AARP Eye Center
11 Things We Didn't Know Last Week
By Steve Mencher, January 15, 2014 11:39 AM
News, discoveries and fun ...
![chicks-books](https://aarp-content.brightspotcdn.com/fb/89/149bf14348c70ff773b78c234d0c/chicks-books.jpg)
1. A novelist/farmer gives " chick lit" a whole new meaning. (Learn more at CBS) (hat tip to Hilarie Grey)
2. It's possible to score a night at the Waldorf-Astoria for $15.75. (Learn more at AARP)
![Waldorf_Astoria_New_York_-_Park_Avenue_Entrance](https://aarp-content.brightspotcdn.com/12/00/eba782eefdfa63ba52a661a310c1/waldorf-astoria-new-york-park-avenue-entrance.jpg)
3. New surgical superglue can patch a hole in a beating heart. (Learn more at NPR)
4. Some people who get migraines spell relief p-l-a-c-e-b-o. (Learn more at AARP)
5. The NBA will end merger payments to the owners of a defunct ABA team - at $800 million. (Learn more at New York Times)
![ABA basketball](https://aarp-content.brightspotcdn.com/63/43/f4d36e3d51e2ce9d763e3e1dc0b8/6570860839-9f7072561e-b.jpg)
6. Coffee boosts your memory for 24 hours. (Learn more at Futurity.org)
![Capuccino, coffee, barista](https://aarp-content.brightspotcdn.com/cc/9e/fe480162923d26e7b9f48e1f2207/2362800218-8d69072804-o.jpg)
7. Most members of Congress are now millionaires. (Learn more at OpenSecrets.org)
8. Flossing may protect you from Alzheimer's. (Learn more at AARP)
9. A safari guide paid $350,000 for the chance to hunt and kill an endangered black rhinoceros. (Learn more at News.com.au)
![400-black-rhinoceros-safari-news-roundup](https://aarp-content.brightspotcdn.com/7a/cd/5b0c27c97ac309d7b5ec5b17b745/400-black-rhinoceros-safari-news-roundup-300x198.jpg)
10. After 43 years, we know who stole files from an FBI office in Pennsylvania. (Learn more at AARP)
11. The creator of Beanie Babies hid millions of dollars in a Swiss bank. (Learn more at San Francisco Chronicle)
![2117836593_d0b873bb9d_o](https://aarp-content.brightspotcdn.com/e1/28/37f3bbb711a4134662307f377290/2117836593-d0b873bb9d-o.jpg)
Bonus video:
A baby polar bear takes his first steps:
Let us read 11 Things to you:
https://soundcloud.com/aarp-social-sounds/11-things-we-didnt-know-11
Learn something this week? Mail your ideas to 11things@aarp.org, and we'll try to include your story next time.
On Twitter, we're using the hashtag #11things.
Images - Chicks and books: EBlokhina/istockphoto; The Waldorf-Astoria by Hennem08 via Wikimedia; Basketball: JeromeG111/Flickr; Coffee design: Stephen Rees/Flickr; Black Rhino: Thomas Kitchin & Victoria Hurst/Getty Images; Beanie Babies: Lyle58/Flickr;
Music - Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra plays Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra - Blue Blazes by Sy Oliver, Creative Commons, courtesy of Smithsonian Remix project.
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