OOF – Out of Food

Most geeks would rather tinker and investigate than be handed step-by-step instructions, and that’s true for more than just code and gadgetry.

Cooking for Geeks ($23) brings this philosophy into the kitchen, offering up instructions on how to set up the needed tools, information about the hows of cooking — including protein denaturation and caramelization — and insights from fellow geek cooks.

Porsche’s unprecedented 16 wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans started in 1970, with Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood behind the wheel of a 917 K.

The Porsche Design P’6612 Dashboard Le Mans 1970 Watch ($TBA) pays homage to this win with a dial styled after the car’s instrumentation, a perforated calfskin strap with red stitching like the steering wheel, the car’s number 23 on the face, a brushed, polished titanium case, automatic chronograph movement, and tachometer scale.

Fittingly, only 917 will be made, each including a scale model of the 917 K and a booklet signed by the race winners themselves.

Now you can stay visibly safe during nighttime bike rides with Cyglo Tyres ($TBA). Equipped with motion sensors inside, these unique tires feature bright, high-powered LED lights inside the tread or wall that come on automatically as soon as you begin to move, making you highly visible to drivers who will probably ask themselves how you managed to steal a Tron light bike off the Disney lot.

As is clearly evidenced by its complex stitching and folding, the Bufa Chair by MOWOstudio is one inspired by tailored attire. This felt and stainless steel chair is a welcome entrant into the world of modern furniture. Carefully folded felt sides threaded together with a loose-hanging rope make the Bufa the first of its kind. “Puff and Pleat” are the words that inspire this chair, and both modernists and fashion designers will find it decidedly relevant.

The stunning elegance of Jeff Nishinaka’s paper art calls for a new definition of paper. His meticulous sculptural 3D work appears to have been created from marble or extremely fine sand or vanilla ice cream or thick foam — definitely of something other than “just” paper. The Los Angeles-born artist works mainly with white, which makes the exquisite play of light and shadow a large part of the appeal of his work.

Okay, maybe they won’t literally cause unexpected bowel movements, but “Facts that Will Greatly Disturb You” just didn’t have the same ring to it.

1,001 Facts that Will Scare the Sh*t Out of You ($10) is a 300+ page collection of random facts about bugs, disease, animals, and more, each one properly sourced — should you actually want to know more about it — and accompanied by a witty one-liner. Obviously a great bathroom reader, it works equally well for coffee tables, waiting rooms, and light mid-air entertainment.

Created especially for the Chinatown Soccer Club — a group of creative professionals in NYC who play in the morning and then bike to work in downtown — the Incase CSC Soccer Bag ($200) carries everything you need to go from the pitch to the office. It offers a dedicated laptop compartment, a waterproof ball compartment, removable shoe bag, messenger-style interior organizer compartments, a water bottle holder, and lightweight, waterproof Dimension-Polyant X-Pac construction.

Your future wall decoration has arrived, and it’s called Winscape ($2,500-$3,000). Based on two 46-inch Panasonic TC-P46G10 plasma screens, a Mac running specialized software, a Wii remote, a custom-built IR-emitting necklace, and an iPhone app, Winscape creates two virtual windows, which can display static images up to 4096×4096 resolution, or 1080p video — with sound — and tracks the necklace wearer’s movements around the room, realistically changing the view out of the “windows” accordingly. It’s not quite Holodeck-level sophistication, but it’s getting there, and it far surpasses the coolness of that oversized Matrix poster you bought sophomore year.

The headline implies that there is a “body” whose anatomy you can analyze. The whole point of cool is that it does not have a body available for analysis. It’s like a ghost instead of a corpse. That’s why it is cool.

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