In case you didn't know (I certainly didn't).

From A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson:

• "[Luke] Howard divided clouds into three groups: stratus for the layered clouds, cumulus for the fluffy ones...and cirrus for the high, thin feathery formations that generally presage colder weather....He subsequently added a fourth term, nimbus..., for a rain cloud.
  
  Incidentally, the first...edition of [the International Cloud] Atlas, produced in 1896, divided clouds into ten basic types, of which the plumpest and most cushiony-looking was number nine, cumulonimbus. That seems to have been the source of the expression "to be on cloud nine"."

• "The indigestible parts of giant squid, in particular their beaks, accumulate in sperm whales' stomachs into substance known as ambergris, which is used as a fixative in perfumes. The next time you spray on Chanel No.5, you may wish to reflect that you are dousing yourself in distillate of unseen sea monster."