Whew...it is dark out!

Looking up when Daylight Saving time would come (November 4), I came across some handy dandy fun facts about Daylight Saving time (courtesy of this site):

• It is, in fact, spring forward, fall back.
• According to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, starting in 2007 Daylight Saving time will be a week earlier in the Spring and a week later in the Fall. I guess this saves energy because more people are awake during the lighter periods of the day.
  
• Daylight Saving Time is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and Arizona.
• Daylight Saving Time actually officially switches at 2am, because it's early enough so that all of America can switch by daylight and late enough so as not to interfere with bars and restaurants who serve alcohol until 2am.
  
• The US has had time zones and laws since 1883, not really that long.
• Time laws are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation and have been since 1966.

This is all kind of interesting because in my scary Grad school sociology class we were talking about how everything is socially constructed, even time. And I was like, that's not true! Even if the names of time and meaning attached to time is socially constructed, we all still look to the sun for the basis of it (I was very proud of this point). But reality is that we kind of don't. Well, we do but we don't. Because of the way the Earth is tilted, we get less daylight during parts of the year. And even time zones are still being shifted. So, it all might be based on the sun's position in the sky, but depending on what the people around you (the Department of Transportation, more specifically) say, you won't necessarily follow the sun.