Plutonic Rainbows

• Worked on refining the caching strategy. Observed that caching for 24 hours might result in outdated data during high solar activity periods.

• Began exploring ways to reduce the caching duration while balancing API usage and data accuracy.

• Encountered issues where Redis sometimes failed to store or retrieve data. Debugged and resolved these by ensuring proper key naming conventions and expiry settings.

• Confirmed the Flask backend correctly handled cases when cached data was unavailable, falling back to the Solcast API only when necessary.

A weekend away from my solar energy project means time to catch up on reading. I just picked up The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie by Richard Dawkins. The book is filled with fascinating examples of the power of Darwinian natural selection to build exquisite perfection, paradoxically accompanied by what look like gross blunders. Along the way, Dawkins dismantles influential criticisms of the 'gene's-eye-view' of life. And, to end with a provocative sting in the tail, the author asks there is a sense in which all our 'own' genes can be seen as a gigantic colony of cooperating viruses?

The project is facing challenges from all directions as it grows more complex, making problems harder to solve. A major obstacle is that the compilation process is deleting necessary files. I think I'm done for the day.

• Focused on debugging the React app, which wasn’t displaying data correctly.

• Discovered that the Flask backend relied on a local .json file instead of the API.

• Identified the /api/solar_forecast route as responsible for serving solar forecast data but noted incomplete implementation logic.

• Analyzed JSON files (full_api_response.json and mock_solar_data.json) for discrepancies and completeness.

• Reviewed the combined_solar_data.csv file and its usage in the backend route.