Champagne, or sparkling wine, is the staple drink around the US for those in shimmering dresses and tuxedos, but there are other interesting traditions worth noting in case you’d like an alternative beverage to help usher in 2013.

Our colleague over at BBC Travel, Suemedha Sood, compiled a fascinating list of “liquid traditions” around the world that offers a few surprises.

Chile

Sood writes that you might find mulled wine at a party in South America (also in Western Europe and Scandinavia). In Chile, where the drink is called “navegado,” it’s made by first “caramelizing sugar in the bottom of a pot, adding a box of cheap red wine … and then simmering it with some cinnamon sticks, cloves and orange slices.”

Turkey

There is another delicious-looking concoction Sood highlights in Turkey called sahlep. The “sweet, soothing drink [is] made from the powdered roots of wild mountain orchids. … The sahlep powder is simmered with milk and sugar and then dusted with cinnamon for serving.” It’s usually served in traditional copper urns.

Mexico

In Mexico, The World’s Monica Campbell writes, that the margarita usually comes to mind as the celebration cóctel, but there’s another favorite: The Paloma (“dove” or “pigeon” in Spanish). The drink has a “serious tequila kick, but with a fizzy twist (and less expensive ingredients). To make it, take a Collins glass (or a tall glass), tequila (Herradura’s reposado is a good mid-shelf pick), fresh lime juice, salt, ice and then fill the rest of the glass with grapefruit soda. In Mexico, the go-to brand here is Squirt soda. But Fresca, Mexico’s Jarritos Toronja (grapefruit) or a lemon-lime soda also work.”

Japan

In Japan, people drink amazake on New Year’s, according to The World’s Sonia Narang, who writes that it’s also a common winter drink.

Amazake is a “sweet, thick drink made from fermented rice, and it’s usually served warm at Shinto shrines in Japan around New Year’s. Though the word “amazake” literally means “sweet sake,” it’s not actually sake. The drink is made by fermenting a mixture of steamed rice and rice koji (the Japanese term for cultured grain). Alternatively, it can be made with the leftover yeast from sake production. When these sake yeast deposits are mixed with water and sugar, it turns into a sweet, low-alcohol amazake.

I’ve had warm amazake at outdoor winter festivals in Japan, including at one particularly chilly ice festival in the mountains of central Japan. It tastes like fermented porridge, and it can quickly warm up people visiting Shinto shrines on a cold New Year’s Eve night.”

What do you drink to ring in the New Year? Let us know by recording right from your computer microphone, or let us know in the comments below.

Swedish software engineer Johan Gunnarsson has published a list of the most popular Wikipedia pages in 2012 language by language.

Curiously topping the most viewed page in English is the article for Facebook – with more than 32.6 million hits.

Now, why click on Wikipedia instead of just going to Facebook itself?

Well, there might be a number of reasons – maybe because the company went public this year, or, all the buzz surrounding the new timeline feature. And there’s always the debate over privacy.

Or, maybe it’s because the Wikipedia brand is so familiar, that when people searched for Facebook, they clicked on the Wikipedia entry instead.

There were some more unusual “most viewed” pages in Gunnarsson’s research.

Many netizens want to know what Wiki is saying about them. The number one hit in Russian, Greek and Swedish was: Russia, Greece and Sweden.

The most-visited page in German is about: cul de sacs.

And the entry for the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy” topped Wikipedia searches in Italian.

Other interesting highlights: Tea, as in the drink, was the most visited page in Danish.

And “Houx crenele,” also known as Japanese holly, was viewed the most in French.

And as for the Japanese themselves, they spent most of their time cruising Wikipedia for … adult movie actresses.

Most viewed articles on English Wikipedia 2012
Page name | View count
1. Facebook | 32,647,942
2. Wiki | 29,613,759
3. Deaths in 2012 | 25,418,587
4. One Direction | 22,351,637
5. The Avengers (2012 film) | 22,268,644
6. Fifty Shades of Grey | 21,779,423
7. 2012 phenomenon | 20,619,920
8. The Dark Knight Rises | 18,882,885
9. Google | 18,508,719
10. The Hunger Games | 18,431,626

Most viewed articles on German Wikipedia 2012
Page name | View count
1. Sackgasse | 10,206,548
2. Deutschland | 6,445,565
3. Nekrolog 2012 | 6,091,682
4. How I Met Your Mother | 5,312,356
5. The Big Bang Theory | 4,943,580
6. Fußball-Europameisterschaft 2012 | 4,753,849
7. G | 3,709,187
8. Two and a Half Men | 2,990,156
9. Game of Thrones | 2,935,307
10. Facebook | 2,889,451

Here are the top Wikipedia pages in Italian, French, Danish, and Japanese.

Norwegian kicker Havard Rugland posted a video to YouTube in September that was sure to draw attention.

In it, Rugland demonstrates a clear knack for kicking long distance field goals at 60 yards.

Not only that, Rugland adds a distinct flare by kicking with what appears to be dead-on accuracy at any number of targets, some from seemingly impossible angles. My favorite, a kick from an idyllic Norwegian beach to a friend waiting on the bluff above.

As word spread online of Rugland, his video went viral and now has more than 1 million views.

It is an amazing video, but you have to question whether it took multiple takes to get those awe inspiring kicks. My suspicions of a master iMovie provocateur were put aside when, in near real time, Rugland plants six, 50 yard field goals in a row (just speed up to about 2:45).

Now, Rugland has gotten a different kind of attention.

Spurred by the video, Rugland has now had a workout with the New York Jets according to his kicking coach.

Take a look at the video to see why he might just end up playing in the NFL. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how Rugland’s kicking talents match up with an NFL defensive line.

UPDATE: We got a chance to speak with Harvard Rugland and featured the conversation in our Geo Quiz segment. Have a listen below.

The experiments are taking place at the Veterinary University of Vienna’s Clever Dog Lab.

Ever wonder what makes a dog bold or shy, eager or sullen?

“We are interested in lots of different questions concerning dogs,” says Friederike Range, a biologist who helps run the lab.

Range says the main goal of the lab is to investigate how dogs understand their world. “This includes, of course, their social world [i.e., other dogs and people] as well as their physical environment.”

Ari’s report got us thinking about our own clever dogs here at The World newsroom.

I bet many of YOU have a clever dog too. Tweet your clever dog picture using the hashtag #cleverdog and we’ll collect them here.

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