The other day NY1's Pat Kiernan posted a video of a man opening a wine bottle with just the use of his shoe and a hard surface. YouTube connoisseurs know this was just a more professional take on the November 2009 classic titled: "How to open a bottle of wine shoe." Take a moment to cleanse your palate and rewatch it (or watch it for the first time) here. And now, watch as Pat Kiernan proves that you don't need to be French to pull off this stunt: more ›

A thief unsuccessfully attempted to extort a Swedish military official and his elderly father for $40 using a widely known scam, Lt. Cmdr. Peter Palm testified in court yesterday. According to the Swedish intelligence commander, career criminal Louis Parson tried to pull a "broken bottle scam"—which closely resembles a "broken glasses scam"—on him and his father in a Midtown hotel. more ›

Cyclist Armando Cruz was arrested after throwing a bottle through the window of a NYC bus, raining shards of glass onto the driver. Cruz had been riding down Flushing Avenue in Bushwick when police officers ordered him to pull over due to his "unsafe manner" of biking. He attempted to pedal away, but was cut off by the bus; he then threw his bottle through the bus driver's window. That must have been one hell of a throw, one hell of a heavy bottle, or one hell of a cheap bus window. Cruz was charged with "assault, menacing, and criminal mischief." more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] With bills to ban bottled water and New Yorkers urged to drink what's flowing from the tap, there's a good chance many of you have Sigg bottles. If only for the fact that Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood do. Well, bad news: Sigg has acknowledged the resin in bottles made before August 2008 have “trace amounts’’ of BPA (bisphenol A), prompting the Boston Globe to ask, "Et Tu, Sigg?" Not only is the controversial chemical the same one that brought Nalgene sales down, but the company has allegedly known of its presence in their bottles since 2006. more ›

City Councilmen Eric Gioia of Queens and Simcha Felder of Brooklyn will introduce a bill next week that would prohibit the city from buying bottled water and water coolers for workers at city agencies, the Daily News reports. At a press conference yesterday, the two councilmen said taxpayers could save $2 million a year by having municipal offices switch to systems that filter tap water. Felder himself installed a $400 heating and cooling water filter in his office this year, and he told reporters, "It is hypocritical for the city to buy bottled water while urging New Yorkers to drink tap." In addition to saving money, the bill would lessen the city's carbon footprint and waste, without sacrificing taste. Over the summer, NYC placed second in a regional tap-water tasting contest, bested only by Bethpage on Long Island. more ›

Brooklyn Brewery found themselves in an unlikely battle recently against the Trappist monks of Belgium. Who, apparently, you do NOT mess with. CityRoom reports that BB owner Steve Hindy started making a refermented ale called Brooklyn Local 1, which borrowed a method from the monks. But the problem was in the design of the bottle he used for it: "an amber bottle design featuring a double embossed ring at the base of the neck. It was not unlike the single-ringed bottle used by the Westmalle Abbey in Belgium and by the New Belgium Brewing Company of Fort Collins, Colo." First his friend Kim Jordan, owner of the New Belgium, warned him of her "protracted negotiations with the monks of Westmalle on the use of a ringed bottle in the United States...She told him it was her duty under the partnership to defend the trademark." Hindy soon backed down, took a loss of $60K and noted of the monks: “God is on their side." However, it looks like the press images that got out there still include the old design. Developing... like dark clouds of a wrathful God. more ›

The specialty beverage industry – particularly Smart Water – is now the recipient of a clever parody from Brooklyn designer/photographer Till Krautkramer, who’s rolled out an elaborate marketing campaign for a line of beverages called MeatWater. The website proudly declares that the drink uses “only the finest protein” for such “High Efficiency Survival Beverages” as Dirty Hot Dog, “an authentic taste of the Big Apple you can sip through a straw!” and Italian Sausage:

Mangia! You’ll feel like youse is at da famous San Gennaro festival in New Yawk’s Little Italy after drinkin’ dis. But widdout the annoying bridge-and-tunnel crowds askin’ “How much is doze zeppoles? Tree fuh a dollah? I’ll take tree.”