patch, but darker.

One of the causes for me to acquire this brend was the selection of colors, and so i’ll be returning. I may well attempt ordering an additional colour — “forest green”, possibly — but i’m concerned that the colour that i’ll truly get is unpredictable.

Sally Corey “needlepoint designer and author” (Moorestown, NJ, USA)

Thank you for the prompt shipment of this top quality yoga mat. it can be comfortably thick, a beautiful colour (as pictured) and I enjoy that I can place it inside the washing machine!

Colorful Yoga Mats (TM) 1/ 1″ Extra-Thick Deluxe Classic Yoga, Pilates & exercising Mat

I keep hearing I need a yoga mat-highly recommended. so I won't slip when I'm trying the poses.

I'm way out of shape and have trouble doing even the basic poses, and I've heard that for me it's a good idea to pick up a yoga block and strap. I've seen the yoga kits at walmat for about 20 bucks where it comes with a mat, strap and block.

Is it a good idea to get something like that before I start yoga?

Will it help make the poses easier to do and help me from getting frustrated at not being able to do the poses?

Most the yoga kits I see come with a DVD guide-and a 15-20 minute video showing you how to do simple poses the right way.

Is it a good idea to get a kit with that type of video as well?

How do the blocks and straps help in the long run? thanks!!

Not being sarcastic, but I think legs and arms and a torso are needed.

You need also to learn the deep proper breathing techniques to get the most out of your yoga practice… and to know the poses and their physiological benefits also is very helpful for you.
See this free yoga e-course for exercises and tips:
yoga-health-beauty-energy.com…

I've never done yoga before-what do I need to start?