Wikipedia:Portal:Portal
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The portal of portals
A portal is an opening in the walls of a building, gate or fortification, and especially a grand entrance to an important structure. Doors, metal gates or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of simple building materials or decorated with ornamentation. Elements of a portal can include the voussoir, tympanum, an ornamented mullion or trumeau between doors, and columns with carvings of saints in the westwork of a church.
Portals in science fiction, such as wormholes and gates, allow rapid travel between distant locations, often originating from some combination of natural phenomenon and technological device. These fictional devices are required for most stories on an inter-solar scale, otherwise transit time would be excessive for storytelling purposes. An advantage of portal technology over a faster-than-light drive is that it can be imagined to work instantly, and can travel to the past or future. In other forms of fiction, a portal may be magical, and connect to an alternate universe or plane of existence.
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A porthole is a small, generally circular, window normally used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of obvious maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehicles, aircraft, automobiles (the Ford Thunderbird a notable example), and even spacecraft.
On a ship, the function of a porthole, when open, is to permit light and fresh air to enter the dark and often damp below-deck quarters of the vessel. It also affords below-deck occupants a limited, but often much needed view to the outside world. When closed, the porthole provides a strong water-tight barrier.
A porthole on a ship may also be called a sidescuttle or side scuttle (side hole). The use of the word sidescuttle is meant to be broad, including any covered or uncovered hole in the side of the vessel.
Portholes on spacecraft must be made from glass that can survive rapid temperature changes, without suffering the cracking that can result from thermal shock. Those on the International Space Station were made from quartz glass mounted on titanium frames, covered with enamel. Conversely, portholes on submarines are generally made of acrylic plastic, and can be several inches thick.
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Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford KG GCB OM DSO & Bar MC (21 May 1893 - 22 April 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer and an advocate of strategic bombing. He was the British Chief of the Air Staff during most of the Second World War.
Born in Hungerford, Portal was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford, but left undergraduate life prematurely to enlist as a private soldier in 1914. Joining the British Army as a dispatch rider in the motorcycle section of the Royal Engineers on the Western Front, he was given command of all riders in the 1st Corps Headquarters Signals Company in December 1914.
In 1915 Portal transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, serving first as an observer and eventually a flying officer. He reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and earned the Military Cross. After the war, he took over No. 7 Squadron RAF and concentrated on improving bombing accuracy. By 1939 Portal was Director of Organization in the Air Ministry.
At the outbreak of World War II, Portal was made Acting Air Marshal and later commander-in-chief of RAF Bomber Command. Winston Churchill was impressed with Portal's strategy of area bombing (which resulted in the Luftwaffe bombing London instead of British airfields) and knighted Portal in July 1940. He was appointed Air Chief Marshal in October 1940, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force in June 1944.
After the war, Portal retired from the RAF and was created Baron Portal of Hungerford (later Viscount Portal). After a 5-year period at the Ministry of Supply, he was elected Chairman of British Aluminium and fought a hostile takeover bid by Sir Ivan Stedeford, Chairman & CEO of Tube Investments. Losing to Stedeford, he was elected chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation in 1960, and died in 1971, aged 77.
In the news
- Door opens mid-Qantas flight; plane makes an emergency landing
- Belgian Indymedians discuss participatory journalism at open door day
- Alaskan plane crash survivors say cargo door swung open
- World Health Organization launches clinical trial website
- Kids game portal BBC Jam to close after competition complaints
- With pressure from France, Chad and Sudan open door to possible troop deployment
- Switzerland shut door on Korean Republic 2-0 in Group G
- Sydney train doors stuck, passengers delayed
- Entrepreneur's RFID chip implant to open doors, start car
Categories
- Doors — panels or barriers used to cover an opening
- Gates — entry points to an enclosed space
- Portals — focus pages which highlight a particular subject
- Portals on Wikimedia Commons - images of portals
Did you know?
- Portal hypertension is often the result of cirrhosis of the liver
- The Dark Portal is the first book in the Deptford Mice trilogy
- Fort Portal in Uganda is the seat of both Kabarole and the Toro Kingdom
- Portal's Weighted Companion Cube has fan-created plush and papercraft versions
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Selected geography
El Portal is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA. The village name is derived from the Spanish phrase for "the gate", after two wooden gates that once stood as a gateway to the village. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 2,468.
A small, diverse enclave between Miami Shores and Miami, El Portal was incorporated on December 7, 1937, by residents eager for strict zoning that would ensure tidiness. Three small subdivisions (now neighborhoods), included Sherwood Forest, El Jardin (Spanish for "The Garden"), and El Portal merged into the Village of El Portal.
El Portal has been designated as a bird sanctuary for more than 50 years.
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We'll be home as soon as we find a portal back!
Related portals
