We’re back in the office after a three-day research trip to Toronto, Ontario.

We’re often asked how the information on ePodunk is put together and this past week was a good example of the research we do on the road. Laurie, Gunnar and I spent a lot of time researching in the local history and map sections of the Toronto Reference Library, the North York Central Library, and the Urban Affairs Library. In addition to ransacking numerous bookstores, we managed to find some time to check out The Second City-Toronto and the Art Gallery of Ontario. An all-around successful visit, we’re back with a lot of information to add to our Canada pages, so check it out!

In the first photo, Laurie and Gunnar hang out outside the Urban Affairs Library, with the CN tower looming overhead. In the photo directly above, Gunnar and I check out the improv at Second City.

We often receive requests for random information from users who hope we are able to provide infinite specifics about the communities we list. Over the past few days, these inquiries have ranged considerably.

Just today, we were asked to provide the following: a map; a list of people and their addresses who live in Epsom, NH, between the ages of 45-65; a lawyer’s name and phone number; newspaper articles about a plane crash on January 31, 1946; and fireflies.

The firefly request was unusual, and the most outrageous ePodunk has received to date. This request came today in a package, with a note requesting we catch some local fireflies and return them in a plastic Macadamia nut container, with holes punched in the lid.

User submissions, although at times wacky, are a great way to keep our information current and expansive. We just don’t have the resources to do any further specific research upon request or mail out physical forms of information. We can’t send you bugs, either.

In 2001, ePodunk compiled a list of the most misspelled cities in the US, based on analyzing search entries put through ePodunk. These calculations have received some recent attention from other news sources on the web.

This week the Culpeper Star-Exponent published an article about our listing of Culpeper, VA as the fifth most misspelled city in the US. The article quotes ePodunk CEO, Laurie Bennett:

““Culpeper ranked #5,” Bennett wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. ‘We found 3 common misspellings: Culpepper, Cullpeper and Cullpepper.’”

See the full story here.

Additionally, ePodunk was featured in an article done by About.com on the misspelling of Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh takes the prize as ePodunk’s #1 misspelled city, and this article discusses the status of Pittsburg(h)’s spelling today. Full article here.

See our Top 10 Misspelled Cities.
More ePodunk Top 10 Lists.

This week has been a whirlwind of great press for ePodunk. We were featured as the business of the week in Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. In the August 14th article, David Tyler writes:

“If huge search engines such as Yahoo and Google are the eight-lane interstates on the information superhighway, then Rochester’s ePodunk Inc. is the Route 66 or New York 17: the road you take on a Sunday drive so you can wander into that intriguing antique shop or barbecue joint up ahead.”

Tyler interviews Laurie Bennett, CEO of ePodunk about our company’s start-up and philosophies. Check out the full article here!

Today Laurie will do a live interview on the Calgary Eyeopener, a morning radio show on CBC based in Alberta, Canada. To stream the interview live at 10am Eastern Standard Time, click the link found on CBC Calgary’s homepage. More information about the Calgary Eyeopener can be found here.

- TC

It seems necessary to clear up that we are not “smartass jerks,” but we are trying to provide our users with information for a wealth of different-sized communities.

We responded to this message:

“Our company name is ePodunk. Our premise is that no community is too small to be profiled on our site. That does not mean that every place on our site is a podunk. We also profile New York, Chicago, etc. As for the post card: All of our images are from the 1920s or earlier. We say so at the bottom of every page. We like the look of the vintage post cards and we can be sure they’re free of copyright.”