The Telegraph: Archaeologists find secret chamber decorated with centaurs and a sphinx inside Nero's palace in Rome

The room, which was part of the huge Domus Aurea palace built by the emperor in the first century AD, had remained hidden for nearly 2,000 years.

It was discovered by accident during restoration of an adjacent area of the palatial complex, which was built on by subsequent emperors, including Trajan, and now lies interred beneath a hill next to the Colosseum in the historic heart of Rome.

The colours of the frescoes, which depict mythical water creatures as well as a crouching sphinx, a panther leaping at a man armed with a sword, the god Pan and a centaur, are remarkably bright given their age. [...]

Much of the 15ft-high chamber is still filled with dirt, which will be excavated in the next few months. That could bring to light further discoveries.

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The Guardian: According to our capitalist overlords, you're broke because you eat lunch

According to a study commissioned by the altruistic insurance website and reported by USA Today, the average American spends nearly $1,500 a month on “nonessential items” such as takeout or delivery, gym memberships, rideshares and “buying lunch”. So, food, exercise, transportation and ... um, food. Also on the chopping block: personal grooming (because hiring managers love an unkempt dirtbag), bottled water (think of your thirst as God’s way of punishing you for your poor financial planning) and TV or movie streaming services (forget “Netflix and chill”, it’s time for “stare at the wall and drool”). But who has time to watch movies anyway when you get up at 4am to walk to work because they defunded public transit in your area? Oh well, at least that takes care of exercise. Meeting a friend for drinks or coffee? Whatever you say, Warren Buffett. [...]

While this is obviously well-funded PR designed to shame you into buying insurance from LadderLife.com, legitimate outlets such as USA Today are uncritically presenting “the tendency to splurge consistently on nonessentials” as what’s “causing Americans to neglect their near-term savings” and “skimp on other important items” like – Jesus Christ – “life insurance”. (I hope the paper at least got some money for this.) The embedded ideological message: if you’re broke, it’s your own fault, so suck it up, make some air sandwiches, and whatever you do, don’t blame the system. Bootstraps! John Wayne! Horatio Alger!

Of course, putting all the onus for hardship on the individual obscures the real reasons more people than ever are having trouble affording the bare necessities, let alone “nonessentials” like recipe boxes geared toward those too exhausted to shop for groceries — which, it bears mentioning, are not free, themselves – while a lucky few live in luxury: stagnant wages, the destruction of organized labor, and an increasing reliance on rising rents and consumer debt as capitalism develops into a new, finance and real estate-centric phase with the help of government policymakers.

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Quartz: After men in Spain got paternity leave, they wanted fewer kids

Economists studying the effects of the original 2007 policy examined what happened to families that had children just before and just after the program began, and found differences in the outcomes. While the early cohort of men who were eligible for paternity leave were just as likely to stay in the workforce as the men who weren’t eligible, they remained more engaged with childcare after their return to work, and their partners were more likely to stay in the workforce as well. In that sense, the program seems to have done what policy makers would have hoped.

Unexpectedly, though, the researchers also found that families who were eligible for the paternity leave were less likely to have kids in the future. In a study published in the Journal of Public Economics (paywall), economists Lídia Farré of the University of Barcelona and Libertad González of University of Pompeu Fabra estimate that two years on, parents who had been eligible for the newly introduced program were 7% to 15% less likely to have another kid than parents who just missed the eligibility cutoff. While the difference dissipated further into the future, even after six years, parents who had been eligible for the leave were still less likely to have a child again. [...]

As the authors point out, it’s impossible to draw sweeping conclusions from this observation of a single data point in a single country. Correlation isn’t causation, and it’s possible that other factors weighed more heavily than paternity leave on men’s family preferences. (The global financial crisis, for example, hit Spain in full force about a year after the leave policy was introduced.)

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Quartzy: Nike Fit is Nike's new tech to ensure correct sneaker size

It sounds straightforward, but to make Nike Fit possible required more than a year of development, including testing and algorithmic training that Nike quietly conducted using thousands of shoppers coming through three of its US stores, as well as thousands of its own employees. The technology relies on the work of an Israeli computer-vision startup that Nike acquired last year. Nike will begin rolling Nike Fit out on its app and to select US stores in July, with a further expansion to stores in Europe planned for August.

There does seem to be some need for such a solution: A surprisingly large share of people wear shoes that don’t fit. Last year, researchers at Melbourne’s La Trobe University conducted an extensive search and review of published findings on incorrectly fitted footwear and the problems it causes. Across the studies they examined, they found that between 63% and 72% of participants wore shoes that didn’t adequately accommodate the length or width of their feet. Specific groups, notably children with Down syndrome, older people, and people with diabetes, were especially likely to have shoes that were too narrow. [...]

Size isn’t all that Nike Fit considers. “Fit is a factor of a bunch of different things,” Martin explains. There’s the material the shoe is made of: A leather shoe will fit differently than a shoe with a knit upper, not just due to leather having different stretch characteristics, but also because of the stitching. There’s the purpose of the shoe: People generally want a little extra room in casual lifestyle shoes, but someone buying soccer cleats needs a snug fit. Martin says the lacing of a shoe is itself a big factor in fit.

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Wisecrack: Why Our Eyes Are SHUT (Eyes Wide Shut)

Kubrick's final film was widely considered a failure upon release in 1999. But 20 years later, it's garnered a reputation for being just as thought-provoking and masterful as his most famous works. Drawing from essayists Mario Falsetto and Tim Kreider, we'll dive in to the film's unique aesthetic and how it informs the film's biting social commentary.