For the latest example of this phenomenon, check out China is seeding clouds to replenish its shrinking Yangtze River, which was posted to that bastion of truth, CNN.com, on August 18th. In this Pulitzer-worthy piece, it takes a crack squad of no less than three reporters to tell us that "Chinese planes are firing rods into the sky to bring more rainfall to its crucial Yangtze River, which has dried up in parts."

Well, I never! What will they think of next, Mabel?!

Of course, only a few paragraphs later they admit that this isn't some newfangled, cutting-edge technology, but a very old idea that's been in practice for nearly a century. So why, then, do they insist on reporting on cloud seeding as if weather modification has never been used before?

Does it have anything to do with the fact that it isn't just the Yangtze River that's drying up, but key waterways in regions around the world? And what does it mean when millions upon millions of people are all facing water shortages at the same time?

Let's find out, shall we?