With teams across nine worlds and all three divisions, much of the Hoops Dynasty community has encountered tarvolon. An experienced tactician of the game, tarvolon has accumulated nine HD championships since he first joined WhatIfSports.com in 2012. He paused to reflect on his favorite moments and share some strategies in our latest user interview:

http://www.whatifsports.com/beyondtheboxscore/default.asp?article=interview_20150526

voted "yes" 

well, I know Tim Keller well (not literally, but read many of his books!)…. the others - no clue

leibniz is the co-inventor of calculus :) i suspect many people know his name in that context, although i honestly didn't know that was his first name. newton is the other co-inventor but his notation sucks... leibniz notation is where its at

4 out of 5....better than I ever did when I played against Tarvolon :)

i was only 2/5 :( so the other 3 are all authors? any of them do anything else a math/science guy would know about?

but anyway nice interview tarvolon! definitely enjoyed it. 

Posted by gillispie1 on 5/27/2015 7:29:00 PM (view original):
leibniz is the co-inventor of calculus :) i suspect many people know his name in that context, although i honestly didn't know that was his first name. newton is the other co-inventor but his notation sucks... leibniz notation is where its at

I didn't realize he invented calculus - I remember him coming up with a theory of 'monads' to simultaneously resolve certain fundamental issues with spinoza's and descartes' theories on metaphysics. Pretty much avoided him during the rest of my undergraduate career after that introduction.

Good interview, enjoyed you as a conf mate when you first got started in Knight, kept things competitive for sure.

Posted by gillispie1 on 5/27/2015 7:29:00 PM (view original):
leibniz is the co-inventor of calculus :) i suspect many people know his name in that context, although i honestly didn't know that was his first name. newton is the other co-inventor but his notation sucks... leibniz notation is where its at

I knew I liked you. Leibniz notation! 

Btw, as far as how likely you are to know the people I mentioned: 

*Lafferty is extremely obscure, and nobody will recognize him unless they were a dedicated reader of sci-fi magazines in the 60s and 70s or were lucky enough to have him recommended by someone who had read him back before all his stuff went out of print (I thank Neil Gaiman for the recommendation). But he did win a Hugo Award for best sci-fi/fantasy short story. 

*Bujold is also sci-fi/fantasy, but more contemporary. She has won four Hugo Awards and two Nebulas, so she's a little less obscure, but unless you dabble in those genres, you won't know her. 

*Leibniz is going to be known by people like you for calculus and by more philosophical or theological folks because of either his theory of monads or his theodicy, in which he claimed this was the best of all possible worlds (which Voltaire lampooned pretty thoroughly in Candide). 

*Paul is definitely the most well-known figure on here and should be recognized by anyone familiar with Christianity. 

*Keller is the pastor of a big church in New York City and has written several books aimed at a popular audience. I've actually only read the one on marriage, but his others are on my list. He strikes me as pretty wise and insightful. I would say he'd mainly be recognized by Christians though. 

Posted by next_man_up on 5/28/2015 12:19:00 AM (view original):
Good interview, enjoyed you as a conf mate when you first got started in Knight, kept things competitive for sure.

thanks, I really enjoyed that conference. Was tough to leave. 

Keller is the only one I didn't know. I'm a quant nerd and an avid sci-fi reader (those 2 go together a lot) and quite interested in theology as well. I'm not sure I would want to meet Paul tho. Many of the disciples are guys I feel I could have a beer with...Paul is a bit intense.

Lafferty, Keller and Apostle Paul.