Isle of Portland

Coordinates: 50°33′00″N 2°26′24″W / 50.550°N 2.440°W / 50.550; -2.440

The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, 6 kilometres (4 mi) long by 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi) wide, in the English Channel. Portland is 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier beach over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and Weymouth together form the borough of Weymouth and Portland. The population of Portland is 12,400.

Portland is a central part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site on the Dorset and east Devon coast, important for its geology and landforms. Its name is used for one of the British Sea Areas, and has been exported as the name of North American and Australian towns. Portland stone, famous for its use in British and world architecture, including St Paul's Cathedral and the United Nations Headquarters, continues to be quarried.

Portland Harbour, in between Portland and Weymouth, is one of the largest man-made harbours in the world. The harbour was made by the building of stone breakwaters between 1848 and 1905. From its inception it was a Royal Navy base, and played prominent roles during the First and Second World Wars; ships of the Royal Navy and NATO countries worked up and exercised in its waters until 1995. The harbour is now a civilian port and popular recreation area, and was used for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Portland (steam tug 1875)

The Portland was a steam tug built in Portland, Oregon, United States. This vessel was also known as Clayoquat and Phoenix.

Career

Portland was launched on April 9, 1875 in Portland, Oregon. The vessel was operated for 15 years on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, and then was transferred to Puget Sound. From 1891 to 1895, the Portland operated out of Everett, Washington, piloted by Captain James Hastings.

Drift and recovery

In 1897, the Portland was hauled out at Ballard, Washington, for repairs. Somehow she broke free from the shipway and floated off unoccupied. Eventually, the Portland drifted north into Canadian waters, where she was recovered as a derelict by the B.C. Salvage Company. She came under the control of R.P. Rithet and Company, a prominent British Columbia shipping concern that repurposed her to a passenger steamer. She was renamed Clayoquat and ran on passenger routes out of Port Renfrew, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Clayoquat later passed to the H.Bell-Irving Company, and was used by them as a cannery tender under the name Phoenix.

Portland, Connecticut

Portland is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,732 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP). It is situated across the Connecticut River from Middletown. Brownstone quarried in Portland was used in the construction of Hartford's Old State House in 1796. The vast majority of the brownstone buildings in Connecticut (see College Row at Wesleyan University and the Long Walk at Trinity College) as well as the famous brownstones in New York City were built with brownstone from Portland's quarries.

About half of the town's perimeter is made up of the Connecticut River. The town has eight marinas and boat clubs as well as three 18-hole golf courses.

History

The Wangunk tribe lived in the area prior to European settlement, and lived in Portland continuously throughout the settler period. Wangunk descendants still live in the area today. Their name referred to the bend in the Connecticut River which curves around half of the town's perimeter.

Sophie (disambiguation)

Sophie is a feminine given name.

Sophie and Sophy may also refer to:

Nobility

Characters

Other uses

Sophie Digital Library of Works by German-Speaking Women

The Sophie Digital Library is a digital library and resource center for works produced by German-speaking women pre-17th century through the early 20th century, a group that has often been underrepresented in collections of historical printed works.

Resources available at the site include literary and journalistic texts (including some English translations), musical scores and recordings, screenplays and dramas, and a collection of colonial/travel texts. There is also an image gallery containing portraits and photographs of the artists and illustrations from some of the works. Most of the texts included in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting, easy to use, open formats which can be used on any computer. The collection provides the texts as aids for research and teaching.

Publications

Since the beginning of The Sophie Project, undergraduates and graduate students, as well as faculty, have been encouraged to expand their research of German-speaking women's writing. In order to foster such research, the Sophie Project has several different initiatives:

Sophie (book series)

Sophie is a series of six children's books written by Dick King-Smith, and illustrated by David Parkins. . The six books were written between 1988 to 1995.

Plot

The story lines are set over a four-year period showing Sophie as she grows older. Over the six books she acquires various pets, including a Cat (Tomboy), Rabbit (Beano) and Dog (Puddle) and last a Pony (Lucky), she starts school and goes on family holidays and has riding lessons. She is constantly supported throughout the books on her ambition to become a 'Lady Farmer' by her family, and save up 'farm money', so that, as she one day hopes, can purchase a farm. During Sophie's Lucky, the last book, after her great great Aunt Alice dies, she gets a farm in the Scottish Highlands as her eventual inheritance from her.

Characters

Sophie - The titular character in the series; her birthday is on Christmas Day, and in the first book she is four years old. She is often described as wearing a faded blue jumper with her name written on it, jeans and red wellies, and her hair is often quoted as looking like she's come through a hedge backwards. Her one and only ambition in life is to become a Lady Farmer, and to this end she has an ever increasing collection of pets, many of which are the focus of individual books (such as in 'Sophie's Tom' and 'Sophie's Lucky'). She is a determined young lady who can often come across as stubborn, but is portrayed as loveable nonetheless. She has a collection of phrases that reappear throughout the books, such as 'yikes' 'you're mowldy, stupid and assive' which is hissed when she is angry. The series follows Sophie as she grows up, her collection of pets growing year by year and her dream of becoming a lady farmer growing ever closer.