Amazing How it Billows and Swirls at the Same Time...

I said this once about smoke--but it can easily be applied to clouds. And, in case you have been eagerly awaiting this new development in the world of those big white puffy thing sin the sky....I am proud to pass on the news that The Cloud Appreciation Society (who knew such a thing existed...!?) has named a new cloud: Asperatus! The day we have all been waiting for! It is similar to the commonly known undulatus species (Yes...apparently clouds have "species"), yet its waves are more violent and chaotic than the undulations of the everyday undulatus. I wonder...Does this new cloud have aspirations? Did it hope and dream for this day of recognition? Now what? Maybe it will uncover a new species of rainbow, or a whole new genus of precipitation...

The (Common) Undulatus Clouds, Courtesy of Mike Davies

The (New and Exciting) Asperatus Clouds, Courtesy of Mark Ellis

Check out the BBC in Pictures article that tipped me off.

The Cloud Appreciation Society's Manifesto:

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.


We think that they are Nature’s poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them.


We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it. Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day.


We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of a person’s countenance.


Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked. They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul. Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save on psychoanalysis bills.


And so we say to all who’ll listen:Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

Yes, look at the clouds, save on psychoanalysis bills--but watch your step, especially if you're in Korea, where the state of the sidewalks poses a greater threat to one's safety than muggings.