The Garching-Bonn Deep Survey (GaBoDS) Wide-Field-Imaging Reduction Pipeline

We introduce our publicly available Wide-Field-Imaging reduction pipeline THELI. The procedures applied for the efficient pre-reduction and astrometric calibration are presented. A special emphasis is put on the methods applied to the photometric calibration. As a test case the reduction of optical data from the ESO Deep Public Survey including the WFI-GOODS data is described. The end-products of this project are now available via the ESO archive Advanced Data Products section.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of ESO Calibration Workshop 200

Shaped superconductor cylinder retains intense magnetic field

The curve of the inner walls of a superconducting cylinder is plotted from the flux lines of the magnetic field to be contained. This shaping reduces maximum flux densities and permits a stronger and more uniform magnetic field

Calibration update of the COMBO-17 CDFS catalogue

We present an update to the photometric calibration of the COMBO-17 catalogue on the Extended Chandra Deep Field South, which is now consistent with the GaBoDS and MUSYC catalogues. As a result, photometric redshifts become slightly more accurate, with <0.01 rms and little bias in the delta_z/(1+z) of galaxies with R<21 and of QSOs with R<24. With increasing photon noise the rms of galaxies reaches 0.02 for R<23 and 0.035 at R~23.5. Consequences for the rest-frame colours of galaxies at z<1 are discussed.Comment: A&A research note, resubmitted 02 Oct 2008, 4 pages in print forma

P.G. Laurie : the aspirations of a western enthusiast

Patrick Gammie Laurie was a western enthusiast who came west to work as a writer and printer on various newspapers in Manitoba between 1869 and 1878. Eventually he established his own newspaper, the Saskatchewan Herald, which he published from 1878 until 1903. His aspirations for the West were remarkably similar to the national and imperial sentiments expressed by the Canada First Movement. He envisaged an organic, "holistic" society for Western Canada which would be modelled on British customs and institutions.A Conservative politically, Laurie was an ardent supporter of the nation building policies of Sir John A. Macdonald. He was a stern critic of those who disagreed with his visions of an Anglo-Canadian West. Laurie believed that such a society was the only factor to prevent the West from being absorbed into the United States. Laurie was frustrated with the slow progress of settlement. He had difficulty, at times, reconciling his position as a westerner and as a Conservative, and his writings reveal ambiguous and sometimes contradictory arguments on policies that affected Western Canada. Laurie's uncertainties: were due, in part at least, to the difficulties the federal government had ironing out the details of their Land, Railway, Tariff and Inmigration policies to the satisfaction of most westerners.But in spite of the many criticisms Laurie had of government policies, he renamed a loyal Conservative. As an immigrant from Eastern Canada he remained essentially dedicated to the imperial and national ideals as expressed by the Canada First Movement. Laurie saw the West as an integral part of Canada and the Empire and not primarily as a separate region