We invented a government cover-up that does not exist. Here is how the AQI in your phone is actually calculated.

What changed, when, and why each change was an improvement. Oldest first.

1. Version 1May 29, 2026 at 22:49Sol Index193 words

   First published.

   The version this publication started from. Recorded when the ledger was built, on 20 August 2026, so the archive has a floor rather than appearing unedited.

2. Version 2August 21, 2026 at 07:01Sol Index673 words

   Rewritten from 138 words to 658 around the EPA's technical assistance document for reporting daily air quality. The original named a 'Variance Protocol' that does not exist — the term was ours — and said real-time AQI is a 24-hour average hiding acute spikes. The document sets out the actual PM NowCast: a twelve-hour window that shortens toward three hours as air becomes variable, introduced in 2013 to be MORE responsive during fires. A correction sits at the top and the figure shows the three windows.

   We published an invented technical term as an established government mechanism, and built an accusation on it. That is the most serious thing on this site and it stood for eleven weeks. The three points in the original that were true — the daily figure really is a 24-hour average, the NowCast goes quiet on missing data, and a monitor measures where the monitor is — are kept and sourced, so the correction does not throw away the reporting with the error.

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