Marley23 I will no longer doubt your patience.
With any luck, he’ll head over to GiraffeBoards. 
Sun sets early in Chicago this time of year.
I guess you could say that this thread had a little smackdown with “reality”, and this thread lost.
Damn, the circus came to town and I missed it. 
Were there any pictures of the fat lady? She’s singing now.
This thread is still open. I was right:
And the question is still open.
What is reality?
People, this is why the SDMB is stagnating. It’s rude to new members and shoots too many distinct challenges at them to properly reply to, and then not paying clear enough attention to the attempts at cites and justifications.
Look, it’s very simple. You can call yourselves raging skeptics or whatever, but the simple truth is that there are some things out there you can’t explain and some things that are so far outside your experience that you refuse to see them. It doesn’t matter what sort of evidence is presented, what sort of argument is given, as long as it doesn’t fit into your comfortable world-view or challenges you to question what you’ve been told in this constraining echo-chamber you won’t see it, appreciate it, and won’t even try to understand it.
Take, for example, unicorns. The mere mention of unicorns sends people into apoplectic fits of scorn. But does anyone remember coelacanth? If some ignorant-to-you claimed to have caught some new creature, you would have given him the same treatment. But it exists. Unicorns have existed in mythology for eons–why are they any different? Why can’t some so-called mythical beast still exist right under our noses? Why does merely asking the question subject the questioner to such scorn? Because it makes you uncomfortable, that’s why.
I have news for you sunshine, unicorns do exist, have always existed, and are right here right now. Proof? I’ve been here a long time, so I can’t be intimidated like RL, and I can clearly lay out the necessary proof–though I bet you will snub your noses at it as well. Anyway, the proof is simple: I have a bag of Skittles on my desk. Skittles are delicious. Skittles are rainbow-colored. Unicorns shit rainbows. Unicorn shit is delicious. Some other creatures have rainbow colored scat. Some other creatures have delicious shit. But no (other) creatures’ shit is both rainbow-colored and delicious. Therefore, unicorns must exist.
And now I’m out of Skittles.
Crap, I’m out of Skittles.
Does this mean unicorns no longer exist?
Did you really just use the “no u” defense? I was kidding before about the kindergarten thing, but now…
Oh, banned. Sorry.
The question is ill-posed, hinging as it does upon the verb “is”.
Perhaps a better formulation would be “How is reality best described?”
While I agree with there is a ingrained group think mentality in the SDMB who bully others to join their collective, I believe the real reason for the stagnation is that they started charging a few years ago, after which I noticed a steady decline in the quality of postings, perhaps with the further entrenchment of the group think mentality.
Well, in certain states, legal marijuana obtained with a prescription card, a lava lamp, and Dark Side of the Moon (preferably on vinyl. Definitely not on 8-track)can lead you to Truth. Or a Deeply Religious Experience. Or at least one hell of a buzz. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between reality and a really good buzz…
But there is no established mythology about “damn ugly fish with legs.” They are not mentioned in the Bible, no one has them on their coats or arms, and they do not poop rainbows. Besides, we can see the corpse of one if we want (despite my being morally certain I ordered the mahi-mahi).
However, I now know that “not believing in unicorns” is yet another black mark against me in the Book of Life, and come Judgement Day I shall be called to task for it.
Ok.
We’ve progressed from -
Reality (OP)
What is reality? (me)
How is reality best described? (you)
Who can best describe reality (and why)?
Ah-ha! See how conveniently you handwave things that make you uncomfortable? I suppose you are going to say that mermaids (which, you should know if you were intellectually honest, shit watermelon-flavored Jolly Ranchers) don’t exist in mythology?
Actually, I believe you’ll be getting a call some time next Thursday. This has nothing to do with your health status or Judgement Day, it’s just a scheduling thing.
[aside]Did kanicbird just call everyone a group of inbred bubbies enchanted by grouper-stink menialities? I’m sure he did. I’ll post a cite in a moment, just give me time … GIVE ME TIME!!!