[CPM-SPIRE-L] the ultimate Raconteur

Wed Jul 22 19:09:19 PDT 2015

> On Jul 22, 2015, at 9:38 PM, David Sankoff <sankoff at uottawa.ca> wrote:
> 
> When I came to Rome for the first time a few years back to speak in Alberto’s seminar, he picked me up in his car at the hotel and asked me which of Rome’s grand sites I  wanted to see first.  I insisted that I just wanted to hang out, and that I wasn’t interested in seeing antiquities; we could just go for a coffee.  Images of Rome and her monuments were familiar throughout the world and I was a particularly jaded traveler. No Colosseum, no Forum, no Spanish Steps, etc.  Alberto listened patiently, leaned over, locked my passenger-side door, calmly warned me not to touch it, and proceeded to drive me by the Colosseum and various other glories, all for my own good.  And it was good.
> 
> I regret I didn’t get to spend more time with Alberto the way many of you have.  Nevertheless, his generosity toward me emerged at critical points every five years or so, and I got to think of him as a mentor, though substantially my junior.  I will never forget his magnificent but genial presence at RECOMB 2006 in Venice, where he turned me on to Prosecco long before it became the “it” drink in North America.  I still always have a bottle in my fridge.
> 
> My condolences to you, Raffaele, Laxmi, Gadi, Ami, and all the rest. What a shocking loss to you, personally, and to the community!
> 
> -ds
> 
>> On Jul 22, 2015, at 5:52 PM, Raffaele Giancarlo <raffaele.giancarlo at unipa.it> wrote:
>> 
>> My contribution.
>> 
>> rg
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> THE RAINCOAT OF A LIFETIME.
>> 
>> In 1991, Costas organized the second of the meetings that would become  
>> CPM. It was in London, It was at the beginning of summer and there was  
>> a perfect English weather: rainy and kind of cold. I had finally  
>> gotten my PH.D. and I had a real salary. The trip to London and the  
>> new economic status gave me opportunity to caress to buy  a  Brit  
>> raincoat. The real "in" italians would buy Burberry, so I was sure of  
>> my choice.
>> 
>> I met Alberto at the meeting, which was indeed small. Livio Colussi  
>> was also there. I sat at the lunch table with them and shared with  
>> them that a dream was just going to come true: the Burberry raincoat.  
>> As usual, Alberto, very politely and sensibly, decided that matter  
>> needed a more careful investigation. It became evident that I wanted a  
>> real Brit raincoat, Burberry being a special case. So, Alberto  
>> suggested, with Livio fully endorsing each word, that WE should not  
>> make such an important choice without proper documentation. I  
>> thought…well, let's hope that greek philosophy does not come up.
>> 
>> A professor from the hosting university  was sitting in front of us,  
>> listening to the conversation. Alberto, with Livio completely  
>> agreeing, asked the gentleman whether he could offer advice for the  
>> successful achievement of OUR goal. Now I had a team of advisors. The  
>> gentleman replied very politely that he was not an expert of  
>> raincoats, but he would certainly get information to help. Sure  
>> enough, next day he told us that he had asked his wife. A real Brit  
>> would never buy  Burberry, which at the time had just been acquired by  
>> SEARS. The real thing was Acuascutum and the proper thing to do was to  
>> buy it at Harrods. So, Alberto, Livio and I went shopping: my raincoat  
>> first and then shoes and cashmere for Alberto. Livio kindly allowed  
>> our urgent clothing needs to take precedence  over his, that could  
>> wait until his return to Padova. When we reached the right section of  
>> Harrods, I started trying raincoats on, with Alberto and Livio giving  
>> me opinions on how the particular coat would wear: the shoulder is not  
>> right, a bit too long etc etc. Finally, the perfect one materialized.  
>> Really beautiful in each and every detail. Well, we were all very  
>> happy. The price even  fitted  into four digits only. I felt a little  
>> unsure, not really though. Alberto and Livio shared with me  
>> experiences of analogous spendings of theirs,  praising the many  
>> virtues of  what they had bought. I bought the coat. I still have it  
>> and wear it regularly, even if in Palermo we do to have much rain.  
>> Never regretted my choice, never had senses of guilt.
>> When I wear it, I think of a very pleasant day at Harrods, with two  
>> exceptional human beings. Just by looking at it, puts me in a good mood.
>> 
>> PS Do you know that, the bigger the geometric figures of different  
>> colors making up a chachemere sweater, the more expensive it is ? Some  
>> of them can even exceed 0070 dollars.
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> TENNIS BALLS
>> I got my Bachelor Degree in Salerno, with Alberto. He was my  
>> undergraduate mentor. My BS thesis was entitled "Algoritmi Combinatori  
>> su Parole". After I graduated, he encouraged me to apply for admission  
>> in a PH.D. program in the US. I was admitted at Columbia University  
>> where my new mentor would be Zvi. Alberto had played  an important  
>> motivational part in my choice, so when I left my small village in  
>> Italy for the city that never sleeps, I thought that paying a visit to  
>> Alberto in West Lafayette was the thing to do. I expressed this desire  
>> to him and he communicated that Titti and he would be pleased to host  
>> me for a few days. Before leaving, as a sign of appreciation for the  
>> hospitality, I bought a present for both, which was carefully packed  
>> because it had to travel.
>> After a couple of days in Titti and Alberto house, I decided that I  
>> should give them the present. So, I did. I handed the present to  
>> Titti. In seeing the outside of the present, Alberto said, with  
>> delicate humor: "did you bring us Tennis Balls..how nice!!" Titti  
>> opened the containers, that indeed resembled tennis balls cans in  
>> their geometric look. A Swarovski cat and a dog came out. They thanked  
>> me and Titti pointed out to me that Alberto loved cats. The other  
>> night, Titti told me that the cat and dog are still in their apartment  
>> in the US.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Mikhail Atallah <matallah at purdue.edu> ha scritto:
>> 
>>> On Jul 22, 2015, at 6:54 AM, Amihood Amir <amir at esc.biu.ac.il> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I propose, in Alberto's honor, that we collect the Apostolic Tales  
>>>> for posterity.
>>>> I will start and recount a few such tales. I encourage everyone to  
>>>> add stories they remember.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Excellent idea.  Below are a few to add to the collection.
>>> 
>>> The $1400 cashmere sweater
>>> ==========================
>>> 
>>> Alberto had a few hours to kill before his flight from Heathrow, so  
>>> he decided
>>> to spend some time at Harrods.  While looking at a cashmere sweater,  
>>> a salesperson
>>> invited him to touch it and feel how soft it is.  Alberto obliged,  
>>> at which point
>>> she invited him to try it on.  He said he would, but warned her that  
>>> he was not buying,
>>> only looking until the time came for his flight.  She thanked him  
>>> for the full disclosure,
>>> and said “try it on anyway”.  So he did, and as he was looking in  
>>> the mirror she said
>>> “you look so good in this!”.  When someone half your age tells you  
>>> that you look great in
>>> a sweater, how can you disagree?  He did look good in it.  So he  
>>> said “yes, this looks
>>> and feels great, but it is too expensive” to which she replied “yes  
>>> it is very
>>> expensive, but you deserve it!”.  Alberto knew how hard he worked,  
>>> the salesperson was
>>> was right:  He did deserve it.  He bought the sweater, and  
>>> thereafter had a case
>>> of “buyer’s remorse” that lingered for years.
>>> 
>>> Cashmere sweater, part 2
>>> ========================
>>> 
>>> Alberto was heading for lunch wearing the cashmere sweater, when he  
>>> ran into a colleague
>>> in the corridor of the Haas building that housed the Purdue CS  
>>> Department at the time.
>>> After a brief chat, the colleague said “this is a very nice sweater,  
>>> I would like to buy
>>> a similar one of a different color: where did you buy it from?”.   
>>> Alberto said “I do not
>>> want to talk about this sweater, it is a sore topic for me because  
>>> it was sinfully
>>> expensive and I should never have bought it”.  The colleague was  
>>> offended because he
>>> perceived Alberto’s reply as implying that that Alberto thought that  
>>> the sweater was
>>> above the colleague’s budget and price range.  He said “if you can  
>>> afford it then I can
>>> afford it, just tell me where you bought it and how much you paid”.   
>>> Alberto again was
>>> evasive about providing the price he paid, so the colleague tried to  
>>> remove the
>>> reluctance by guessing a price that, he was sure, would be an  
>>> over-estimate:  “How much
>>> could it be?  Could it be, could it be ...” he said, as he tried to  
>>> remember the price
>>> of the most expensive sweater at the most expensive store in the  
>>> local Lafayette, Indiana
>>> mall, “Could it be $50 ?”
>>> 
>>> The flight from Paris
>>> =====================
>>> 
>>> As a teen-ager Alberto visited Paris on a shoestring budget, and  
>>> when the time came to
>>> leave he had spent all his money.   He arrived late at the airport:  
>>> The boarding gate
>>> was already closed, and the plane detached from the terminal.  It  
>>> was against policy
>>> un-do these operations.  Alberto explained to the airline agents  
>>> that he was completely
>>> out of money, that unless he could get on that plane, his life would  
>>> be forever ruined:
>>> He would either starve to death, freeze to death, or resort to  
>>> desperate measures that
>>> would make him a fugitive from the law.  He was so persuasive that  
>>> the airline agents
>>> talked to their superiors, who authorized re-attaching the plane and  
>>> re-opening the gate
>>> for Alberto to board.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
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