What I Found Interesting: March 26, 2025

I welcome today’s bright sunny day here in southeast Michigan. Despite winter snowstorms in areas north and west of us, signs of spring are appearing every day as tree buds burst and more colorful spring flowers come into bloom.

Thank you to everyone sharing positive news and uplifting blog posts.

Here are a few stories, posts, and resources I’ve read and enjoyed over the past month.

I hope you enjoy them, too!

What I Found Interesting

• If you’re in north/east North America, Europe, north Asia, or north/west Africa, you’ll have an opportunity to view the partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025.

  Sadly, we won’t be able to see it in Michigan.

  However, an added bonus for eclipse watchers in the U.S. state of Maine as well as the provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec in Canada: you’ll have a chance to see a “double sunrise” effect during the eclipse.

• While the last video store in Pocatello, Idaho has closed, the owner of the store is keeping some videos available in their nearby convenience store to their most passionate customers.

  Including Christine who has Down syndrome, who visited the video store daily for at least the past 15 years with her mother.

  Owner David Kraning knew the video store closing would be stressful for Christine. Kraning found space in the convenience store they own to display a small section of videos for Christine and other regular video store customers.

• Who knew? Not me! For years, millions of people around the world have tuned into a livestream that lets viewers help fish in The Netherlands.

  The city of Utrecht installed the Fish Doorbell on a river lock, allowing livestream viewers to report to authorities when a fish is held up during spring migration to spawning grounds.

  The bell was the idea of ecologist and concept developer Mark van Heukelum, who said:

  I guess the combination of a good cause, a beautiful story and just a simple idea generates all this attention.

  When I watched the Fish Doorbell with 1,883 other people this morning, all I saw was a murky green screen. No fish to report.

• Powered by solar-charged batteries, electric tricycles are improving the lives of Zimbabwe women.

  Launched in 2019 by local startup Mobility for Africa, the tricycle project began by leasing vehicles to groups of women for $15 a month.

  In Zimbabwe, the lives of many women have changed dramatically, even for those who don’t own tricycles but use them for daily chores.
  
  Gone are the days of carrying firewood, buckets of water or heavy farm produce over long distances.

  The program has grown to include a lease-to-purchase program.

  Women with their tricycles deliver produce to market, drive patients to hospitals, bring medical supplies, and transport building supplies, bringing much needed economic independence and importance to their lives.

• Good news to read! According to Forest Area Occupied by Monarch Butterflies Colonies in Mexico During the 2024-2025 Hibernation Season report, the Eastern monarch butterfly population nearly doubled in 2025.

  The monarch population wintering in central Mexico’s forests increased from 2.22 acres in 2024 to 4.42 acres in 2025.

• Did you miss celebrating?

  March 12, 2025 marked the 36th anniversary of the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

• Imagine browsing photographs in Flickr Commons and discovering a U.S. Library of Congress photo of your grandfather.

  Or a photo of a fire in Alberta, Canada that happened over 70 years ago. And being able to provide the exact location of the fire and what business is currently at the location.

  Flickr highlights some of the serendipitous discovery moments in the social life of photographs.