Another benefit of being in Hawaii

We usually miss a lot, out here in the middle of the Pacific.

Out of the footprint of various communications satellites, there’s not a big enough market to care about poor, little Hawaii.

Well, the moon cares about us, anyway, when it’s time for the big show. It looks like the Pacific basin gets just about the clearest shot at viewing the total lunar eclipse early tomorrow.

The folks at NASA tell us that "at the instant of greatest eclipse, the moon lies at the zenith in the Pacific Ocean near Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands."

In Hawaii, that means the Earth’s shadow starts darkening the lunar face at about 2:45 a.m., with the full effect visible anywhere from 4:05 to 4:55 a.m.

It won’t happen again until 2014, scientists say. Whether that’s enough inducement to get isle sleepyheads up and at ’em in the predawn hours of a Saturday morning is unclear.

We’re doubtful.

Yawn.

History lives at Pearl Harbor

Just because the milestone 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack has come and gone, that doesn’t mean that the site should be forgotten until next Dec. 7.

On the contrary, there’s much to continually learn from that pivotal event in America’s history.

For many who have visited Pearl Harbor’s sites before, the scope of the event and the sacrifices made never cease to amaze.

For those who have never been, the new "Passport to Pearl Harbor" is an ideal way to absorb the experience.

For $65 per adult or $35 per child, the two-day pass can be used over a seven-day span for the harbor’s famed sites.

History is alive and around us — never forget.