--- --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: April 20 by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 20, 2015 4:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 20, 2015 4:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**America loves to take sides in regional conflicts. In Yemen, we shouldn’t.**](http://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/yemen-the-american-impulse-take-sides-12674) By Paul R. Pillar in the National Interest **2\.** [**Here’s why Congress should drop the ban on federal funds for needle exchanges. (It’s because they work.)**](http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/17/opinions/frost-congress-rethink-syringe-issue/index.html) By Kevin Robert Frost at CNN **3\.** [**Cheap coal is a lie.**](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/16/coal-isnt-solution-to-energy-poverty-solar-energy) By Al Gore and David Blood in the Guardian **4\.** [**How small-batch distilling could save family farms.**](http://modernfarmer.com/2015/04/craft-distiller-wants-to-save-small-farms/) By Andrew Amelinckx in Modern Farmer **5\.** [**Can you fix city management with data? Mike Bloomberg is betting $42 million you can.**](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/19/cities-arent-great-with-data-could-mike-bloomberg-change-that/) By Jim Tankersley at the Washington Post  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ Five Best Ideas of the Day: April 20 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3828121/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-april-20/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3828121/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-april-20/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: April 20","datePublished":"2015-04-20T16:01:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:30.105Z","description":"Why we shouldn't take sides in Yemen, the case for lifting the federal ban on needle exchanges and how booze could save family farms.","url":"https://time.com/3828121/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-april-20/","keywords":["Innovation","Military","coal","Drugs","Obama","Oil","Farming","Data topic","Saudi Arabia","HIV","Bloomberg","Yemen","farms"],"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/3828121/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-april-20/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: April 20"}}]}] ```