Tootfinder

Trump says Elon Musk "went CRAZY" and that canceling his government contracts is "the easiest way to save money", as their One Big Beautiful bill feud escalates (Kevin Breuninger/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/05/trump-musk-crazy-…

Trump says Musk went 'CRAZY,' suggests cutting government contracts for his companies
Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and founded The Boring Company, xAI and Neuralink. He also owns the social media platform X.

Trump floats revoking Musk's federal contracts (Gregory Svirnovskiy/Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/05/elon-musk-federal-contracts-trump-00390319
http://www.memeorandum.com/250605/p112#a250605p112

DOGE used flawed AI tool to “munch” Veterans Affairs contracts - Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/06/doge-used-flawed-ai-tool-to-munch-veterans-affairs-contracts/

VA used a DOGE AI tool by Gumroad founder Sahil Lavingia that hallucinated contract sizes to cancel 24 deals; Lavingia says "mistakes were made" (ProPublica)
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-veterans-affairs-ai-contra…

DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts
We obtained records showing how a Department of Government Efficiency staffer with no medical experience used artificial intelligence to identify which VA contracts to kill. “AI is absolutely the wrong tool for this,” one expert said.

eu_procurements: EU procurement contract networks (2008-2016)
A bipartite network of public EU procurement contracts, from 2008 to 2016, between issuing buyers (public institutions such as a ministry or city hall) and supplying winners (a private firm). Contracts are aggregated into annual snapshots, edges are annotated with contract value information. Nodes are annotated with location information, including country of origin.
This network has 839824 nodes and 4098711 edges.

Inside the AI Prompts DOGE Used to "Munch" Contracts Related to Veterans' Health (ProPublica)
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-ai-tool-doge-veterans-affairs-contracts-sahil-lavingia
http://www.memeorandum.com/250606/p48#a250606p48

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, contracts must first go through an approval process led in part by a young man who worked as a Temple University food hall monitor last year.
A few weeks earlier, Politico reported on a different young man, just four years removed from high school, who was appointed to serve as the acting chief AI officer at the Department of Health and Human Services, while on leave from pursuing his undergraduate degree.
The problem is made w…

Despite talk of ‘meritocracy,’ a Team of Amateurs holds sway on Team Trump
One of the things that people outside of Washington, D.C., might not fully appreciate about how the city works is the outsize influence of young adults.

Trump Has Options to Punish Musk Even if His Federal Contracts Continue (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/us/politics/trump-musk-spacex-contracts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.M08.mPqO.ohUbKK54gTLd
http://www.memeorandum.com/250606/p163#a250606p163

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/05/donald-trump-travel-ban-elon-musk-joe-biden-friedrich-merz-us-politics-live-news-updates

Solsmith: Solidity Random Program Generator for Compiler Testing
Lantian Li, Zhihao Liu, Zhongxing Yu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.03909 https://

Solsmith: Solidity Random Program Generator for Compiler Testing
Smart contracts are computer programs that run on blockchain platforms, with Solidity being the most widely used language for their development. As blockchain technology advances, smart contracts have become increasingly important across various fields. In order for smart contracts to operate correctly, the correctness of the compiler is particularly crucial. Although some research efforts have been devoted to testing Solidity compilers, they primarily focus on testing methods and do not addres…

16 AFC teams, 16 offseason awards: Sizing up each front office's moves with one superlative https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45164455/2025-nfl-offseason-afc-teams-best-worst-deals-contracts-draft-picks-…

The Trump administration’s cancellation of $766 million in contracts to develop mRNA vaccines against potential pandemic flu viruses -- is the latest blow -- to national defense, former health security officials said.
They warned that the U.S. could be at the mercy of other countries in the next pandemic.
“The administration’s actions are gutting our deterrence from biological threats,” said Beth Cameron, a senior adviser to the Brown University Pandemic Center
"we are…

In Axing mRNA Contract, Trump Delivers Another Blow to US Biosecurity, Former Officials Say - KFF Health News
The Trump administration is eroding national pandemic flu defenses as it guts health agencies, cuts research and health budgets, and withdraws funding for bird flu vaccines, health security experts said.

Are there really still people who don't believe that working for Donald Trump will end badly for them?
https://mastodon.social/@PCMag/114632704326944924

Hollywood insiders report widespread off-the-books AI experimentation in studios, often hidden due to avoid backlash, despite union contracts limiting AI use (Lila Shapiro/Vulture)
https://www.vulture.com/article/generative-ai-hollywood-movies-tv.html…

Hollywood Already Uses Generative AI (And Is Hiding It)
With dozens of new studios and rapidly evolving tech, generative AI video is more embedded in Hollywood movies and TV than we may realize.

Here’s Why Raiders’ Second-Round Pick Jack Bech Remains Unsigned https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/heres-why-jack-bech-remains-unsigned/?adt_ei=[email]

#GiftLink
Live Updates: Trump Threatens to Cut Elon Musk's Government Contracts as Feud Escalates - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/05/us/trump-elon-musk?unlocked_article_code=1.Mk8.xN4P.RctxT6wsRKLT&smid=url-share

Legal Compliance Evaluation of Smart Contracts Generated By Large Language Models
Chanuka Wijayakoon, Hai Dong, H. M. N. Dilum Bandara, Zahir Tari, Anurag Soin
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.00943

Legal Compliance Evaluation of Smart Contracts Generated By Large Language Models
Smart contracts can implement and automate parts of legal contracts, but ensuring their legal compliance remains challenging. Existing approaches such as formal specification, verification, and model-based development require expertise in both legal and software development domains, as well as extensive manual effort. Given the recent advances of Large Language Models (LLMs) in code generation, we investigate their ability to generate legally compliant smart contracts directly from natural lang…

Shill Bidding Prevention in Decentralized Auctions Using Smart Contracts
M. A. Bouaicha, G. Destefanis, T. Montanaro, N. Lasla, L. Patrono
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.00282

Shill Bidding Prevention in Decentralized Auctions Using Smart Contracts
In online auctions, fraudulent behaviors such as shill bidding pose significant risks. This paper presents a conceptual framework that applies dynamic, behavior-based penalties to deter auction fraud using blockchain smart contracts. Unlike traditional post-auction detection methods, this approach prevents manipulation in real-time by introducing an economic disincentive system where penalty severity scales with suspicious bidding patterns. The framework employs the proposed Bid Shill Score (BS…

All-Paid Team of Tomorrow: Lamar Jackson, Micah Parsons poised to reset market at respective positions https://www.nfl.com/news/all-paid-team-of-tomorrow-lamar-jackson-micah-parsons-poised-to-reset-market-at-r…

AI4Contracts: LLM & RAG-Powered Encoding of Financial Derivative Contracts
Maruf Ahmed Mridul, Ian Sloyan, Aparna Gupta, Oshani Seneviratne
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.01063

AI4Contracts: LLM & RAG-Powered Encoding of Financial Derivative Contracts
Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) are reshaping how AI systems extract and organize information from unstructured text. A key challenge is designing AI methods that can incrementally extract, structure, and validate information while preserving hierarchical and contextual relationships. We introduce CDMizer, a template-driven, LLM, and RAG-based framework for structured text transformation. By leveraging depth-based retrieval and hierarchical generation, CDMi…

Hollywood insiders report widespread off-the-books AI experimentation in studios, often hidden due to avoid backlash, despite union contracts limiting AI use (Lila Shapiro/Vulture)
https://www.vulture.com/article/generative-ai-hollywood-movies-tv.html…

Hollywood Already Uses Generative AI (And Is Hiding It)
With dozens of new studios and rapidly evolving tech, generative AI video is more embedded in Hollywood movies and TV than we may realize.

Pricing the Right to Renege in Search Markets: Evidence from Trucking
Richard Faltings
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.01650 https://arxiv…

Pricing the Right to Renege in Search Markets: Evidence from Trucking
In many markets, advance interim contracts include an explicit right to renege, granting one party the option to switch to more efficient matches that emerge later in the search process. This paper studies the formation and welfare implications of such interim contracts, leveraging novel data from a brokerage firm in the trucking industry. The broker allocates advance shipment contracts to carriers through a dynamic auction mechanism and penalizes cancellations through a reputational mechanism.…

Automated Mechanism to Support Trade Transactions in Smart Contracts with Upgrade and Repair
Christian Gang Liu, Peter Bodorik, Dawn Jutla
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.03877

Automated Mechanism to Support Trade Transactions in Smart Contracts with Upgrade and Repair
In our previous research, we addressed the problem of automated transformation of models, represented using the business process model and notation (BPMN) standard, into the methods of a smart contract. The transformation supports BPMN models that contain complex multi-step activities that are supported using our concept of multi-step nested trade transactions, wherein the transactional properties are enforced by a mechanism generated automatically by the transformation process from a BPMN mode…

FSM Modeling For Off-Blockchain Computation
Christian Gang Liu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02086 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.02086

FSM Modeling For Off-Blockchain Computation
Blockchain benefits are due to immutability, replication, and storage-and-execution of smart contracts on the blockchain. However, the benefits come at increased costs due to the blockchain size and execution. We address three fundamental issues that arise in transferring certain parts of a smart contract to be executed off-chain: (i) identifying which parts (patterns) of the smart contract should be considered for processing off-chain, (ii) under which conditions should a smart-contract patter…

Transportation cost and contraction coefficient for channels on von Neumann algebras
Roy Araiza, Marius Junge, Peixue Wu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.04197 h…

Transportation cost and contraction coefficient for channels on von Neumann algebras
We present a noncommutative optimal transport framework for quantum channels acting on von Neumann algebras. Our central object is the Lipschitz cost measure, a transportation-inspired quantity that evaluates the minimal cost required to move between quantum states via a given channel. Accompanying this is the Lipschitz contraction coefficient, which captures how much the channel contracts the Wasserstein-type distance between states. We establish foundational properties of these quantities, in…

Transforming Automatically BPMN Models to Smart Contracts with Nested Collaborative Transactions (TABS )
Christian Gang Liu, Peter Bodorik, Dawn Jutla
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02727

Transforming Automatically BPMN Models to Smart Contracts with Nested Collaborative Transactions (TABS+)
Development of blockchain smart contracts is more difficult than mainstream software development because the underlying blockchain infrastructure poses additional complexity. To ease the developer's task of writing smart contract, as other research efforts, we also use Business Process Model and Notation BPMN modeling to describe application requirements for trade of goods and services and then transform automatically the BPMN model into the methods of a smart contract. In our previous research…

It's astonishing how much time #Republicans spend raging about — and then "fixing" — problems that don't exist.
The brainless rep who introduced this #chemtrail bill claims she's personally seen contracts "with at least nine federal agencies" to spray barium and…

Louisiana lawmakers push ‘chemtrail’ ban legislation through the House
The chemtrail ban heads to the Louisiana Senate despite experts saying chemtrails are only a conspiracy theory.

#MelonHusk vs #Drumpf feud escalates to point where #SouthAfrican born US govt #contractor with over $30B in gov deals with

Elon Musk says SpaceX to 'decommission' Dragon ship after Trump threat
Elon Musk said SpaceX would decommission its Dragon spacecraft, used by NASA, after Trump threatened his government contracts.

Talking Transactions: Decentralized Communication through Ethereum Input Data Messages (IDMs)
Xihan Xiong, Zhipeng Wang, Qin Wang, Endong Liu, Pascal Berrang, William Knottenbelt
https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24724

Talking Transactions: Decentralized Communication through Ethereum Input Data Messages (IDMs)
Can you imagine, blockchain transactions can talk! In this paper, we study how they talk and what they talk about. We focus on the input data field of Ethereum transactions, which is designed to allow external callers to interact with smart contracts. In practice, this field also enables users to embed natural language messages into transactions. Users can leverage these Input Data Messages (IDMs) for peer-to-peer communication. This means that, beyond Ethereum's well-known role as a financial …

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.10946 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_qu…

Equivalence checking of quantum circuits via intermediary matrix product operator
As quantum computing advances, the complexity of quantum circuits is rapidly increasing, driving the need for robust methods to aid in their design. Equivalence checking plays a vital role in identifying errors that may arise during compilation and optimization of these circuits and is a critical step in quantum circuit verification. In this work, we introduce a novel method based on Matrix Product Operators (MPOs) for determining the equivalence of quantum circuits. Our approach contracts tens…

ChatGPT-4o, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Gemini 2.0 Flash, Llama 4, and Copilot comparison: Claude was the best overall with the highest consistency and no hallucinations (Geoffrey A. Fowler/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/

Review | 5 AI bots took our tough reading test. One was smartest — and it wasn’t ChatGPT.
We challenged AI helpers to decode legal contracts, simplify medical research, speed-read a novel and make sense of Trump speeches. Some of the AI analysis was impressive — and some was downright dumb.

Supporting Long-term Transactions in Smart Contracts Generated from Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) Models
Christian Gang Liu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.24309

Supporting Long-term Transactions in Smart Contracts Generated from Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) Models
To alleviate difficulties in writing smart contracts for distributed blockchain applications, as other research, we propose transformation of Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) models into blockchain smart contracts. Unlike other research, we use Discrete Event Hierarchical State Machine (DE-HSM) multi-modal modeling to identify collaborative trade transactions that need to be supported by the smart contract and describe how the trade transactions, that may be nested, are supported by a…

The Trump administration has expanded #Palantir’s work with the government,
spreading the company’s technology
— which could easily merge data on Americans
— throughout more agencies.
The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Trump took office, including additional funds from existing contracts as well as new contracts with the Department …

Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans
The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work with the government, spreading the company’s technology — which could easily merge data on Americans — throughout agencies.

«Scientific conferences are leaving the US amid border fears»
And this is just the beginning: Most big scientific conferences are not only already committed to 2025 venues but also 2026, given the long contract deadlines for such events. Academic societies are very reluctant to cancel existing contracts given how expensive doing so is.
Imho, 2027 will be the conference year to watch (if anything resembling a US academy is left by then).
https://archive.is/20250524023504/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01636-5

2025 NFL Draft first-round pick contract tracker: Patriots sign Will Campbell; Giants' Abdul Carter inks deal

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl…

Market power abuse in wholesale electricity markets
Alice Lixuan Xu, Jorge S\'anchez Canales, Chiara Fusar Bassini, Lynn H. Kaack, Lion Hirth
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.03808 …

Market power abuse in wholesale electricity markets
In wholesale electricity markets, prices fluctuate widely from hour to hour and electricity generators price-hedge their output using longer-term contracts, such as monthly base futures. Consequently, the incentives they face to drive up the power prices by reducing supply has a high hourly specificity, and because of hedging, they regularly also face an incentive to depress prices by inflating supply. In this study, we explain the dynamics between hedging and market power abuse in wholesale el…

«Scientific conferences are leaving the US amid border fears»
And this is just the beginning: Most big scientific conferences are not only already committed to 2025 venues but also 2026, given the long contract deadlines for such events. Academic societies are very reluctant to cancel existing contracts given how expensive doing so is.
Imho, 2027 will be the conference year to watch (if anything resembling a US academy is left by then).
https://archive.is/20250524023504/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01636-5

NFL players sitting out over contract issues in 2025 offseason: Micah Parsons, Trey Hendrickson headline list

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/ne…

In April Todd Lyons,
the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ice),
lamented that it takes too long to deport illegal immigrants.
At the Border Security Expo in Phoenix he told a crowd of startup bosses vying for government contracts that a better deportation system would function more like Amazon, the tech giant whose delivery drivers zigzag the country at record speed.
“Like Prime, but with human beings,” he said.

America’s immigration detention centres are at capacity
A visit to the second biggest, in Georgia, shows what that looks like

2025 NFL Draft first-round pick contract tracker: Giants sign Abdul Carter and Jaxson Dart

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2025-nf