our social media producer hermela aregawi is tracking the top stories on the web. i'll the conversation it started is gaining ground. i'll tell you more coming up. and what do you think? join the conversation. >> it is a tradition that goes back decades. on english day the queen counters the cheery christmas message. the message this year came from edward snowden. >> hi. merry christmas. i'm honored to have a chance to speak with you and your family this year. george orwell warned us of the cager of this kind of information. the types of collision the book, microphones and video cameras, toad tvs that watch us are nothing compared oto what we have available today. >> it was a very intriguing statement he made. but while he continues to warn the world of the dangers of overreaching government surveillance. snowden says his goal was never to defeat the nsa but to give the public the public the knowledge they needed to make their own decisions. now he declares his mission has been accomplished. we are joined now from baltimore, maryland, thomas an nsa whistle blower.

let's go to hermela of that?> austin on twitter wants to know if is bitcoin is worth $1,000, how do you buy a cup of coffee with it? >> that's a very good question. bitcoin can be sub divided out to the 8th desmil point. because it's digital, you can pay. we don't have the vocabulary. we have dimes and nickels and quarters. that doesn't exist yet for bitcoin but i imagine it will as it becomes more commonly used. >> you have to do a lot of calculating and convincing because to eat at restaurants, to survive as you did abroad for three months, must have had to spend a lot of time and a lot of energy to get this done. >> yeah, becky, thankfully has a full-time job and she was at her job almost every day. i was frequently out trying to persuade local merchants to accept bitcoin. it took a couple of weeks to find a grab. eating? >> we did a couple of times. and that was mostly when we were traveling to new areas where we had not been able to contact merchants and persuade them yet. one night in the stockholm, we were

let's check in with hermela to see what's trending. >> the crossword puzzle turns 100 years old. it was born in 1913 when one was published in the new york world, a major newspaper at the time. it wasn't an instant hit. over a decade passed before it became a fad first in new york city, then spreading to the rest of the country. simon and shuster deserve a lot of credit for its popularity. it published the first book of crossword puzzles and didn't think it would be a hit. after my demand, 2 million copies were sold in the first two years. it was one of the top best sellers in 1924 and 1925 on that on the facebook page, carrol says: >> to celebrate, you can download a crossword puzzle at the our website. back to you. >> i used to torture myself every single day, but it's been a while woo i never finished one. >> i have, but not the friday or saturday new york times ones. thanks hermela. >> straight ahead, new lottery winners are counting their blessings but could the big winnings actually be a curse? later on, new research show vacations can make you healthier, so why aren't more

let's go to hermela. >> austin, if the bit coin is worth $1,000, how do you buy a cup of coffee. >> bit coin can be subdivided out to the eighth dismal point. you can pay .0002 bit coin. we don't have a vocabulary for that. in the u.s. dollar we have dimes, nickels and quarters. we don't have a vocabulary for that yet but i'm sure as it gets used. >> to eat at restaurant, to survive as you did abroads for three months you must have had to spend a lot of time and energy to get this done. >> becky thankfully has a full-time job and she was at her job every day. i was frequently out trying to persuade local merchants to accept bit coin. it took a couple of weeks to find a grocer who would sell us groceries. >> did you ever go without eating? >> we did a couple of times. that was when we were mostly travel to go new areas where we were not able to contact merchants. one night in stockholm we were hungry, but then we found a restaurant who served excellent swedish food. and then we found a hotel that we upgraded to. >> did you cheat? >> i was amazed that people thought we would have to pull

let's go to hermela. >> there's marijuana critics, how exactly does this extinguish from a president obama smoker? >> from a pot smoker? >> nailed down the nuances of the drug and really get the expertise, you know, a certain amount of history is what we're expecting, so we're no the looking for your average, casual smoker. we're looking for somebody who really knows what he he or she is talking about, and also somebody who's based in colorado. in fact, i sent out some letters today to 12 individuals about getting sample reviews from them, which we'll most likely publish, and it's pretty exciting to finally get the ball rolling on the pot critic position. >> your paper has reported that since legalization, pot problems there in colorado schools have increased, that one police officer said that sips the law came into play, middle school kids ever shown up with a half ounce of marijuana. is it a growing problem? >> it certainly sounds like it, you know, i know another issue that's come up is pot sneaking across state borders. you know, if you buy the pot in colorado, you're not suppose