black balls in Calif. reservoirs

It may sound like a high-school science project -- or perhaps a reincarnation of Rube Goldberg come to life -- but 96 million black balls were dumped in a California reservoir earlier this week. Used in 2008 to combat carcinogens, the latest avalanche aims to counter the sunlight that leads to invasive plant growth and, additionally, to save a huge amount of water from evaporation.

I have a hard time getting my head around the bureaucratic discussions that must have preceded all this ... "Whaddya mean we spend $34 million and dump black balls in a reservoir?! Are we in the voodoo business now??!!"