It took me a long time to come around to the American version of The Office. I loved the British original, as many did, and after watching the first few episodes of the American version I wrote it off as another sugar-frosted clone, like a Starbucks rendition of foreign drink. But for some reason I programmed my DVR to grab this latest season, and the other night, utterly brain dead after another marathon editing session, I turned on one episode, and then another, and then another, and before I knew it I had watched the entire season. At some point they ran out of British episodes to adapt and set off on their own path, and in doing so settled into a more confident stride. The American version is sweeter, not as uncomfortably tragicomic as the British version, but they share a comic rhythm. There's no laugh track, but punchlines are punctuated by a moment of silence and a sidelong glance into a handheld camera that sometimes pops in with a quick zoom (the laughter occurs on the other side of the TV screen, i.e., on my sofa). It's an effortless and graceful method of delivering jokes, and it stands out in contrast to the brutish contortions of American sitcoms.

If you're not extremely wealthy and can't get access to a hedge fund, don't fret. The influx in capital into hedge funds has made them, on average, a lousy investment.

Since 2000, the average hedge fund hasn’t done any better, after fees, than the market as a whole, according to research by David A. Hsieh, a finance professor at Duke.

New medical device triggers a happiness nerve in your neck with electrical pulses. I wonder what it does to people who are already happy.

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