Dear friends and collegues,

The shocking incidents of today make it important for me to say two things:
First of all, I wish to express my sadness about what happened in New York
and D.C. and I am sure that all of the World is with the U.S. in this hour.

The second issue, which is actually far more important, is that we are in
fact working here for a better future - a future in which such horrible
incidents don't happen, a future in which our children will live and learn
in peace. Computers - the internet - can help to understand other cultures
better, can help to understand problems of regions far away better, can help
to raise our attention to both, tragedies and threats from parts of this
world seemingly far away.

Let us not get distracted by these horrible incidents. Let us work for a
better future for all of us, and our children.

My prayers are with the families of all the people in the New York and D.C.
area. Although the world will never be as it was yesterday, we can still
work to make it a *better* world than before. What I've seen and heard today
is in fact giving more hope than one would expect in such an hour.

  - Andreas