Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article
Selected article 1
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/1
West Portal is a principal shopping street for much of southwestern San Francisco, California, and is also considered a neighborhood itself. Named for the western terminus of the Muni tunnel beneath Twin Peaks that opened in 1918, the street (West Portal Avenue) and adjacent district is still dominated by the frequent trundlings of the three Muni Metro lines (K, L and M) that emerge from the subway to run in the street median. The ride in the subway from West Portal to downtown/Union Square is about fifteen to twenty minutes.
West Portal lies directly adjacent to several larger San Francisco neighborhoods: the affluent and lushly verdant Forest Hill and St. Francis Wood neighborhoods on the east and south, Parkside (a southern sub-district of the Sunset District) on the north, and at the western end of the Avenue, Lakeshore Village and Merced Manor. The residential areas of the West Portal neighborhood, like several of the adjacent districts, are unusual for San Francisco in that the homes are often detached, albeit with small yards. The frequent fog helps keep the area green in the usually rainless summer months, and on a clear day, the park above the tunnel provides a view of the Marin Headlands and the Farallon Islands in the Pacific.
In addition to the streetcar tunnel, West Portal's landmarks include a large movie theater, a library, a school, churches, several restaurants and bars, a bookstore, markets, coffee shops, a bakery, professional offices, and other shops. Despite the semi-recent appearances of larger chain stores, the many unique neighborhood shops give the area a distinctly smaller-city, "retro" charm. The West Portal Muni Metro Station is located at the entrance to the Muni tunnel at the northern end of West Portal Avenue.
Selected article 2
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/2
The hepatic portal vein is a portal vein in the human body that drains blood from the digestive system and its associated glands. It is one of the main components of the hepatic portal venous system.
It is formed by the union of the
and divides into a right and a left branch immediately before entering the liver.
Selected article 3
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/3
Portal is a single-player first-person action/puzzle video game developed by Valve Corporation. The game was released in the bundle package The Orange Box for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on October 9, 2007, and for the PlayStation 3 on December 11, 2007. The Windows version of the game is also available for download separately through Valve's content delivery system, Steam, and was released as a standalone retail product on April 9, 2008.
The game consists primarily of a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player's character and other simple objects using the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (dubbed the "Portal Gun"), a unit that can create an inter-spatial portal between flat planes. The player character is challenged by an AI named "GLaDOS" to complete each puzzle in the "Aperture Science Enrichment Center" using the Portal Gun with the promise of receiving cake when all the puzzles are completed. The unusual physics allowed by the portal gun are the emphasis of this game, and is an extension of a similar portal concept in Narbacular Drop; many of the team from the DigiPen Institute of Technology that worked on Narbacular Drop were hired by Valve for the creation of Portal.
Portal has been acclaimed as one of the most original games in 2007 despite being comparatively short in length. The game has received praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story (created with the assistance of Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek of "Old Man Murray" fame), the character of GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain), and the final credits song, "Still Alive" (written by Jonathan Coulton for the game). The game's popularity has led to official merchandise from Valve as well as fan creations using elements of the game.
Selected article 4
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/4 Portal of Evil (POE) is a web directory co-founded by Chet Faliszek (of Old Man Murray) and K. Thor Jensen, and based in the Seattle area (formerly Cleveland, Ohio). Portal of Evil can be considered a spinoff of Faliszek's earlier site, Old Man Murray, as many of the staff members and early forum posters migrated from Old Man Murray's forums. Unlike more general web directories such as Yahoo! or Google Directory, POE specializes in unusual, insane, and otherwise interesting websites; its creator has described it as "Yahoo for the strange". The site also provides popular discussion forums, for users to discuss the listed sites.
The term "evil" in the site's name is somewhat of a comic exaggeration, as the listed sites mostly comprise the uncommon sexual fetishes, paranoid conspiracy theories, general eccentricity (e.g. Time Cube), teenage angst, and otherwise normal sites with exceedingly bad web design. Sites are nominated for inclusion by readers and selected by a team of editors, sometimes with the help of a preliminary vote open to all users.
Selected article 5
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/5 Portal frame construction is a method of building and designing simple structures, primarily using steel or steel-reinforced precast concrete, although they can also be constructed using laminated timber such as glulam. The connections between the columns and the rafters are designed to be moment-resistant, i.e. they can carry bending forces.
Because of these very strong and rigid joints some of the bending moment in the rafters is transferred to the columns. This means that the size of the rafters can be reduced or the span can be increased for the same size rafters. This makes portal frames a very efficient construction technique to use for wide span buildings.
Portal frame construction is therefore typically seen in warehouses, barns and other places where large, open spaces are required at low cost and a pitched roof is acceptable.
Selected article 6
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/6
Portal axles (or portal gear) are an offroad technology where the axle tube is above the center of the wheel hub. Compared to normal layout, this enables the vehicle to gain a higher ground clearance, as both the axle tube and differential casing are tucked up higher under the vehicle.
Due to the gear reduction at the wheel which lessens the torque on all the other drivetrain components, the size of the differential casing can be reduced to gain even more ground clearance. Additionally, all drivetrain elements, in particular the transfer gearbox and driveshafts can be built lighter. This can be of use in reducing the centre of gravity for a given ground clearance.
As it requires a heavier and more complex hub assembly, however, these systems can result in an increased unsprung weight and require robust axle control elements to give predictable handling. In addition, at higher speeds the hub assembly can overheat.
Selected article 7
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/7 Portal is a former TV show which aired on G4. During its two-season run from 2002-2004, it was one of the most popular shows on the network. Written, produced, and hosted by Dave Meinstein, Portal was in many ways a comedy, a soap opera, a skit comedy show, and a news show. As a whole, Portal was an attempt at a new type of show by blending satire, unique stylistic elements, and various levels of dramatism.
Portal was the first television experience to use Machinima for the majority of the show.
Selected article 8
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/8 ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal is an action-adventure computer game by German Funatics Development, released in 2002 by publisher THQ. An add-on, ZanZarah: The Lost Village (an unofficial title used by fans), was in development in 2002, but was later cancelled.
The game follows the story of Amy, a young girl from London who on her eighteenth birthday receives the strangest present in her life - a magic rune - from an even stranger creature, a goblin who appeared out of nowhere and disappeared without saying anything. The rune was one of the teleportation runes that the inhabitants of a magic parallel world ZanZarah used to travel across their lands.
Upon her arrival in ZanZarah, Amy discovers that she is the one an ancient prophecy told of and that it is her destiny to become the greatest fairy trainer of all times and save both her world and ZanZarah from impending destruction. Of course, to accomplish that she must undertake a long journey, but being an inquisitive and optimistic person, Amy readily accepts her destiny.
Selected article 9
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/9 In computer-generated imagery and real-time 3D computer graphics, portal rendering is an algorithm for visibility determination.
A game level might contain many graphical polygons; only a few of which may be visible on screen at a given time. Visibility determination allows the renderer to decide which of those fall into that category and thus reduce rendering time.
For example, in a computer game, the game area might be divided to several sectors. These sectors would be then connected to each other by small openings such as doors or windows. These openings are referred as portals. When the sector behind a portal needs to be drawn, the only parts that are visible are the parts that can be seen through the portal. Therefore, the sector can be clipped against the portal boundaries to remove overdraw.
The use of portals simplifies the game engine's task of determining visible areas and objects from any given point of view of the level, and simplifies rendering by allowing it to use each portal as a viewing frustum for the area it leads to.
Selected article 10
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/10
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.
Selected article 11
Wikipedia:Portal:Portal/Selected article/11 Portal is an Australian extreme metal band whose style is an unorthodox fusion of death metal with black metal. The band's hybrid musical style is characterised by heavily distorted guitar riffs, down-tuned rhythms, and vocals ranging from "menacing, echoing" sound effects to guttural grunts. Writing for Popmatters, Adrien Begrand noted that "death metal always pretends to be scary, but [...] it's all rather harmless. That said, however, I make no mistake in saying that the death metal peddled by Australia’s Portal is truly friggin' terrifying". Lead guitarist Horror Illogium has described Portal's intent as "to capture a cinematic horror scope".