Used Solar Panels Sold on Facebook and eBay Have Cult Following
Todd Dabney, who's been going to the Burning Man festival since 2011, needed a way to keep his tent cool under the baking Nevada sun. So the IT consultant created what he calls 'the ultimate swamp cooler' out of a heavy-duty plastic storage container, pumps, tubes and a fan.
Powering the device is a 385-watt JinkoSolar panel that he snapped up on Craigslist several years ago from a nearby seller for $100. Dabney recalls that the seller was upgrading his solar array and getting rid of his current panels, which were about five years old.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
6 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Pride weekend kicks into high gear with Dyke March, Pride Celebration
A year after the abrupt cancellation of 2024's Dyke March, the fun was more than back — along with a strident note of defiance. Tens of thousands of queer women and their allies thronged Dolores Park on Saturday for a party in the sun, filling the public space with bursting joy and laughter as they gathered to celebrate this year's Dyke Rally and March. Abi Everywhere, 36, was setting up early Saturday with her friend, Ren Hamm, 28, as a steady stream of revelers arrived. They had an inflatable unicorn mostly puffed up, blankets spread across the lawn and cheese plates and sparkling water ready for friends who would be arriving throughout the afternoon. Everywhere and members of her Burning Man community, Camp Beaverton, were among the thousands of queer folk congregating at Dolores Park for Pink Saturday and the Dyke Rally. 'It's a unique opportunity for our community,' said Everywhere, who grew up in a religious household in suburban Houston and couldn't come out until college. 'It's like a family reunion and a good way for the old guard to welcome the new folks.' The first Dyke Marches were held in 1993, with a parade in Washington D.C. in April of that year, and others in New York and San Francisco later that year. Over the decades, the event has drawn tens of thousands of marchers and revelers. Saturday's rally was set to go from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with performances by musicians, comedians and a drag king, as well as speeches by San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson and Imani Rupert-Gordon, president of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights. The march immediately follows, leaving from 18th and Dolores streets and traveling its usual route to the Castro and back to Dolores Park. A mile and a half away, at Civic Center Plaza, an equally large crowd was assembling to hear music, eat carnival food and celebrate queerness under the sun at the annual Pride Celebration. As the march began Saturday evening, hundreds lined the sidewalks along 18th Street as the Dyke March filled the street. Dykes on Bikes, a group of women motorcyclists, led the parade, followed by a truck filled with dancers and speakers blasting music. Some demonstrators held a sign reading 'Dykes for a Free Palestine,' surrounded by marchers carrying Palestinian flags. Other signs called for an end to deportations and called Immigration and Customs Enforcement 'cowards.' The two themes provided some dissonance, if not a contrast in vibes. Marchers near the very front of the parade danced and clapped and celebrated the event, while about 100 yards behind marchers shouted common pro-Palestinian chants. The festival, which is open to the public Saturday and Sunday, includes six stages with DJ sets, bands and singers, dance battles and other performances. Lara Starr, a Marin County resident, came to the Pride Celebration as part of Free Mom Hugs, a nationwide organization of people supporting LGBTQ events. Starr, who joined the group after her son came out as gay, said the volunteers are there to give hugs — or high fives or fist bumps — to bolster queer people, especially those who do not have support from their parents, as fill-in family members. 'Hydrate. Use sunscreen. Eat your vegetables. We are doing the full mom schtick,' Starr said. Another mom, Beth Stapleton, whose teenager is trans, said she had already hugged hundreds of people hours into the event. 'Some people really need it,' Stapleton said. The theme of resisting rising anti-LGBTQ hate ran throughout the celebration. At a booth on McAllister Street, volunteers with Headcount were offering chocolate to anyone who checked their voter registration. Luis Aguilar, a team lead with the Bay Area chapter of the voter registration organization, said that LGBTQ people face barriers to voting, especially trans people who have to show IDs, so he was particularly motivated to encourage voter registration at Pride. 'There's no other act of rebellion that's bigger than registering to vote and mobilizing a community,' Aguilar said. On the main stage, in front of San Francisco City Hall, performers were connecting discrimination experienced by LGBTQ people with that faced by immigrants. 'None of us are illegal. None of us are aliens,' said Anjali Rimi, board president of the Center for Immigrant Protection. Rimi said her organization works with LGBTQ immigrants seeking asylum due to threats and violence facing them in their home countries due to their sexuality. Kiki Lopez, an artist, also connected Pride with other political causes, including the call to free Sudan, Congo and Palestine. But, despite the political messages, the festivities were still fun. Back at Dolores Park, people lolled in the late morning sun, laughing with friends, sipping on tea, water and harder beverages underneath a cloudless sky. Others set up tents or sun shades as music from nearby speakers filled the air. Venders grilled hot dogs, hawked ice cream bars and drinks. 'I look forward to Pink Saturday as much as Christmas,' said Imani Brown, 42, who was there with her wife, Jenny Kline, and friend, Esther Crane. Brown sported a T-shirt emblazoned with the words 'She/Her/Daddy' — and had her own inflatable unicorn. 'I love this city,' she said. 'It's beautiful, diverse, and not special to be a queer, Black woman. ... It's wonderful, empowering.' The day felt particularly poignant for her and others amidst the current political climate, as jurisdictions around the country have passed legislation to curtail queer rights: On Friday, the Supreme Court had handed down a ruling siding with parents seeking to opt their children out of school instruction involving LGBTQ+ books. 'We're being terrorized by the U.S. government,' Brown said. 'This us us showing up and saying 'We can't be erased.'' Across the park, Aeryn M, 37, and Lauren Stanton, 40, stood under a tent at the 'Screen Door' handing out sunscreen, drinks and snacks to passersby. 'Joy is resistance,' said Stanton, who'd traveled from Long Beach for the party. 'If you're mad because we're thriving, die mad.' This article will be updated as the festivities progress.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business Insider
Getting tickets for fitness competitions like Hyrox is almost as hard as seeing Taylor Swift
Emily Harding had four screens poised and ready to try to get tickets when they were released. "I almost thought about roping in my housemate too," the 34-year-old yoga teacher from London told Business Insider. This wasn't a Taylor Swift or Burning Man ticket release. It was Hyrox, a fitness race that's taking the world by storm. "It was like Glastonbury," Harding said. In Hyrox, competitors work in pairs or individually to perform functional exercises, such as wall balls, sled pushes, and rowing. These movements are sandwiched between eight one-kilometer runs. You win by finishing first. Entry costs up to $185 and the winner of the pro division gets a prize of up to $7,500. Unlike CrossFit, which was the dominant fitness contest in the 2010s and features highly technical movements like Olympic lifts, Hyrox was designed to be accessible to anyone who works out regularly. However, as Hyrox grows more popular — even drawing away pro athletes from other sports, like CrossFit GOAT Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr — it is becoming harder to snag tickets, which are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. The first race, in Germany in 2017, featured 650 people. In 2024, over 650,000 participants competed in Hyrox contests globally, making it one of the world's fastest-growing fitness events. The hype is prompting gyms to launch their own alternative fitness contests, to cater to members who can't get Hyrox tickets — mass fitness events that typically cost a little less to enter, and usually have a cash prize. Moritz Fürste, one of the cofounders of Hyrox, told BI the organization is aware of the demand and is pushing to keep expanding and optimizing their service. Still, some of the event's biggest fans are say change is overdue. Tickets like 'gold dust' Harding described a Hyrox ticket as "gold dust." She first entered three years ago and had no trouble getting in. In fact, when she had to pull out for medical reasons, she couldn't find anyone to take her ticket. Her second attempt was in June 2025. "I was really gobsmacked how different it was from now to then," Harding said. Tickets were released in two waves, at 12 p.m. and then 5 p.m. Harding was applying for women's doubles, so she and her friend each joined the queue on their phones and laptops. Harding was around 6,000th in the queue, and her friend was 10,000th, but then the queue glitched, and they jumped up to around 30,000th. Harding's phone kept pushing her to the back of the queue, she said. "If you were only doing this on your phone, I can imagine you'd be absolutely fuming," Harding said. Fürste said that server capacities are hard to control, but they are working hard to make the process fair, and it works very well 95% of the time. In 2024, Hyrox UK trialled a New York City Marathon -style ballot system to allocate race places, but the format was scrapped due to overwhelming demand and push-back from affiliates. Harding and her friend finally got through on a laptop, but the tickets they wanted were sold out. They considered finding two guys to do mixed doubles, but while they thought about it, those tickets sold out too. They finally got tickets when they tried again in the 5 p.m. release. "The queueing system was horrible," Harding said. Jamie Thorpe, a sales director from Leicestershire, has competed in two Hyrox games since 2022. He likes the event's accessibility and energy, "even if many of the competitors seem to forget their shirts." The first time he entered, "we got a place easily — no queues, no ticket drops, no random ballots," he told BI. In the years since, Thorpe, 34, has tried to get tickets more times than he can remember, often recruiting friends to assist, but it's got "significantly" harder, he said. "The organizers can hardly be blamed for the success of their event, and I am fortunate to have attended two already, but that doesn't stop it from being immensely frustrating to miss out so consistently," he said. Danny Rae, the UK men's open Hyrox champion, told BI he's competed in over 25 of the events and advises people struggling to get tickets to join an affiliate gym so they get early access. "They do still get sold out because it's in such high demand, but you get a better shot," he said. "Another thing to consider is: people will naturally sign up for the Open races. People are scared of the prospect of doing Pro because of the word 'Pro'. If you are active and you train most days, then just go for Pro and you'll be more likely to get a ticket." Clifford Saul, a personal trainer of 17 years and the owner of The 200 Strong gym in Leicestershire, UK, thinks the rise of Hyrox is in large part due to the proliferation of fitness culture on social media. "If social media were as prevalent as it is now, 10 years ago, I think that boom would've happened sooner," he said. "If you put on an event now, it's thrown in your face. All you need to do is look at one reel, and then the algorithms send you loads more." Gyms are putting on their own events for people who can't get tickets Saul is one of many coaches launching other fitness competitions to cater to members who can't get Hyrox tickets. He is part of a 30-person strong WhatsApp group of local fitness fans who all try to get tickets for each other. Some people never seem to have any luck, others have never had issues, Saul said. With so many of his members missing out on Hyrox tickets, Saul decided to partner with another local gym to host their own group fitness competition called The District Games. "The idea is that all the gyms in the area can enter teams," he said. "We want to get all the local community together, put food on, have a DJ, drinks, a bouncy castle for kids," he said. "And we're doing this because we can't get tickets for Hyrox. We can do it a bit differently, and it won't cost £100 each." Tickets cost £149 for a team of four. On the other hand, some gym owners are staging large-scale events to rival Hyrox. There's Athx, a functional fitness contest, launched in 2023, that focuses more on strength than Hyrox. Another is Metrix, launched in March 2025 — an immersive fitness competition that combines high-intensity workouts with club-level production and world-class DJs. Each pair does as much as they can in each of the five 10-minute stations, with four minutes of recovery in between each. Metrix founder Will McLaren, a personal trainer and former Royal Marine based in London, launched Metrix in March 2025, told BI the atmosphere is dark, so people don't feel like they're being watched, and the exercises are designed to be even more accessible than those in Hyrox. "50% of people can't do a wall ball because they haven't got the mechanics, the overhead extension of the spine, and the anchor mobility to be able to pull them off, so I didn't want to fall into that trap of being stuck in a set workout," McLaren told BI. Metrix also sells separate "social" tickets for those who just want to have fun and don't care about competing — there's a cash prize for whoever wins, though. "It's really important that everyone starts together and everyone finishes together. There's no winners and there's no losers unless you do want to compete for the money." The community aspect is important for McLaren too. Metrix has food vans, ice baths, saunas, and kids' games for people to enjoy afterward. "You're paying £120 for a ticket for Hyrox. It's a lot. People get the patch, they get half a banana, and they get told to go," McLaren said. "So we wanted to make sure people could stay all day, enjoy the music, enjoy the atmosphere, and meet other people." Metrix is priced the same, but McLaren said he wants to offer more for that price. He said he is also hoping to partner with a dating app, to build on the trend of run clubs and fitness events as a place to find love. Hyrox is rushing to keep up with its own success Saul believes the younger generations' love of fitness means group events won't be going away anytime soon. "17- to 24-year-olds, they're not going out, drinking, and partying as much anymore," he said. "They're meeting up and doing fitness events." In a 2023 survey from McKinsey, more than 50% of Gen Z respondents (generally 13 to 28 years old) said fitness was a very high priority for them, compared to 40% of people across all age groups. In the UK, 25- to 34-year-olds make up 42% of Hyrox's demographics, and while there are older people doing Hyrox, the brand is mostly driven by millennials and Gen Z. Fürste, the Hyrox cofounder mentioned earlier, said Hyrox's next goal is "to deliver the best possible race experience for more than 1 million people in the 2025/26 season." They are planning to keep up with demand by launching more races in more countries and cities, with the aim of "taking the sport to as many people as possible across the world," he said. But for long-term Hyrox fans, the competition's growth, both in the number of applicants and the fitness standard, has seen it evolve from the approachability that was part of its initial appeal. Thorpe has done the pairs event twice with a very fit friend, and although their times have improved in many areas, their rankings have dropped dramatically. "The increase in overall standard was extremely noticeable," Thorpe said. "This is, of course, not a problem, but part of what attracted me to the event in the first place was the accessibility, and I hope they don't lose this as the standard continues to rise."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Charlize Theron Talked About Being Deceived By Men On Raya, And I Can't Believe These Guys Have The Audacity
If you're single in 2025, you've likely experienced the highs and lows of dating apps. And if it makes you feel better, it sounds like celebs are right there in the trenches with us. Appearing on Watch What Happens Live this week, Charlize Theron was asked by host Andy Cohen if there's 'any truth to the rumors' that she uses Raya. If you don't know, Raya is probably the most 'exclusive' of all the dating platforms, and while plenty of non-famous people use it, the app has become a bit of a hot spot for single celeb sightings. So, if you've been swiping through Raya and think you've spotted Charlize, it turns out it probably was her. Speaking to Andy, the Oscar-winner confirmed that she is a user of the app — although not a very active or enthusiastic one. Related: You Have Excellent Facial Recognition If You Can Recognize These 12 Celebrities As Kids 'Yes, I don't do anything with it. A friend put me on it, I went on two dates,' Charlize said, giving a relatable sigh of dating app exhaustion. In turn, Andy said that he's on Raya, too, and the pair got into a chat about the kind of guys they've come across. (Content warning for any of my dating app users out there.) Related: Courtney Stodden Did A Face Reveal After Dissolving Her Fillers And She Looks Really Different Now 'Every guy has a Burning Man picture, and they're a CEO, like, of nothing,' Charlize said. 'Or like, a creative director of nothing,' Andy agreed. 'And then you meet with them and they're not [a CEO]. They just say it up front — 'Well, why did you put that on your thing?!'' Charlize asked in disbelief. 'No! I don't like it.' I don't like it either, Charlize. Who gave these men the audacity? You can watch the full clip from Watch What Happens Live here. In the meantime, good luck to all my dating app warriors out there. More on this Nobody Swiped Right On Zac Efron, And 13 Other Tales Of Celebs On Dating AppsChristopher Hudspeth · Jan. 30, 2022 Ben Affleck Had A Hilarious Response After A Woman Unmatched Him On A Celebrity Dating AppAlex Gurley · May 4, 2021 Chrissy Teigen Called Out Celebrity Men Sending "Desperate" Messages To Women On RayaMorgan Sloss · May 6, 2021 Also in Celebrity: "Overwhelmingly Untrue": Three Months After That Explosive Exposé, Jonathan Van Ness Addressed The Allegations Also in Celebrity: 21 Celebrity Facts That Are, Like, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Shocking Also in Celebrity: "He Growled At Me, Saying He Only Signs Autographs For 'Chicks With Huge Tits'": 19 Infuriating Times People Had First-Hand Experiences With Celebrities Behaving Badly
