I like the logo with the vertical feather with the wings ("candidate 4"). I
think it looks more professional.
The other one with the snake wrapped around the stick looks more playful
(almost childish, though maybe that's too strong of a word). The concept might
work with a different rendering.
Pei, you didn't attach an image to your 5:30pm email (your last email).
What are you suggesting by including the Hama logo? Is there some aspect in
particular that you wanted us to look at?
I think the black text and the font from the Hama logo would make the
"candidate 4" logo better — crisper, more consistent with some of the other
apache projects, and more professional. That text would be similar to the text
in the "Apache Software Foundation" title logo:
http://www.apache.org/images/asf_logo_wide.gif
Just my opinions…
Matt