The ISM services index ended its two month contraction cycle as the index increased from 49.8 in December to 50.5 in January. This reading was basically in-line with the consensus of 51.0. Also, the ADP Employment Report showed fewer job losses in the private sector (-22,000) than forecast. Hopefully this will translate into a better payrolls report on Friday.
Forums are places where your marketing can take the real boost. By joining the popular forums related to your website or business, you can start participating in discussions, sharing ideas, asking questions, helping others and make sure of the signature links to direct targeted traffic from the forums to your website.
The comments thread on this NPR story about aid distribution in Haiti is interesting. Relief organizations have begun distributing food through women on the assumption that it is likelier to trickle down to children that way than if male heads of households are direct recipients. This strategy has been common wisdom in refugee settings for some years. On the other hand, it is a blunt instrument (what about single fathers? a commenter writes) and, like teaching children to seek help from women instead of men when lost in public places, risks reinforcing gender stereotypes about women as altruistic and men as greedy and uncaring.
