Living Today: Issues of modern living

TEENS LIKE CIGARETTES FROM INDIA

A bidi, a cigarette from India, comes flavored as grape, chocolate and root beer, costs about a $1 a pack and is sold in head shops and health food stores, so many teens think the cigarette is harmless. It's not, Time magazine reports.

Researchers from the National Institute of Drug Abuse say smoke from bidis "may be more dangerous" than that of conventional filter cigarettes.

An analysis of volunteers' blood revealed nicotine levels were significantly higher after they smoked the bidis than after ordinary cigarettes.

"Kids think they're not smoking real cigarettes," says Wallace Pickworth, a pharmacologist with NIDA. "These cigarettes are delivering highly toxic compounds."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta say 2 percent to 5 percent of teens nationwide, and up to 40 percent in some urban areas like Boston, have tried a bidi at least once.

THE GIFT THE CASH POPULAR

Americans are getting more frustrated standing in lines and messing with gift wrap, and a majority in one survey want to give and get cash or plastic gift cards to spend like cash for the holidays, The New York Times reports.

The American Express survey found 69 percent wanted to give money and gift certificates, up from 41 percent five years ago, and 72 percent wanted to receive them.

Another national survey conducted in November by America's Research Group, a marketing group in South Carolina, found the number of people who wanted to give cash or gift certificates had increased to 51 percent, an all-time high, from 39 percent last year.

Merchants love the cards -- an estimated 15 percent of recipients never cash them.

HAPPINESS

The happiest people surround themselves with family and friends, don't care about keeping up with the Joneses, lose themselves in daily activities and, most importantly, forgive easily, USA Today reports.

In the mid-1990s, scientific journals published about 100 studies on sadness for every one study on happiness, but there is more and more evidence emerging on happiness.

"Materialism is toxic for happiness," says University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener.

Because the December holidays are friend- and family-oriented, they painfully reveal the intimacy missing in some lives, Diener says. "Keeping up with the Joneses is a setup for disappointment," he adds.

COAL IN YOUR STOCKING

If you think someone deserves coal in their Christmas stocking, it can be delivered via the Web site santascoal.com, and it can be done anonymously.

"It's not a new idea, because everybody knows at Christmas, if you're not nice, you get coal," Chuck Gibson, vice president for operations and marketing of GEE LLC, says in a statement.

"What makes this special is the fun as a gag gift combined with the message to the recipient," he adds

Santa's Bag of Coal is a bag filled with about 1 pound of the black baguettes, marked "COAL" with a message card attached for the recipient.