Ottawa is the capital of Canada and is part of the province of Ontario. It is south of the Ottawa River. In 2004, there were about 808,391 people in the city. The region has about 1,146,790 people. The mayor of the city today (since December 2010) is Jim Watson. Ottawa is in the Ottawa Valley on the border with the province of Quebec. Ottawa is the fourth largest city in Canada.
When people talk about Ottawa, they are sometimes using the name as an eponym meaning the highest government in Canada, and not its local government or the city.
The cities of Ottawa, Kanata, Nepean, Gloucester and Vanier and the villages of Manotick and Rockcliffe Park joined in the year 2000 to form the new city of Ottawa. Ottawa also includes Orléans, which joined at that same time.
The city began with the name Bytown and became the city of Ottawa in 1855. The Rideau Canal ends in Ottawa.
Ottawa has many museums, many buildings for the government of Canada and many parks. There is a market area downtown.
There are many festivals during the year including Winterlude in February, The Tulip Festival in May, and BluesFest in the summer. There is also a large celebration on July 1st for Canada Day.
The Ottawa Senators play ice hockey in an arena called The Canadian Tire Centre.
The average yearly precipitation in Ottawa is 943 millimetres.
2017 was a record year in Ottawa because there was precipitation of 1,213 millimetres during the first ten months of the year. The old record was in 1972, when the precipitation was 1,174 millimetres.
News agency
A news agency is a kind of company. It supplies information to newspapers, radio and television.
In the United Kingdom and some other countries a news agency or newsagent is a shop which sells newspapers, magazines and cigarettes.
Mudguard
A mudguard, fender or wing is a part covering the wheels of a vehicle to stop it from throwing off mud, water or objects from the road. It protects people and property from dirtiness, dampness, and damage.
Mudguards protect in several ways:
Para rubber tree
A Para rubber tree (or simply, rubber tree) is the tree which naturally produces rubber. It is native to tropical areas from South America, in the Amazon (Brazil), but was spread by European farmers to the Far East.
Para Rubber trees belong to the Euphorbiaceae family. In the wild they may reach heights of 100 to 125 ft (30-38 m) with large cylindrical trunks with or without buttresses. Crop trees reach a width of about 20 in. (50 cm), usually with a short bole, and with a sloped taper.
Most rubber plantations are in South Asia and Southeast Asia. When trees reach 5-6 years old, they are harvested. Their trunks are cut just deep enough to tap the vessels without harming the tree's growth, and the sap is collected in small buckets. This process is known as rubber tapping. Older trees produce more latex, but they stop producing it after 30-40 years.
Safety curtain
A safety curtain is a curtain in theatre at the front of the stage. It is made of material that will not burn. The safety curtain may be lowered during the intermission and after the performance. A safety curtain is there in case there is a fire on stage. It will stop the fire from spreading to the auditorium where the audience sits.
Safety lamp
A safety lamp is a miner's lamp with a covered flame that used to be used in coal mines.
The first safety lamp was invented by William Reid Clanny. It used bellows and water to separate gasses. Later, two newer designs were invented. One newer design was the Geordie lamp, made by George Stephenson, and the other was the Davy lamp, made by Sir Humphry Davy. In 1815, Davy discovered that if a flame was in a lamp, it would not ignite the flammable gases in mines.
Coal mines are dangerous because of flammable gasses like methane that can accumulate (gather together). A lamp with a naked (exposed) flame might make these flammable gasses catch fire, causing an explosion, which could kill people. The safety lamp prevents the hot flame of the lamp touching the flammable gasses, reducing the chance of an explosion.
Christmas stocking
A Christmas stocking is a long sock hung by a fireplace or bed on Christmas Eve. Christmas presents are put into it for children. It came from an old legend. Stockings are now a European Christmas tradition.
List of Austrian football teams
These are the Austrian football teams and the leagues they played in for the 2010/11 season.
The champion of the league promotes to the Austrian Bundesliga.
The Regionalliga is divided into three sections. The second teams of clubs from the first division are not allowed to promote to the Second Division.
2001
2001 (MMI) was .
Sex
Sex is a type of reproduction common among living things. Sex is used by plants and animals, and also by fungi and various single-celled organisms. It usually needs two individuals which are different sexes from the same species. It works by combining genes from more than one source.
Organisms may have more than one kind of reproduction:
Asexual reproduction is easier than sexual reproduction, but there are benefits and drawbacks to both:
In humans, sex is normally either male or female. For example: John's sex is male. Jane's sex is female. Most of the time, the sex of a person depends on what sex chromosomes that person got from his or her parents. A woman's ovum (egg cell) contains one X chromosome. A man's sperm contains either an X or a Y chromosome. When a sperm and ova combine to form a fertilised egg, the baby may get either of these chromosomes from its father. If the baby gets two X chromosomes, it will develop into a female. If the baby gets one X and one Y, it will develop into a male. Before babies are born, their sex parts are already formed, but not ready yet. During Puberty, the sex parts finish developing as well as other parts of the body like breasts and body hair.
There are some exceptions to this rule. Sometimes, the process of meiosis, which makes the sex cells, can go differently. This can result in a person having 3 X chromosomes, or 2 Y chromosomes or XXY instead of XY. Other times, the body may not follow exactly what their chromosomes are telling it to do.
Some people may have sexual feelings that are different from their bodies. For instance, a male person may only be attracted to other males and not to females. This is called Homosexuality. There are also people, who feel they're a different sex from their bodies. These people are called Transgender. All these variations are sometimes called gender.
Sexual reproduction first appeared about a billion years ago. It evolved within single-celled eukaryotes. The scientific community still discusses why it appeared, and why it still exists. Reasons commonly given include:
Sexual reproduction is a process that can only be found in eukaryotes. These cells have a nucleus and mitochondria. There are other kinds of organisms (other than animals, plants and fungi), the other eukaryotes – such as the malaria parasite – that also engage in sexual reproduction. Some bacteria use conjugation to transfer genetic material between bacteria. This is not the same as sexual reproduction, but it results in a similar mixture of genetic traits.
In sexual reproduction the cells used for reproduction, called gametes, are either eggs or sperms. Fertilisation needs two different such cells. The mechanism of cell division only works when one sperm alone enters the egg. Once it is in, a fast reaction goes through the egg cell wall to shut off all other sperm.
Sex determination in biology is about the function of sex, not what individuals look like. In humans, males and females usually look different. In many species they do not, except for the sex organs.
Sex can be determined in different ways:
When there is sex determination there are basically two cases: