Darien Morning Briefing, Sept. 28

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2011.

HEADLINES

EVENTS & REMINDERS

• Farmers Market: The Darien Farmers Market is open for business from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the municipal parking lot off of Mechanic Street (across from Goodwives Shopping Center).
• Lunch with Rep. Jim Himes: From 11 a.m. to noon, Rep. Jim Himes will be at the  for lunch.
• High Tea with Cookie Martini: At 1:30 p.m., the senior center hosts a high tea with Cookie Martini, who will lead guests in “Singing Across the United States."
• Something to Talk About: At 2 p.m., the library hosts a free screening of Something to Talk About. The 1995 film stars Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid, and Robert Duvall.
• American Flag Project: From today to Oct. 1, a photographic exhibit by Steven Willard titled "" will be on display in the library's Art Gallery.
• Children of the Desert: From now until Oct. 29, the  hosts "Bana Ba Motlhaba: Children of the Desert," featuring photographs by Dave Hamman and Botswanan crafts. The center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.

DARIEN PLAYHOUSE SHOWTIMES

• Dolphin Tale: 7:00 p.m. (1 hr. 52 min.)
• Contagion: 7:00 p.m. (1 hr. 45 min.)

GOVERNMENT MEETINGS

• Advisory Board of Health: 7:00 p.m., Town Hall room 213 [agenda]

FORECAST

• Wednesday: Scattered showers before noon, then a chance of drizzle after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 72. East wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent.
• Wednesday night: A chance of showers. Patchy fog. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low around 66. East wind between 8 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent.

TIDES & TIMES

• High tide: 12:04 a.m. (8.4)
• Low tide: 6:23 a.m. (-0.7')
• Sunrise: 6:47 a.m.
• High tide: 12:25 p.m. (9.1')
• Sunset: 6:41 p.m.
• Low tide: 6:56 p.m. (-1.0')

TODAY IN HISTORY

• 48 BC: Pompey the Great is assassinated on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt.
• 1787: The newly completed U.S. Constitution is voted on by the U.S. Congress to be sent to the state legislatures for approval.
• 1889: The first General Conference on Weights and Measures defines the length of a meter as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice.
• 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
• 1951: CBS makes the first color televisions available for sale to the general public, but the product is discontinued less than month later.
• 1995: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
• 2008: SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1, into orbit.

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.