Explain Like I'm Five | Don't Panic!

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ELI5 Why does the police sometimes make supposed intoxicated drivers demonstrate their innocence through basic exercises instead of just using a breathalyzer as the source of truth? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/DefinitelyNiko on 2023-10-05 05:10:19.

As seen in the title

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ELI5 - why can’t we just make robot hearts for people with heart defects or heart failure? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Fruitsdog on 2023-10-05 04:10:10.

Hearts pump blood. We have machines that can do that. Why are we trying to genetically modify pig hearts to be useable in humans when we can just build hearts for them? Surely if it was because we’d need to charge them, we could figure it out. We’re a clever species.

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ELI5: Why do movie people consider dusk "golden time" better than dawn "golden time?" (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/2BallsInTheHole on 2023-10-05 01:40:16.

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ELI5: Why is the dollar the "reserve currency" of the world? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Passport_throwaway17 on 2023-10-04 18:52:21.

Many explanations I read come down to "almost everyone uses the dollar in international trade", " almost all energy is invoiced and paid in dollars" and "almost all international financial flows go through NY one way or the other", but that just seems a restatement of the fact that the dollar is the reserve currency of the world. My question is: why? How did it end up that way?

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ELI5 Why does hooking multiple extension cords up to another cause a fire hazard? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/sug4sug4 on 2023-10-04 17:03:06.

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ELI5: I understood the theories about the baker's dozen but, why bread was sold "in dozens" at the first place in medieval times? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/JillStingray11 on 2023-10-04 23:27:52.

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eli5: What exactly does “writing off” an expense mean when owning a business? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/ruskco on 2023-10-04 22:12:27.

Preferably regarding LLC’s, when someone says they can write it off. What exactly are they doing and what are they saving? People act like things they purchase are free when your write off the expense.

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ELI5: how do waveforms know they're being observed? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Thunderdrake3 on 2023-10-04 20:45:51.

I think I have a decent grasp on the dual-slit experiment, but I don't know how the waveforms know when to collapse into a particle. Also, what counts as an observation and what doesn't?

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ELI5: What would happen if a powerful solar flare hit earth? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Winter_Ganache1919 on 2023-10-04 16:15:11.

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ELI5: Why is the factorial of 0 equal to 1? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/MindfulWonderer_ on 2023-10-04 15:52:37.

Wouldn't this also mean that 1!=0!, why is this true?

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ELI5: If governments are always looking for more humane methods of execution, why are heroin and other opiates never used, since they are supposedly the most blissful way to pass? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/I_SuplexTrains on 2023-10-04 14:44:25.

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ELI5 How does a sailboat go towards the wind? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Choppybitz on 2023-10-04 14:01:23.

I realize a sailboat can't go directly at the wind (or maybe it can🤷🏽‍♂️) but for the life of me I can't picture it going anywhere but where the wind is bowing.

Also, lets say you were in a round pond, could you sail to any point you wanted to in the pond with the wind blowing steady in one direction?

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ELI5: Why did invading armies seem to get stronger as the conquer more land? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Severe_Lock8497 on 2023-10-04 13:33:25.

Between attrition (lost in battle), needing to leave troops behind to control conquered territory, and longer supply lines, shouldn't the armies have gotten significantly thinner and weaker.

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ELI5: If computer clocks max out somewhere around 5GHz, how is it possible for 100Gbit internet to exist? How does the computer possibly transfer that much data per second? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/crono760 on 2023-10-04 13:03:39.

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ELI5: how certain distrubutors can sell cheaper than the factory or manufacture price (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/bo3abid99 on 2023-10-03 23:03:09.

I recently found a car that a distributor sells cheaper than the official company. How can the distributors in genral afford this decision financially?

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ELI5: why English has become ‘the’ global language (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/toast2that on 2023-10-04 10:20:39.

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ELI5 How do we know that there is a salty ocean underneath Europa’s icy surface? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Informal_Spring1792 on 2023-10-04 09:20:36.

Europa is one of Jupiter’s moons and apparently has a “water-ice crust”, “salty ocean of liquid water”, and a “rocky sea floor”. How could we know this much information in great detail from a telescope?

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ELI5: Why is that if you fall asleep hungry you still wake up feeling fine? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Majestic_Ad1870 on 2023-10-04 01:50:24.

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ELI5 why homes (in the US) home are built with wood framing but commercial properties are built with metal framing (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/BewareOfLurkers on 2023-10-03 23:46:46.

Apologies for the typo in the title.

Thanks for the answers everyone. Definitely sheds a lot of light. One thing that no one has mentioned as of yet: what about longevity? From my perspective, a home is (should be?) designed for many many decades, while commercial properties in my area do a full year down and rebuild after just a few decades. Wouldn’t the extra expense wash out in longer life structures?

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ELI5: How/when are heart defibrillators used? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Cerusin on 2023-10-03 15:34:27.

Tv and movies show them as a magical heart restart machine, bringing people back from the dead. But I’ve heard medical professionals say that’s not true, but they never elaborate. I’ve seen portable ones everywhere, so they must be needed fairly regularly.

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ELI5: Why does it take several days to transfer money from one bank account to another? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Comprehensive-Fun47 on 2023-10-03 15:25:13.

When I transfer money from one bank to another, it takes 1-3 business days for the money to show up in the second account.

Why should it take this long if it is just a digital transaction? 24 hours seems reasonable, but 3 business days is too much for something a computer is handling.

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eli5 why do muscles get tired after holding the same position for an extended period of time? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/hoffia21 on 2023-10-03 16:54:19.

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ELI5: What are council houses or council flats in the UK and why do they have such a bad reputation? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/SamCam9992 on 2023-10-03 02:22:38.

I’ve been watching a lot of British TV lately and I’ve noticed references to council housing or council flats and I don’t think I understand the concept. Are they just poorer neighborhoods, because the references always seem like they are used in a derogatory fashion?

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ELI5: what is ego-death? what is an ego-death experience? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/floaromax on 2023-10-03 09:49:07.

My partner randomly mentioned ego death and I did a lot of research on it and listened to his explanation but I can’t fully grasp what it is so could someone please explain this to me?

Thank you! :)

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eli5 Why is it that if you remove the contraction in the sentence “Couldn’t you leave?”, it becomes “Could not you leave?”, which doesn’t make grammatical sense? (lemmit.online)

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Lamalova on 2023-10-03 09:27:07.

A contraction can be removed from a sentence but it should still make grammatical sense because it’s simply combining two consecutive words, but in this instance the expanded form is “Could you not leave?” which requires the sentence structure to be completely changed. Why is this allowed?