Oh how this writer missed you dear readers. But sometimes the jet setting lifestyle calls and you must answer, and so it was last week, with too many flights, too much Xanax to get through said flights without succumbing to panic, and much, much too hot on the East Coast. But that's neither here nor there, as we're back to getting the news to you. First up, and related because we spent the good portion of this weekend next to Baltimore, Steve Rose's piece in the Guardian about the best character in the best ever television show, The Wire is the city's architecture. For we rabid fans of the now dearly departed show, it's a terrific read about the locations used in the program and their real histories. For others only vaguely familiar with a show you should be buying all 75 dvds of, it's an interesting look at the ins and outs of city planning, development, and the often-flawed elements of building design.