Darien Morning Briefing, Aug. 15

Today is Monday, Aug. 15, the 227th day of 2011. Keep an umbrella handy — showers and thunderstorms are forecast throughout the day.

HEADLINES

EVENTS & REMINDERS

• Acadia Travelogue: At 12:45 p.m., photographer Ted Skein presents an Acadia National Park travelogue at the .
• Story Time: Bring your family to the  tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for "Sleepytime Stories," a pajama story time.
• Get Puzzled: Help the library solve the world's largest jigsaw puzzle in record time for a chance to be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records.
• Currier & Ives Exhibit: The 's exhibit "A Collection of Currier & Ives" continues today and runs through Sept. 9. The show features 22 lithographs by the iconic printmaking firm on loan from the Ziegler Family. The society is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• DCA Reopens: The  reopens today after a two-week hiatus.

DARIEN PLAYHOUSE SHOWTIMES

• Rise of the Planet of the Apes: 5:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. (1 hr. 50 min.)
• Crazy, Stupid, Love: 4:30 p.m., 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m. (1 hr. 47 min.)

GOVERNMENT MEETINGS

• Fairfield County Deer Management Alliance: 10:30 a.m., [agenda]

FORECAST

• Monday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 73. East wind between 7 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. 
• Monday night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 9pm, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 9pm. Cloudy, with a low around 62. East wind between 7 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. 

TIDES & TIMES

• High tide: 12:49 a.m. (7.7')
• Sunrise: 6:03 a.m.
• Low tide: 7:10 a.m. (0.2')
• High tide: 1:10 p.m. (7.7')
• Low tide: 7:30 p.m. (0.4')
  
• Sunset: 7:53 p.m.

TODAY IN HISTORY

• 1914: The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon.
• 1945: Japan surrenders, ending World War II.
• 1947: India gains Independence from the British Indian Empire and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1965: The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, in an event later seen as marking the birth of stadium rock.
• 1969: The Woodstock Music and Art Festival opens.
• 1971: President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors.

Forecast obtained from the National Weather Service; tide information obtained from saltwatertides.com (calibrated to Long Neck Point); 'Today in History' items compiled from Wikipedia and other sources.