The Left Lane
Kahuku Elementary computer country

More than 900 schools who answered the online survey were rated according to money allotted for technical support, teaching tech training and e-mail availability. Kahuku offers 20-29 hours of teacher tech training a year and a full-time tech manager, as well as e-mail accounts to all students and teachers.

According to FamilyPC's study (www.familypc.com or www.homeroom.com), which was conducted with Homeroom.com (a division of The Princeton Review), 84 percent of American classrooms are wired to the Internet.

"Lahaina noon," that twice-a-year moment when the sun is exactly overhead, is making its way across the Islands this week. It's a rare chance to stand out in the sun and lose your usually ever-present traveling companion, your shadow.

A Lahaina Noon happens at "local noon," when the sun is at its highest point, the time of which varies. In Hilo, the moment came last week. In Lahaina, it happens at 12:24 p.m. tomorrow. In Honolulu, the moment is 12:28 p.m. Saturday. Those of you in Lihu'e have to wait until 12:35 p.m. May 31.

Because the Lahaina Noon phenomenon occurs only in the tropics, Hawai'i residents and visitors are the only people in the United States who get to savor the experience.

Enjoy the moment. Your shadow will be right back in a few seconds.

Father knows best

Just in time for Father's Day, there is a new book called "The Amazing Dad: 400 Ways to Wow the Kids" (Perigree Books, $12.95 paperback). This is no simple collection of party tricks: The authors offer a dizzying array of ways to perform magic, build forts, read minds and more while also showing you how to simultaneously weave in loving messages and life lessons.

Instructions for turning five newspaper pages into a towering tree, for instance, are accompanied by a poem about "planting seeds deep in your heart" to recite as you fold and cut.

The title aside, the book is handy for all parents, grandparents and other grownups who love kids.