Sebastian Köln

Actually, the energy the pump adds to the moving water will convert to heat, so you get two benefits at once. The electrical losses in the pump will mostly also go the water as I assume it is build to be cooled by the water itself.

Mark Reed wrote:[...] keeping a garden pond or one where you're raising fish just a few degrees warmer,

You are going to need a LOT more power for that.
Solar radiation is 1000 watt per square meter. You need 5 times the surface area of solar panels than pond area to match just the direct sunshine (assuming your panels are 20% efficient).

Cristobal Cristo, there are cheap USB-C PD (power delivery) chargers that take up to 35V on aliexpress. They work just fine with my new laptop and phone.
The problem is that my battery setup is 48V nominal, up to 56V when charging, so it needs an additional DC-DC converter to run them.

My next setup will be 24V, just so it works with most of the readily available electronics. Then all you really need is a 8 Lithium Iron Phosphate cells and a BMS.

As long as you don't connect a battery, it is fool-proof.
Yes, connecting the wires is a short circuit, but the panel can only produce a limited amount of current. A short circuit means very little voltage drop and since power is the product of voltage drop and current, it will not generate much heat.

I suspect two hot plates in parallel will be a pretty good match for the solar panel.

Risk of damage: none.

The plate will get a little bit warm.
The voltage is harmless, if you touch both terminals with your tongue it will tickle, but otherwise you will not feel anything.
Solar panels tolerate short circuits.

To get the most out of your panel, you need to match the load to the current the panel can produce at any time. Without active electronics that is not possible. Aiming at 2-3A is probably the most realistic. The heater has a resistance of ~10 Ohm and will create a current of maybe 14 Volt / 10 ohm = 1.4 Ampere depending on the sun.
That means it will heat up with a power of 1.4 Ampere * 14 Volt = 20 Watt

Yes, converting electricity to heat with a cooking stove (a big resistor) is 100% efficient, because that is how we define 100% in this conversion.

Heat pumps convert electricity to heat with 300% -  500% efficiency, so resistive heating is really not that great.

To make the best use of your 100W (12V?) panel, 12V light bulbs (old car headlights) are probably the best option.
They are pretty well matched to the voltage you have and the amount of power the panel can produce.

Kena Landry wrote:No one mentioned Scratch? [...]

I started with something similar and quickly got really frustrated because it was far too limiting.
Python is made to teach programming, and it is pretty good at that.

I ended up learning C++ next, which was a total overkill and I would not recommend that as the next step after such a simplified language.

Why not a used professional laptop?
You can get a Thinkpad T480 for $200. I already bought a handful for friends who asked for a good laptop, but don't need a new machine.
I could not imagine working without a proper keyboard, but apparently some people can.
While the cooling of a laptop isn't idea, it is still much better than that of a tablet, so you get more performance.

Having used an air filled tire, a foam filled and solid tire, the air tire is by far the best and easiest to handle.
Bicycle tired are getting pretty good at being puncture proof today, I am sure something similar can be done for a wheelbarrow.
You will need an inner tube and some heavy material as a liner that thorns do not make it though.

John, essentially yes. The simple chargers that comes with the Lamp will probably not be able to charge the big battery in a reasonable time.
I would suggest to get a separate charger. They are not expensive and then you can charge one battery and use the other in the lamp.

It took me 10 years to find the right one. And that was a total accident.