Reality checkpoint
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Reality Checkpoint is the name given to a lamp-post in the middle of Parker's Piece, Cambridge, England at the exact centre of the diagonal paths across the common.
It supposedly marks the division of 'town' (i.e. locals) and 'gown' (i.e. student) areas of Cambridge. It is supposedly so named because it marks the boundary between university and the 'Real World'; one is warned to check one's notions of reality before passing. Given that the lamp-post lies more or less between the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University, it is not entirely clear to which direction of travel the warning refers.
Other accounts of the name explain it as the experience of crossing the common at night in the fog since it is the only lamp post for hundreds of metres.
The name was coined in the early 1970s. The name was painted on by some CCAT (now Anglia Ruskin University) students under the guidance of one of their teachers. Part of the column has since been re-painted but the original inscription has not. Some sort of replacement text has been attempted, but the lettering is much cruder than the original. For the first half of 1998 the lamp-post carried an unofficial plaque bearing its name.
[edit] External links
- The Jargon file, under entry Real-World, is one source of this article.
- The cam.* FAQ wiki has an article on the Reality Checkpoint.
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- Satellite image from WikiMapia or Google Map
- Street map from Multimap or GlobalGuide
- Aerial image from TerraServer
