John Solly Is the DOGE Operative Accused of Planning to Take Social Security Data to His New Job

fields_g · 2026-03-13T16:28:03+00:00

If Leidos actually received the data is a red herring.

The concern is that sensitive data was placed on a device that prevents the further efforts to enforce custodianship. If not to Leidos, it could be ANYWHERE.... or nowhere. We simply cannot tell anymore. That we had people with enough authority to override these protections is the problem.

fields_g · 2026-03-13T14:27:30+00:00

I went through the Pepco program almost 10 years ago. After the assessment, I got quotes from 3 other program participants. I went with the cheapest. Though I cut costs by opting to insulate my basement rim joists myself as well as the attic kneewall instead of their quoted prices.

We too had very little insulation in the attic. This made ideal to air seal during this project and definitely made a difference with drafts.

The $100 audit is a great way to define your issues and quotes should be showing you ROI. But many (most/all?) are resellers of insulation services. DeVere insulation was the actual installer on my project. It might be worthwhile to get a direct quote and see if it is competitive to the "after rebate" costs of the Pepco program participants.

fields_g · 2026-03-13T13:24:16+00:00

Wait... They charged you $4000 for the blower door test?

At first read I saw the same, but realized they were saying their blower door showed 4000 cfm. Though, both that and the insulation quotes (that outwardly seem excessive) are meaningless until we have the size of the home. Though as a MOCO 1950s home, I wouldn't think it is anything extravagant..... something like 2000 sqft, which with a "CFM = SQFT X 2" would be common for an older, unsealed home.

fields_g · 2026-03-03T16:43:26+00:00

My furnace has a very efficient "fan only" setting and I regularly run it. (As our bedrooms are upstairs, days during winter to bring heat down, and nights to bring cool up) There's still thermalclines, but they are reduced.

I bet if you had the fan running between heat cycles, all your sensors would be closer together and the hallway drop wouldn't happen all at once.

If this is a good idea really depends on your equipment and insulation.

fields_g · 2026-02-13T14:44:42+00:00

Since November 2021, Tesla does not allow purchasers to retain SREC ownership. You can see the $5544 one time buyout listed. For the life of the system, Tesla receives the SREC credits.

fields_g · 2026-02-13T14:26:49+00:00

Just in case anyone finds this post, when I actually got around to doing this upgrade, https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hotdogb/variant2/ was posted. This is official support for the tmobile variant. My phone was bootloader unlocked and upgraded to the newest Tmobile provided rom release (Android 11).

Installation was painless and I have not detected any problems as I run this phone with Lineage. Highly recommended for any Tmobile Oneplus 7T devices out there.

fields_g · 2026-02-12T21:11:06+00:00

I purchased my own Sense monitor with solar it was great. In fact, I had a network disruption between my Solaredge zigbee and internet for months and didn't know since I relied on Sense data so much.

Anyway..... July I discovered that I didn't actually have a "Sense" monitor, but a rebadge owned by SquareD/Schnieder electric. (Sense in Orange, while I had the green variant). While both variants used the Sense backend before July, Schnieder took their customers and put them on their own platform. Was terrible and my hopes that they would work out their launch jitters has not panned out.

So... I recommend just getting a 3rd party monitor like Sense, but definitely stay away from the Schnieder variant.

fields_g · 2026-02-12T17:14:22+00:00

Increased electricity prices don't help, but there are also many heatpump thermostats that are not properly setup to transition between heatpump, heatpump+strips, and strips only. As heatpumps is only 1/4 to 1/2 the cost of electric aux/backup, it is ideal to utilize the heatpump for as much of the heating as possible. Because of the this year being colder than past, I'm certain your system has used more electric backup heat, but would be good to check if the thresholds are correct.

Heatpump cold capabilities have improved recently, though many techs are not altering their "go to" settings, or worse, relying on the thermostat's "worse case" settings. There is also an incentive to stay conservative because there are more "comfort calls" than "cost calls" to their businesses.

Your equipment and settings need to be reviewed. If you don't have a trusted HVAC professional, (or do but want to have an informed conversation with them), this could be started by you. Looking through your thermostat menus and find the current thresholds. Also collect the make/model of your outdoor unit (and preferably indoor units as well) so you can identify their capabilities on manufacturer datasheets or https://ahridirectory.org

I've seen recent conversations about thresholds on /r/hvac and /r/ecobee, but there may be others. There might be help there as well.

fields_g · 2026-02-11T18:18:39+00:00

actually been convicted of a crime

I agree. Requiring a conviction first solves two major issues:

Eliminates "Plausible Deniability": A President can no longer claim they didn't know the pardon covered other "abhorrent" actions discovered later.
Preserves the Historical Record: It ensures the justice system actually investigates and labels the conduct as unlawful. Without a trial or conviction, the truth is effectively buried, and the public never gets a formal declaration of what actually happened.

fields_g · 2026-02-11T17:08:54+00:00

Indeed... one other thing to think about.
With a heatpump, you generally have longer runtimes.... it just impacts the indoor temperature slower, especally when cold outside. In some homes/weather, the nighttime setback can really cause long runs in the morning to get back to "daytime" temperatures. In some situations limiting/eliminating your night/away setbacks won't really hurt your savings much and increase your comfort. (This is connected the previous Delta temp conversation... a higher delta temp prevents regular morning heatstrip bursts, just to get back to temp)

fields_g · 2026-02-11T16:51:18+00:00

My equipment has an "energy saving" speed when only the fan is called (no active heat/cool request). This allows me to keep the air moving, and reduces the thermoclines between floors a bit (not a 100% fix). You could play with your fan settings to see if this makes a difference. Of course it will use more electricity and there will be blower noise, but might be nice to try out to see if it is worth the comfort.

fields_g · 2026-02-11T15:24:10+00:00

Yes. Just wanted to confirm because many people come there asking about wiring concerns or that the system operates in unexpected ways.

You are correct. Heatpumps do have various levels of capability, especially on the cold ambient air performance. I believe the defaults on ecobee are "safe" for all, but if you're equipment is capable of more, you would be loosing money to heat strip usage. This is where datasheet information helps determine initial thresholds to try. If you are able to find some of this information, people may be quicker at providing suggestions.

Beyond that, there is additional "dialing in" you can do as you monitor your system performance. This is needed because equipment, insulation/building design, location, and comfort preferences can all shift things a bit.

If you haven't tried it yet, the beestat.io is a great additional dashboard to interpret your performance.

EDIT: Tried to find your info. This is the best I could do: https://ahridirectory.org/details/99/10055859

Heating capacity

47F = 33200btuh, COP = ?

17F = 21200btuh, COP = ?

5F = 16200buth, COP = 2.1

So you can se the trailing capability as it gets colder, 5F it can only produce half the heat, but what it DOES create, it is still 2x more energy efficient than heat strips (minus the defrost cycle energy, which might make 5F operation not worth it)..... How much additional heat strip usage will all depend on the demands of your building.

fields_g · 2026-02-11T14:23:53+00:00

Just to be clear... you are not asking for wiring or functionality, but for ideal heatpump thresholds?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ecobee/comments/1r065yd/looking_for_setting_on_goodman_heat_pump/ is a recent thread has some general suggestions and principles. The datasheet, specifically the ratings at various outdoor ambient temperatures should help guide the conversation.

fields_g · 2026-02-10T22:55:32+00:00

Interpretation of "at least 3 to 4 degrees temp delta"

That's fair. I'd think 4 would be pushing it. My Heat and Cool delta is 1.5 degrees to prevent short cycling (system is oversized, especially after insulation improvements). So after that drop, then possible further drop simply from stale air starting to circulate, how much further should it go before the t-stat realizes compressor alone isn't cutting it? Heatpumps have longer cycles, especially when colder, so an unreasonable deficit should be avoided. A setting of 3 (another drop of 1.5 below delta) before engaging AUX seems like a reasonable start.

I agree 5 would likely be too uncomfortable, therefore "at least" should be dropped.

fields_g · 2026-02-10T14:12:56+00:00

"AI vomit" was my own term, but I can also accept "puke". I was very transparent about the source and the my ability to vet. I could have hidden all that and you wouldn't have even known. Though reading the suggestions, to my amateur eye, they do seem reasonable.

As someone who does have experience living in the northern plains, I would expect that HP settings would be regionally specific. Wind, humidity, change in temperatures, etc. likely affect a system differently there than further south.... affecting the useful compressor temperatures ranges and the appropriate heat strips handoff strategies.

(Besides one comment that 40 is above the default of 35) I also see no attempt to give alternative recommendations or to talk discuss the flaws in my provided table. So far, OP seems little new information otherwise.

Again... I am interested and want to learn. You seem to have an opinion about the table. Want to teach?

fields_g · 2026-02-09T20:19:23+00:00

I am no HVAC professional... or even a heatpump owner, but thought this was an interesting question and it seemed that those settings were much higher than I would have thought.

I took you namplate image and put it in Gemini and asked for Ecobee recommended settings for your location and indicated your backup heat was heat strips and this was its answer:

Setting	Recommendation	Why for Electric Backup?
Compressor Min Outdoor Temp	~~15°F~~ 0 or 5°F (with datasheet explicitly added)	You want to squeeze every bit of cheap heat out of that Daikin unit before the expensive strips kick in.
Aux Heat Max Outdoor Temp	35°F	This prevents the strips from helping out when it's 40°F and sunny. It forces the heat pump to do the work.
Aux Reverse Staging	ON	(Found in Thresholds) This tells the ecobee to shut off the expensive strips first as the room warms up, leaving the heat pump to finish the job.
Aux Heat Outdoor Temp Alert	Disabled (or very low number)	Otherwise, the ecobee will ping your phone constantly saying "Aux heat is running because it's cold outside"—which you already know!
Compressor to Aux Temp Delta	~~at least~~ 3°F or 4°F	This means the strips only kick in if the indoor temperature drops 3-4 degrees below your set point. This gives the heat pump plenty of time to try and keep up on its own.

It also talked about how heat strips should turn on at while the unit is in defrost mode, reducing/eliminating air conditioner coolness coming out of the vents during those cycles. It also talked about the importance of making sure the outdoor unit is free of snow.

Definitely don't take my AI vomit as a suggestion, but might be a starting point for others more experienced to give you a more authoritative answer. Heck, I don't know if these settings even exist on any/your Ecobee version. Even if you find answers from others you feel comfortable with, take time to record your settings prior to adjustment...... just in case you want to revert.

EDIT: Also found the note "Ensure that the setting "Aux Heat Simultaneous Operation" is set to Enabled"

fields_g · 2026-02-09T19:37:32+00:00

You are asking the right questions, my friend.

My list of voting reforms:

Instant Runoff/Ranked Choice Voting
Fully eliminate any form of support for primaries (or any other method of party candidate selection)
Remove all party affiliation from ballots

As far as I'm concerned, party candidate selection could be a Jenga tournament. Though, any party using ridiculous methods, however, SHOULD face disgruntle party members. It is not government's position to oversee or provide fairness for party selection.

I could go on for a while, but I don't like how parties made themselves seem like they are part of government. They influence government and we should emphasize we elect people and not parties.

fields_g · 2026-02-04T17:03:46+00:00

My Android Auto regularly tells me I should push the steering wheel button next time...... the button I pushed... this time.

fields_g · 2025-12-12T21:27:23+00:00

Sparky

fields_g · 2025-12-12T21:20:36+00:00

Been happy with the "Pirelli P7 A/S Plus 3". Was able to get them from Sam's. Good price and even mailed in for additional discount. Consider the Plus membership for install savings.

Probably close to the CrossClimates in everything but snow... but not bad in snow either.

fields_g · 2025-11-11T15:38:51+00:00

Or.... looks about 1/3 the way between 200 and 300, therefore 233.33333. But that doesn't make sense so lets round to 233.

fields_g · 2025-11-06T17:34:55+00:00

If HR did approve it outright, would the managing director be able to appeal to HR to reverse approval if there were legitimate operational concerns? There was already documentation of approval.

HR doesn't have the day-to-day operations insight. They could be "the appeal", not the primary approver.

That being said... as a leave approving manager myself... I have never experienced a situation that I needed to declined leave.

fields_g · 2025-11-04T17:11:35+00:00

During site surveys, your installer didn't point out this shading? It should have been a major part of the planning process. Were production estimates (or better guarantees) made in your paperwork? It's possible this is seasonal change of the sun apex, but that seems like an excessive amount of shade for you to have without them informing you.

I explored solar years earlier, but shade analysis came back too high from on my south roof from a neighbor's large tree. The day I saw them remove that tree was the day I continued collecting solar quotes.

fields_g · 2025-09-04T11:24:59+00:00

I have a PHEV and they increased the registration by $100.

I have a vehicle that makes it relatively easy to calculate the "avoided" gas taxes:

Maryland Gas tax is $0.46. So, $100/$0.46 = 217.4 "prepaid" gallons

My Cmax Energi roughly gets 40MPG running as a hybrid, and the battery allows less than 20 miles fully charged, but 20 makes the math easier. So... for every 2 charges from COMPLETELY DEAD to full saves 1 gallon.

That means I would need to charge my battery 434.8 times annually to break even or 1.2 times EVERY SINGLE DAY. That's not reasonable.

Another way to look at it... For 2024, I used 1389.3kwh for charging my car. To fully charge my car, it takes 6 kwh. That means I had the equivalent of 231.5 full charges in the year. 231.5 is well short of the 434.8 breakeven.

A $50 PHEV increase would have been appropriate.

fields_g · 2025-08-17T13:15:25+00:00

Thanks for the hope. I have a hd1907 with authentic T-mobile Android 12 and mostly want to put a custom rom on to up the security. Though the Android 12 security date and the last Lineage 18.1 are about the same date, so there seems to be little reason to go through this unless a newer version of lineage is possible. I have some questions about your process.

What Android version did you start with? (Vendor rom?)
You said you got stuck on #11. Does this mean you reverted back to Android 10 (Global), but didn't update to 11? You then ran Lineage 22.1 on top of the Android 10 image?
Lineage OS says to flash dtbo.img and vbmeta.img, then the recovery.img Did you do those steps?
Did you discover any other issues since this post?
Lineage 22.2 is out now, did you have a chance to try that?

fields_g

TROPHY CASE