Manhattan-based Lazare Kaplan has been peddling what the industry calls "ideal cut" stones--which absorb and disperse visibly more light than most finished diamonds--since the mid-1980s.

FORBES: Stones on fire

Their "Plan Bs" varied widely: Young men thought that if the equality ideal failed, their wives would be the ones to cut back on work.

CNN: Young women are ambitious, but worried

For chicken, skin-on thighs with or without the bone are ideal for marinades, but you can use the whole bird, cut up, if you prefer.

NPR: Dinner's Secret Weapon: The Make-Ahead Marinade

Labor relations are less than ideal in the garment trade, but Hays has built loyalty right down to the people who cut the cloth and assemble the garments.

FORBES: An American original