The American Dialect Society chose “truthiness” as the word that best reflects 2005. In case your spellchecker chokes on the word like mine does, they define it as “the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.” Think: this blog. It won out over such other quintessentially 2005 words as podcast, whale tail, muffin top, and Cruisazy, which means to exhibit crazy behavior. And yes, that one’s named in honor of Tom the Couch Jumper.

Olympic champion skier Bode Miller told 60 Minutes that “If you ever tried to ski when you’re wasted, it’s not easy.” Big deal. I’m sure Morley Safir already knew that. When asked if that meant he’d never ski drunk again, Miller said, “No, I’m not saying that.” Good thing using a wood chipper isn’t an Olympic event.

Don’t be surprised if you get stopped by a cop in California and hear: “Let me start the meter, then touch your finger to your nose.” A court ruled yesterday that police can bill drunken drivers for the time it takes to direct traffic, get the car towed, investigate and write up reports, conduct sobriety tests, and arrest and book them. Time spent drinking coffee, eating doughnuts, complaining about people who take cheap shots at law enforcement eating habits, and griping about how they were portrayed in the movie Crash isn’t billable. Tips are appreciated.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found that half of U.S. adults believe most members of Congress are corrupt. The other half were too busy writing checks to their Congressman’s PAC to answer the phone.

You can buy most anything on eBay, from unopened packs of baseball cards to a pretzel that looks like the Virgin Mary. But you couldn’t buy a two-headed albino rat snake. Until now, that is. The World Aquarium of St. Louis, MO, says they’re putting “We” up for auction. The starting price is $150,000. Plus shipping, of course. They bought him for $15,000 six years ago which means he’s been a pretty good investment. So far the auction hasn’t appeared online, but while you’re waiting you can look for food items on which the image of Jesus or Mary Virgin has appeared. Maybe even one with two faces. (UPDATE: Nutra Pharma Corp., a biotechnology company, has adopted the snake, hopefully not for drug testing.)