5 Things You Need to Know Today, Aug. 20

Five Things You Need to Know Today" is a Patch column that provides readers with essential, daily information at a glance. 

Today is Monday, Aug. 20. Here are 5 things you need to know:

• Partly sunny, chance of afternoon showers: Looks like a bit of a mixed bag today. According to the National Weather Service we can expect partly sunny skies with a high near 79 degrees. There is also a chance of showers after 2 p.m. Mostly cloudy tonight with a low around 58. 

• Candidate forum: The Counsel on Aging is at 1 p.m. this afternoon with the Democratic candidates for the 21st Middlesex District State Representative seat in the .

• Family sing-along: The is hosting a sing-along with musician James Lepler for children five and under. Come sing, dance and get into the rhythm at 11 a.m. at the library.

• Preserve the park: The are  tonight at 7 p.m. in the Folgelberg A meeting room at the . The purpose of this meeting is to To discuss and plan strategies to ensure that in Burlington and Woburn remains open to the public for recreation and conservation.

• Hello aliens!: On this day in 1977, the United States launched the Voyager 2, a 1,592 pound space probe created by NASA to study the outer solar system. Included on the probe was a golden record with information on Earth and the human race created in the event the probe was picked up by extraterrestrial travelers. Included on the record were images of earth and its lifeforms, scientific information and greetings in various human languages. Also included were 'sounds of earth' including the sounds of whales, a baby crying, waves on the beach and a variety of music. Fortunately they didn't include the game Spaced Invaders; we don't want to give aliens any bad ideas.