A halfpenny for your thoughts?

OK, the verdict is in: The state’s recycling fee — the one tacked onto purchases of HI-5 glass, plastic and aluminum bottles and cans — is going up to 6 1⁄2 cents.

Yes, everyone knows the tax will be figured by multiplying 6.5 by however many containers there are and that there will be rounding up or down for the odd one, but it’s been fun to whine about this by observing that there is no half-cent coin.

Few Americans know the U.S. once had a half cent coin, born in 1793, died in 1857. Even the British gave up on their halfpenny in 1984, when it was hard to find a real purpose for it. The coin was first minted in 1971, when the U.K. converted to a decimal currency; then it allowed cheaper items to be translated more accurately to the new coinage.

There: The tax flap has yielded a history lesson, for what that’s worth. A half cent, maybe?

Don’t they know we’re sleeping?

Hawaii sports fans are in the middle of waking up early in the morning to follow major events live on television. It began with the Wimbledon tennis championship, now golf’s British Open and, to follow, the summer Olympics in London.

Noon in the British Isles is 1 o’clock the previous morning in Hawaii, which is when the British Open coverage by ESPN on Saturday will begin, ending at 8:30 a.m. The final round can be seen from midnight until 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

From next Friday to Aug. 12, NBC will provide live coverage of the Olympics. For all but the most avid spectators in Hawaii, it will be the wrong time to catch it live. For those with DVR, though, get ready, get set …