I’ve just finished my last task on Google’s GHOP, and I thought I’d mention a few things.  Firstly, massive thanks to google for doing this, as they are really giving back to the open source community that (I belive) has helped them a lot.  I’m sure there are many companies out there using open source software and doing very little, if anything, in return.

Secondly, even more massive thanks to the task mentors.  They’ve been patient, friendly and extremely helpful, throughout my memory leaks and stupid questions.  I hope they get some sort of reward from google, in addition to the students.  The ones who I’ve particularly been impressed with have been Andre Klapper, Xavier Claessens, Nickolay Shmyrev, Michael Chudobiak and Fred Peters.

Thirdly, thanks to the other students doing this who have also been very friendly and nice – I’m very impressed how mature everybody seems considering they are generally aged 13-18, probably considered the “worst” age group on the internet by many people (Especially on IRC).  It’s been very interesting to meet a wide variety of people from a staggering amount of countries, including Israel, the US, and all over Europe, to name a few.

One amusing symptom of the mix of cultures, however:

Comment 43, Yesterday (24 hours ago)
btw, what the “shagadelic” effect is?

(If you don’t get this joke, watch an Austin Powers movie or two.)

On a side note, my cello bow’s end is splitting slightly, and although it probably doesn’t affect the structural integrity or playability, I’ve been considering a new bow for a while and this has pushed me over the edge.  The one thing I’m curious about is carbon fibre bows – I’ve never touched one, and barely anyone I’ve talked to ever has.  I’m a student, taking grade 8 soonish, and am looking for a bow for between 100 and 500 GBP – anybody know if a carbon fibre bow is worth looking at in these circumstances?  Any brands to look at or avoid?

Cheers

Cillian