Northwestern University professor, Kristian Hammond, received more than $700,000 in federal stimulus money to develop software that tells jokes. Hammond says it’s serious work. “Understanding what makes humor, what makes irony, what makes interesting juxtapositions, to understand what that means [then] actually create it," said Hammond. WLS-TV reports, “The material generated so far is not exactly killer standup material, and Hammond's critics certainly aren't laughing. Senator John McCain singled out Hammond's project, calling it a ‘joke machine’ — one of many examples of wasteful spending.”Hammond received the funding after he applied to the National Science Foundation, beating out dozens of...