A popular-level description of off-beam lidar as applied to clouds is presented, and a plot of the 1997 detection of this effect with the NASA/Goddard micropulse lidar is shown. The idea is to "listen" for the optical echo coming from all possible directions, not just along the transmitted beam. Typical visible/near-infrared laser wavelengths are not absorbed by air or water, but are efficiently scattered by micron-sized interfaces such as cloud droplets, hence the familiar bright white appearance of the sunny sides of clouds. Thus, more than half the photons in a laser pulse are reflected in some way by the cloud, although generally not along the beam, and generally not toward the source and observer's position. So, in the presence of dense clouds, there is a weak "off-beam" lidar signal waiting to be detected with the proper equipment. This short note discusses information that can be gleaned from this signal.