The Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) system allows students to pursue up to 50% of a course from institutions other than the one with which they are enrolled. The government has now brought the country’s most prestigious institutions—including IITs, IIMs and other Institutions of National Importance—under its ambit. Students can get their credits at other colleges by taking either online or offline courses—or a mix of both. What has some professors are upset: the online option for half of all courses:
“Using the opportunity provided by the pandemic, the Indian government is trying to replace regular classes with online classes as a permanent feature of higher education. No other country in the world is doing this. The quality of education will be the biggest casualty when the online mode is mainstreamed.”
The Telegraph has more on the new system.
Wanna be a Tesla-driving jerk?
A beta version of the car’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ mode lets you choose from three modes: Chill,” “Average” and “Assertive’. They determine how the car will “behave” on the road—with regard to stuff like rolling stops, speed-based lane changes, following distance and yellow light headway.” The ‘Assertive’ version is, well, assertive:
“It’s hard to tell just how much these FSD profiles change the way the vehicle drives, and if they push the limits of safety, especially when traveling in the rain or snow. If the descriptions of these profiles are accurate, this means that a Tesla in ‘Assertive’ mode may follow cars more closely, come to rolling stops, and swap lanes more frequently—behaviors that tend to be more dangerous no matter the car you’re in.”
The Verge has more details, while Axios explains why critics are not happy. Watch a test drive here.
One animal-related story
New research into a female dolphin’s clitoris shows that it is “strikingly similar in terms of their anatomy and function” to the human kind: “Our study suggests that female dolphins likely experience pleasure when the clitoris is stimulated during sexual intercourse, homosexual behavior, and masturbation.” (Inverse)
One thing to see
The UK government is issuing new stamps to mark the 60th anniversary of the Rolling Stones. The Stones will be the fourth pop music band to be honoured with a dedicated set of Royal Mail stamps—after The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Queen.

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