Today’s must-read will take a little while: This New York Times piece is an amazing (and lengthy) look at how “human costs are built into an iPad” in the Chinese facilities where Apple’s gadgets are made. The story documents poisonous materials, explosions and other hazards that exist in the opaque world of manufacturers such as Foxconn, which is a major supplier to the Cupertino machine. It’s a bit disingenuous to single out Apple, of course; many of the world’s cutting-edge gadgets are made in China. But the Times does a great job of spotlighting a problem that many of us pay little attention to here in the West.