The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named in honour of the Algonquin word'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border between these two provinces, it is the longest river in Quebec. The river rises at Lac des Outaouais, north of the Laurentian Mountains of central Quebec, flows west to Lake Timiskaming. From there its route has been used to define the interprovincial border with Ontario; the river reaches great depths of nearly 460 feet in some places. From Lake Timiskaming, the river flows southeast to Ottawa and Gatineau, where it tumbles over Chaudière Falls and further takes in the Rideau and Gatineau rivers; the Ottawa River drains into the Lake of the St. Lawrence River at Montreal; the river is 1,271 kilometres long. The average annual mean waterflow measured at Carillon dam, near the Lake of Two Mountains, is 1,939 cubic metres per second, with average annual extremes of 749 to 5,351 cubic metres per second.

Record historic levels since 1964 are a low of 529 cubic metres per second in 2005 and a high of 8,190 cubic metres per second in 1976. The river flows through large areas of deciduous and coniferous forest formed over thousands of years as trees recolonized the Ottawa Valley after the ice age; the coniferous forests and blueberry bogs occur on old sand plains left by retreating glaciers, or in wetter areas with clay substrate. The deciduous forests, dominated by birch, beech and ash occur in more mesic areas with better soil around the boundary with the La Varendrye Park; these primeval forests were affected by natural fire started by lightning, which led to increased reproduction by pine and oak, as well as fire barrens and their associated species. The vast areas of pine were exploited by early loggers. Generations of logging removed hemlock for use in tanning leather, leaving a permanent deficit of hemlock in most forests. Associated with the logging and early settlement were vast wild fires which not only removed the forests, but led to soil erosion.

Nearly all the forests show varying degrees of human disturbance. Tracts of older forest are uncommon, hence they are considered of considerable importance for conservation; the Ottawa River has large areas of wetlands. Some of the more biologically important wetland areas include, the Westmeath sand dune/wetland complex, Mississippi Snye, Breckenridge Nature Reserve, Shirleys Bay, Ottawa Beach/Andrew Haydon Park, Petrie Island, the Duck Islands and Greens Creek; the Westmeath sand dune/wetland complex is significant for its pristine sand dunes, few of which remain along the Ottawa River, the many associated rare plants. Shirleys Bay has a biologically diverse shoreline alvar, as well as one of the largest silver maple swamps along the river. Like all wetlands, these depend upon the seasonal fluctuations in the water level. High water levels help create and maintain silver maple swamps, while low water periods allow many rare wetland plants to grow on the emerged sand and clay flats. There are five principal wetland vegetation types.

One is swamp silver maple. There are four herbaceous vegetation types, named for the dominant plant species in them: Scirpus, Eleocharis and Typha. Which type occurs in a particular location depends upon factors such as substrate type, water depth, ice-scour and fertility. Inland, south of the river, older river channels, which date back to the end of the ice age, no longer have flowing water, have sometimes filled with a different wetland type, peat bog. Examples include Alfred Bog. Major tributaries include: Communities along the Ottawa River include: The Ottawa River lies in the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben, a Mesozoic rift valley that formed 175 million years ago. Much of the river flows through the Canadian Shield, although lower areas flow through limestone plains and glacial deposits; as the glacial ice sheet began to retreat at the end of the last ice age, the Ottawa River valley, along with the St. Lawrence River valley and Lake Champlain, had been depressed to below sea level by the glacier's weight, filled with sea water.

The resulting arm of the ocean is known as the Champlain Sea. Fossil remains of marine life dating 12 to 10 thousand years ago have been found in marine clay throughout the region. Sand deposits from this era have produced vast plains dominated by pine forests, as well as localized areas of sand dunes, such as Westmeath and Constance Bay. Clay deposits from this period have resulted in areas of poor drainage, large swamps, peat bogs in some ancient channels of this river. Hence, the distribution of forests and wetlands is much a product of these past glacial events. Large deposits of a material known as Leda clay formed; these deposits become unstable after heavy rains. Numerous landslides have occurred as a result; the former site of the town of Lemieux, Ontario collapsed into the South Nation River in 1993. The town's residents had been relocated because of the suspected instability of the earth in that location; as the land rose again the sea coast retreated and the fresh water courses of today took shape.

Following the demise of the Champlain Sea the Ottawa River Valley con

A stereoscopic rangefinder or stereoscopic telemeter is an optical device that measures distance from the observer to a target, using the observer's capability of binocular vision. It looks similar to a coincidence rangefinder. A stereoscopic rangefinder uses two eyepieces and relies on the operator's visual cortex to merge the two images into a single picture. A reference mark is separately inserted into each eyepiece; the operator first adjusts the direction of the range finder so that the fixed mark is centered on the target, the prisms are rotated until the mark appears to overlap in the operator's combined view. The range to the target is proportional to the degree of rotation of the prisms. In November and December 1941, the United States National Defense Research Committee conducted extensive tests between the American Bausch and Lomb M1 stereoscopic rangefinder and the British Barr and Stroud FQ 25 and UB 7 coincidence rangefinders, concluded "that the tests indicate no important difference in the precision obtainable from the two types of instrument — coincidence and stereoscopic.

They do indicate, that the difference in performance between large and small instruments is by no means as great as would be anticipated from simple geometrical optics. The report concludes with the belief that coincidence acuities are about equal. Under favourable conditions existing instruments of the two types perform about well, the choice between them for any given purpose must be based on matters of convenience related to the particular conditions under which they are to be used." The angle of sight of a rangefinder and the range to the target can be combined in a simple computer to produce a measurement of altitude. The resulting instrument becomes a combined height-finder/rangefinder and was standard equipment for land and naval based anti-aircraft units; the stereoscopic rangefinder was preferred to coincidence rangefinders for anti-aircraft artillery because small, fast moving objects in front of a low-contrast sky could be tracked. Stadiametric rangefinding Coincidence rangefinder Rangefinder Telemeter

Steampunk World's Fair was the largest annual Steampunk festival on the East Coast of the United States and one of the biggest in the world held over the course of a weekend during the month of May in Piscataway, New Jersey or Somerset, New Jersey. The programming embodied an atmosphere of fandom, including musicians, vendors, artisans and other guests whose work is related to the steampunk subculture. Activities at the convention included: Panel Discussions - On a variety of subjects related to Steampunk, such as technology of the alternate histories, publishing, the philosophical and sociological implications of the genre's works, etc. Speeches or other presentations. Socializing in common areas and at parties. Role-playing Gaming - A room for playing role-playing games, board games, card games Performances of Steampunk music Costuming - both formal competition, casual "hall costumes" Fashion shows Theatrical productions H. P. Lovecraft-themed murder mystery dinners Political demonstrations linking contemporary and historical political issues Dealers' rooms selling books, jewellery, games, comic books, etc.

The fair was founded in 2010 by Jeff Mach, Josh Marks, Erin Tierniegh, Jack Manx. Journalist Mo Rocca attended the 2011 Steampunk World's Fair and reviewed the event for CBS News Sunday Morning. 2010 - The Steampunk World's Fair was first held May 14–16, 2010 at the Radisson Hotel, New Jersey. Nearly 3,000 people attended this first year. 2011 - The second annual SPWF was held May 20–22, 2011 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, New Jersey. 2012 - The third annual SPWF was held May 18–20 at the Embassy Suites and the Radisson Hotel in Piscataway, New Jersey. Attendance was over 4,000. In January 2018, former volunteers and attendees of Steampunk World's Fair and other events organized by Jeff Mach Events accused JME founder Jeff Mach of sexual misconduct, questionable business practices, failing to respond to alleged criminal activities at his events. On January 26, 2018, Jeff Mach announced on Facebook that he would be stepping down from running events. A community run steampunk event took place on the 2018 event dates, with no association to the Steampunk World's Fair.

It was called C. O. G. S. or Community Organized Gathering of Steampunks. Grace, Toby. "Steampunk World's Fair was the gayest ever". Out In Jersey. Retrieved January 3, 2012. Nolde, Patricia. "Steampunk World's Fair 2011, a Travelogue". Steampunk Chronicle. Retrieved January 3, 2012. Official website