A Soaking Up the Sun Weekly Link Round-Up

 

The weather has been absolutely glorious here in Phoenix. Temperatures in the 70s and 80s, light breezes, plenty of sunshine. I'd been staying indoors most of the summer, not just because of the heat but because I've been busy with paperwork and doing a major reorganization of all my stuff. (You know how stuff accumulates no matter how hard you try, right?)

I've been replenishing my stores of Vitamin D, filling hummingbird feeders, keeping those birdbaths and fountains filled, and having someone come in to trim the shrubbery that threatened to take over the property after all the rain we got in September.

November in Phoenix

I even got some good/sad news. My doctor and his staff contacted a different home health company to help me with my leg, and I'm looking forward to meeting my new nurse tomorrow. (I'm writing this on Tuesday.) The sad news? I will no longer be seeing Alex, the wonderful nurse I've seen for the past two years. He's become family to me, and I'm going to miss him like crazy. Hopefully, we will keep in touch, but I know how hard he works, and how busy he is. We shall see. 

I hope you all are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and well supplied with good books to read. Virtual hugs to everyone!

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• AI regulation is not enough. We need AI morals. (I am in total agreement, especially since these times have shown us how many people in positions of power seem to have very few morals.)
• "Human written." Why Sarah Hall put a maker's mark on her new novel.
• The term "67" is "impossible to define." It just became Dictionary.com's Word of the Year for 2025.
• Margaret Mizushima on training her dogs to track missing persons.
• Why did these authors have their school visit cancelled? They were talking about their book about book bans.
• What does the trend of sprayed edges and special editions say about the state of publishing?

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Ancient Roman-Era statues were taken during a brazen museum heist in Damascus.
• Anomalies in a Giza pyramid may indicate an unknown entrance.
• Scientists may finally have an explanation for the centuries-old 5,200 mystery holes in the Peruvian Andes. (Okay, why does the term "mystery holes" make me smile?)
• A maritime mystery was solved after a shipwreck was discovered off the UK coast. 
• 109-year-old messages in a bottle written by soldiers heading to fight in World War I have been discovered on an Australian beach.
• A study claims that a massive 3,000-year-old Maya site in Mexico depicts the cosmos and the "order of the universe."

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Mr. Chow, the otter, loves being wrapped like a burrito after his bath.  Mr. Chow lives here in Phoenix, a place you normally wouldn't associate with these animals.
• While we're on the subject, meet another otter from here in the Phoenix metro area, Splash. Splash is the nation's first search and rescue otter.
• As record-breaking cold settles in across the southern U.S., Floridians are finding "frozen" iguanas. 
• Swedish musician Mattias Krantz is teaching a rescued octopus to play the piano.
• Charles Darwin couldn't find these legendary curly horses. Centuries later, they've reappeared.
• Colossal coconut crabs may hold the clue to Amelia Earhart's fate.

►The Wanderer◄

• 10 American towns that feel like they're in Europe.
• Crime and the City: County Kerry.
• Nobody knows what sank the Edmund Fitzgerald, but its doomed final voyage will always be America's defining shipwreck. (I love Gordon Lightfoot's song.)
• The world's most-visited castles and palaces.
• Ypsilanti, Michigan is fighting a $1.2 billion AI datacenter for America's nuclear weapon scientists.
• These 15 photographs capture the beautiful art of blown and stained glass.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• 72-year-old John William Boucher lied about his age to fight in World War I.
• Marion Pritchard, the Dutch resister who "lied, stole, and even killed" to save the lives of 150 Jewish children during World War II.
• William Merritt Chase, the accidental ally.
• Dr. Gladys West, the "hidden figure" who pioneered GPS technology.
• Thomas Stukeley, the swashbuckling Tudor mercenary who was killed in a battle that claimed the lives of three 16th-century kings.
• Minnie Murral, one woman's path to Jonestown.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 10 songs based on historic events.
• Kirkus' Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2025.
• Kirkus' Best Historical Fiction of 2025.
• 17 deadly and delicious Thanksgiving mysteries.
• 10 social media abbreviations that stump people the most.
• The 9 best French jewel theft films.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!