Skip to main content

TIFU by making a solar panel into my desk, and possibly exposing myself to carcinogenic materials.

SO, the other day I was gifted a non-functional solar panel, so I decided to do the really cool thing and make it into a desk! (picture)

To make it, I attached aluminum piping to each corner of the steel frame of the solar panel, then put it into my room so I could set up my computer and monitors, and really make the desk my own.

I then submitted a picture of it to the subreddit pcmasterrace, and while the post still had only a couple of upvotes, I decided to go to sleep. When I awoke, I was surprised with hundreds of comments warning me about the dangers of using solar panels as desks, as they are made up of materials such as:

  • Cadmium, a material well known to cause cancer, organ failure and even death if you have long term exposure.

  • Silicon Tetrachloride, which when exposed to water reacts with a noxious gas that causes burning of the lungs.

  • Copper Indium Selenide, which lab test showed rats having abnormal growths in their lungs caused by the material.

Just to name a few.

So after coming to terms with the fact that I had to get rid of this panel, I decided the best course of action would be to remove the solar panel from my house and give it back to the source I had acquired it from, then find a new desk.

Once I was rid of the panel, I stumbled upon a janitor from a high school I live near by throwing old desks away so that they could replace them with new ones, and I asked him if I could have one, and explained the situation to him. He allowed me to take a desk.

Once I got home, I set everything up exactly how I had it before, now cancer-free, and made a new post about it on pcmasterrace. People seem to like the new desk. (picture)

TL;DR: SOLAR PANELS DO NOT MAKE GOOD DESKS, YOU CAN EXPOSE YOURSELF TO POSSIBLY CANCEROUS MATERIALS IF THEY ARE BROKEN OR CRACKED IN ANY WAY, AND ARE NOT MEANT TO SUPPORT THE WEIGHT OF THINGS LIKE MONITORS AND COMPUTER CASES. DO NOT BE LIKE ME, JUST USE A WOODEN DESK.

That being said, Solar is a perfectly safe, and SUSTAINABLE way to harvest energy, just because you don't want one as your desk doesn't mean you don't want one on your roof. Please don't interpret this as the panels being unsafe in any way if they are functioning as they are intended to be used. Please just don't use one as your desk.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TIFU By Fumbling My Gym Crush

I've never posted on Reddit before so apologies if anything is off. I (F) had a crush on a man at my gym for months. We would make extended eye contact frequently, workout in proximity, the usual gym things that get over analyzed when you like someone. He's wildly handsome, but I liked his vibe. A lot. It's hard to explain when someone's energy just hits different but his did. One day he started coming in with a woman. The day I saw her with him, he and I actually stared at each other from across the room for a while, and I turned and walked away because obviously gym rules - that's his girlfriend until I'm told otherwise. The eye contact continues and so does the proximity but I've dialed back completely because in my head, he has a girl and I am no home wrecker. Well, recently, on a Sunday, I was having a real shit day. I accidentally hurt my shoulder so my back day was all off, my body wasn't cooperating, the gym was packed - all I wanted to do w...
Post a Comment
Read more

TIFU by getting called racist for not handing cash to a customer

today I (F18) fucked up by worked a long ahh shift and got put on register. I never hand money in people’s hands as customers have yelled at me for it, and i think it’s germy so I scoot it towards them as a sign of respect. this lady came in and after i did that she goes “Imma need you to do that again and put it in my hand, you did this last time too don’t you know it’s disrespectful” (meanwhile i haven’t worked register in 2 months at said job and didn’t recognize her) so i apologize, and then cuz it’s call off time i go talk to my boss about it and they all agree with me. apparently though she told my keyholder who’s a poc i was being RACIST by not touching her. so i got told i need to do better even though i didn’t do anything. she was insinuating i was a racist. idk if i should quit or what but i fucked up. TL;DR: i’m a dumbass
Post a Comment
Read more

TIFU by sh*tting in the bushes at a high school

So I’m training for a local 10k race in a couple months. That’s about 6.2 miles. Not a long race but not a short one either. I’m making good progress and tinkering with what works for me on longer runs, how I can keep my body moving at an easy, consistent pace for about 70-80 minutes. I’ve been increasing the distance over the past few months, prioritizing getting the distance down before I work on pace. I train early mornings at a local high school track within walking distance of my house. They have public hours almost every morning from 6-8 am. It’s a very nice track with good lighting and ✨no public bathrooms✨. Because I’ve been focused on increasing distance I’m waking up earlier and earlier to get to the track and really hammer it out before I go home and shower for work. In turn, I’ve been drinking a little extra COFFEE most mornings get my body going. Til now this hasn’t been a problem, I don’t leave the house until my body takes care of business. I successfully dropped the ...
Post a Comment
Read more