--- description: Taxing sugary drinks makes sense, alternatives to palm oil, journalists vs despots, Ebola and civil liberties, war tips from “Call of Duty.” title: These Are Today's Best Ideas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: November 6 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2014 5:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2014 5:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**How do you frighten political strongmen? Teach journalism.**](http://theconversation.com/how-do-you-frighten-political-strongmen-teach-journalism-33777 "undefined") By Thomas Fiedler in the Conversation **2\.** [**Far from policing free will, taxes on sugary drinks make sense in the context of subsidies for corn syrup and the Medicaid and Medicare expense of 29 million Americans with diabetes.**](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kennethdavis/the-bitter-facts-of-sweet%5Fb%5F6102522.html "undefined") By Kenneth Davis and Ronald Tamler in the Huffington Post **3\.** [**Palm oil production has a devastating impact on the environment, but smart science and better farming could reduce the harm.**](http://ensia.com/features/how-did-palm-oil-become-such-a-problem-and-what-can-we-do-about-it/ "undefined") By Michael Kodas in Ensia **4\.** [**We shouldn’t let Ebola panic squelch civil liberties.**](http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hickox-641084-ebola-public.html "undefined") By Erwin Chemerinsky in the Orange County Register **5\.** [**What we learn from video games: Giving military robots controls like “Call of Duty” could save lives on the (real) battlefield.**](http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/10/making-robot-steering-more-call-duty-could-save-lives/97916/ "undefined") By Patrick Tucker in Defense One  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3560929/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-6/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3560929/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-6/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: November 6","datePublished":"2014-11-06T17:01:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:09.081Z","description":"Taxing sugary drinks makes sense, alternatives to palm oil, journalists vs despots, Ebola and civil liberties, war tips from “Call of Duty.”","url":"https://time.com/3560929/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-6/","keywords":["Innovation","democrats","republicans","Congress","climate change","politics","College","police","indonesia","war","New York City","robots","Asia","Science topic","Sumatra","Soda","Journalism","Tax","Sugar","ebola","Constitution","call of duty"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3560929/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-november-6/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: November 6"}}]}] ```