🎃 Silicon Valley Squares

That's why your parents told you never to do it. My parents always gave me the safety scissors.

I was not allowed to have big boy scissors. All right and it looks like we are on the air everybody.

Welcome to the spooky, ookie, creepy, crawly edition of Silicon Valley Squares.

Yay! Happy Halloween. Let's get this started.

And today our two special contestants are going to be Kayla and David.

And let's get this started with ladies first. So Kayla if you would like to introduce yourself and then pick a square.

Sure. I'm Kayla. I run our global physical security program here at Cloudflare.

And which square would you like to explore today?

I guess the first one. Oh sorry.

All right the first square that means let's go with with Wendy. Okay so which in which the question for us for the question for Wendy is which country did the tradition of Halloween originate?

So I mean everybody knows it came from Halloweentown first of all because you know Jack Skellington.

Yeah. This is Halloween. But in real real world it actually came from London.

So Kayla do you agree or disagree with Wendy? I'm gonna have to disagree.

And that is correct. Oh you are correct. It is not from London. It is in fact a Celtic tradition hailing from Ireland.

So the luck of the Irish we have many things to think to think to them.

So let me. Also London's not a country friends.

I didn't want to say anything. I was gonna make that comment but I let that one.

Maybe back then it was. So our first square will go there.

And now for our next contestant. David could you please introduce yourself to us and then pick a square.

Hi I'm Pikachu.

I'm Ash's favorite. But in real life my name's Tubes. I'm the product manager for network and availability here at Cloudflare.

And I'll go with Nicole in the center square.

Uh-oh. It's always the center square. So center square Nicole. The word Halloween is historically rooted in which Christian holiday?

Let me talk to my.

Yes yes. Okay uh-huh. Let's see. I don't know. I thought Halloween came from the candy companies and they invented it to sell more candy to kids and like sugar.

I don't know about this Halloween thing.

I have a question. Is Nicole allowed to consult the thing over there?

She's already done it. I'm calling a friend. But I do know it comes from.

It's like a like All Hallows Eve is like what I've heard before.

All right.

David do you agree or disagree? What do you think? Substitute. Pikachu do you agree or disagree?

What do you think? Substitute. Substitute says uh agree. All Hallows Eve.

All right. Ding ding ding. Looks like we got a right answer. We got a game.

Ravens know it all.

They they they get their information. They have an information network actually.

True but they they just never more say. You know a lot of more.

I'm actually am a Ravenclaw so I do attest to that to the fact that Ravens do know it all.

I have a question. What happened to the rest of your Raven? Um he went in my witch's brew.

Sad. All right now let's bring it back to Kayla. And can you uh would you like to pick another square for us today?

Yes I'm gonna go with Gabriella.

Okay and so for Gabby we have a true or false? Question. Halloween 2020 in the U.S.

will be occurring during a full moon. True or false?

Oh wow. I feel like this is fishy. Um I think just because we're in like in the spooky theme I'm going to say that's true.

That it will be a full moon. You know werewolves and everything.

Ding ding ding. Oh wait wait wait. Sorry. That was that was that was very attentive.

All right all right. So Kayla do you agree or disagree?

I agree. Definitely agree. There you go. Yep. All right and so actually that is true.

And previous um to so there's 2020 is going to be a full moon. And previously it was in 2001.

And the next one is going to be in 2039. So I'll be around 40 around then.

Oh gosh. No. It's actually going to be a blue moon which is where the term once in a blue moon comes from.

Because they're not very they're kind of Oh full moons in one month.

Yeah I start howling. I don't like that.

Well my neighbors don't like that.

I'm okay with it. Okay David. And now it is your turn.

Um which square would you like to pick? All right. I think I'll go with uh the oyster.

I'll go with Carrie. Thank you. She's going to clam up on me. Okay Carrie.

Um so for you the question is jack-o'-lanterns today are carved from pumpkins.

But originally people in Ireland carved jack-o'-lanterns out of what? Well I feel like to be on theme I would say sea cucumber.

But that's not very believable. They're hard to carve.

Let's go with potato jack-o'-lanterns. What do you think Tubes?

It's Pikachu actually. Sorry. Sorry. I choose to disagree with that one. Wow.

Yeah. Ding ding ding. Pikachu is right as always. So originally they were actually carved out of turnips.

Which that seems like it would be pretty hard to carve a turnip hollow.

Harder than a sea cucumber. Yeah. Also be pretty hard. Very slimy.

They don't hold up well. Shouldn't it be Pikachu tubes? Right. Oh yeah. That's a good point.

Tubes. You want to. So apparently they did still uh put candles inside of the turnips.

Which. They have larger turnips back then. I know right.

That's what I was thinking. That must have been like a huge turnip in order to put a candle in there.

I was gonna say I eat turnip but they're my backpack. Oh darn.

Okay. It looks like Pikachu has uh he's gaining some ground. So hopefully Kayla will be able to to win uh to to block it.

So Miss Kayla which will be your next square?

I'm gonna go with Andrew. Okay. I thought it might be me. That's a very fine choice.

All right. So Andrew your question is what is the collective noun that refers to a group of witches?

Of witches. Hmm. Interesting. You know I'm in Massachusetts right now.

The land of witches. So I think I might have just the answer for you.

Now let's think about it for a second. What's a group often called? Often called maybe like the sound that a creature makes or something.

What does the witch make?

What is that called? Should we call them a group? A group of witches may be creepy because I think that's what that was right?

Or maybe I actually think cackle sounds better to me as well.

Let's go with a group of witches is a cackle of witches.

What do you think? You can ask the witch that we have here.

It sounds convincing but I'm gonna have to disagree.

Ding ding ding Kayla you got the block.

So as as we kind of know from one of my personally like favorite editions of American Horror Story, a group of witches is actually called a coven.

You know I got a couple of covens on myself around here and I'll see you know I got my gay coven.

I got my clown flare coven.

You know it's all the witches are coven. So let's get that together.

She blocked that from happening. Okay.

Oh you want to you probably want to hide that. Oh is it? Yes. That's the cost of producing this show.

Is that the right screen? Yes. People think we're a low budget show but we're not.

It's very expensive. This is a high production quality.

That's right. Oh bird was half of it right there. Okay so now back to my boy Pikachu.

Gotta catch them all. Which square would you like to catch this time? I would like to try and catch Zidoon's square.

Oh Edward Scissor's hand square. That's right.

Okay my man Zidoon. Multiple choice. What is the Guinness World Record for the highest amount of lit up jack-o' -lanterns in one location?

A. 2000. B. 30k or C.

100k. Interesting. So just because I have like scissors and I might use them to carve stuff doesn't mean I know anything about carving but based on my great knowledge of world records and you know because I am so into this I would say 30k.

Wow.

So the answer is. All right Pikachu do you agree or disagree? Do they even have a hundred thousand pumpkins in the world?

That's a really interesting question that I don't know the answer to.

You would be surprised my friend. Yes. Anything is possible.

I mean my hands are made of scissors so anything is possible. Exactly.

That's right. Especially because your parents wouldn't let you have scissors as a kid.

No they would. I'm having fun here. My parents are mad right now watching me but I'm having the time of my life.

I'm gonna have to agree with Zidoon on the 30k.

Oh really? Nobody ever agrees with me. Wow. Well ding ding ding you are right.

So the answer the precise answer is 30,581 and this was done in the city of Keene in New Hampshire.

That is they must not have a lot to do in that town.

I really like pumpkin. A lot of pumpkin stuff. I know Andrew you're probably from around that area.

Do you know about that town? Oh is that your people?

Is that your people? No close though. Pumpkin people. Andrew's distancing himself already.

He's like no no not really. All right.

All right looks like we got a tough race going on here. So now Miss Kayla which square would you like to fill?

I'm gonna have to go with Scott. All right that's a smart choice in my book.

Okay so Scott what percentage of American parents claim that they do not eat some of their children's candy?

Key part is do not. Really how many lie about that?

That's the question. Well I'm gonna say it's a lot.

A lot of people are gonna lie and say they don't and then they don't.

I'm gonna say it's 75 percent. I'm gonna have to disagree.

Ding ding ding the witch is dead.

Blanket witch. Blanket old witch. All right so actually it is approximately 22 percent of parents claim that they do not eat that candy that the kids get from trick-or -treating which we all know that is a bold thing.

That's right they're liars. That's right. Liars. I used to hide the candy from my parents because you know I turn my my eyes away from it for a second and then I see half of it empty.

I don't know what happened. They stole it. Yeah my parents were like we're trying to protect you.

We care for your health is what they said and they also took away my scissors so.

All right well we have two more spaces left and so now Mr.

David. Yeah. Which square would you like to try and fill?

Right. Can you pull up the board so I can see this? Yeah. Is it interesting?

I don't actually know which one to go for. Oh I like that. You're being very strategic here.

I know. Oh well.

You're not gonna win either way. I this is correct. I'm not. So I think that's actually a game over.

No it's. If you get five you win. It depends if they get it right or not.

Yeah. I have to get this one right. I'll go with Mariana. Okay.

So now Miss Mariana.

One of my favorite people ever in Cloudflare. I love. Thank you.

I'm living for the facial hair right now boo boo. All right. So for you Count Dracula is the most famous vampire in literary and cinematic history.

What is the name of another famous vampire specifically that led male vampire the lead male the lead male vampire in Twilight franchise?

So vampires don't ever age right.

So the first thing that comes to mind is Nicolas Cage because the dude looks the same year after year after year.

Don't know what his dermatologist is telling him.

But that's an actor not a character. So I think he's kind of a character.

He is also kind of a character unto himself. He like like memes would not have thrived without his existence on this earth.

So props to you Nick Cage for being a vampire slash meme creator.

The lead male vampire in the Twilight franchise is Robert Pattinson.

That's my answer. All right now Pikachu for the gold.

I feel like Pikachu is a fan of the Twilight series so I didn't know this.

I actually just did watch part of the first movie. I knew it.

This month. Only part. Yeah that's what they all say. 42 percent of people said they did.

Yeah. Yeah. Take down the actor.

I don't think that's the actual name of the vampire. So I'm gonna have to disagree with Mariana there.

Ding ding ding.

That was a good one right there. They almost got you real quick with that one.

I told you he's a fan. He has posters probably. That's why I have my background so you can't see my Twilight posters.

Exactly. He has posters. I just know it.

Right. Be honest Tubes. How many times have you seen all the movies? That's right.

Be honest. I've only seen the I've only seen like the first half of the first movie and I've seen that twice and I actually haven't seen the other ones.

Is that supposed to be an attack?

Are you trying to you trying to because that won't work. That's like.

My love for The Bachelor is like. Oh The Bachelor. Okay. Let's see. All right.

So Pikachu. Let's choose you. Okay and so now that leaves our last spot left for.

Yeah. Okay. So Kayla. I assume that you will be going with Kayla.

Kayla to Kayla connection.

That's right. I think this was meant to be right. So Kayla.

Here goes your question for Kayla to disagree or agree with. Are you ready Kayla?

All right. So what decade did modern trick-or-treating become popular in the U.S.?

Okay. Let's get a little manager connection here. Well we all know Halloween was the greatest ploy by Dennis ever.

So I'm gonna say the 1950s.

Is that when modern dentistry was invented? That's a tough one. I would like to think that someone on my own team would not steer me wrong.

So I'm going to agree.

Or after review time. I told you a big mistake. I'm so sorry. That was a trick not a treat.

That was a trick. And that means actually. Let's see.

I think that opens up the floor to David to answer the question.

But can I win if I get this right?

No. No. Sorry to burst your bubble there. For giggles.

So let's see. David is it the 1940s?

Do you agree or disagree with me? I disagree with you. Well ding ding ding.

You got that one. It was actually the 1930s. Although there were mentions in previous years the phrase trick-or-treat did not become popularized until the mid to late 1930s.

So just to give everyone a final look of the board before we go into our small commercial break.

High production here. High production here.

Did anyone else notice that David disagrees with almost everyone? I don't understand.

All right and so there goes our current standing.

No one gets any points unfortunately.

And for our short break or commercial break is brought to you by Inside Jokes.

So if you want to if you're thinking about joining a super awesome team come to like hang out and have a good time but then also make the Internet a better place.

Why don't you think about coming here and joining Cloudflare to explore all the infinite possibilities of the Internet and to help you grow and thrive as a person.

So if you are principled curious and transparent you should go on to Cloudflare.com slash careers and check out all the opportunities that we have in store for you.

All right everybody. Hiring transparent people?

It's Halloween anything is possible. I was gonna say how does transparent look like?

We accept applications from ghosts don't you know? Right.

All types of aliases. All about inclusivity here. Okay. All right I'm gonna get the board ready for the next game.

And since ladies went first last time maybe or however you identify.

We don't like to stick with binary norms here.

So so Pikachu actually there you go. Which would you like to start off with?

Uh let's go back to the let's go back to the witch. Let's go back to Nicole.

Okay Nicole for your game two question.

The two best -selling hero costumes in the U.S. come from which superhero franchise?

Hmm superheroes right now.

Are nurses and doctors considered superheroes? Oh yes I mean if they're if they're scantily clad.

That's true yeah that's pretty popular. Um oh gosh I don't know when the survey was taken.

But if it was taken in the last like 10 years um probably like Marvel heroes.

So like Iron Man and uh and um I don't know Black Widow.

Why doesn't anyone mention Spider-Man? I don't get it. Why would that matter to Edward Scissorhands?

Because that was my first costume but it didn't show up because of Amazon.

I'm really salty about that.

All right Pikachu do you agree or disagree?

See well Iron Man and uh Black Widow are very popular.

But I feel like there are more popular superheroes like Spider-Man or Captain America.

Maybe Batman or Wonder Woman. Batman? The Flash, Superman, Green Lantern.

You're saying all the heroes so you gotta. Okay he just mentioned. I'm gonna disagree just because I don't think that those are the most popular.

All right ding ding ding Pikachu they got it right.

And they should have been have a Pokemon there because they're the number one superheroes in America.

Anyway that's a whole nother topic.

But the two most popular are Batman and Wonder Woman. And according to a popular costume company, Halloween Costumes, Batman and Wonder Woman costumes are consistently best sellers every single year in the superhero category.

I don't get it. Batman is not even a superhero. He just works out a lot and has gadgets.

That's not even. He's rich. Hey the rich superheroes right? Apparently.

I don't like that. He's a tech bro with a cape. He's a vigilante one percenter.

Right. Oh sorry actually let me revisit that for you Miss Kayla so you can pick.

Thank you. All right so which square would you like to go with Miss Kayla?

I'm going to go with.

Let's go with Kayla again. We'll see if we can get the answers right this time. Meant the broken relationship.

Okay Kayla are you ready for the answer? Are you ready for the question that Kayla will answer Kayla?

For Kayla Kayla? For the sake of my job yeah.

Okay Kayla what is the name of the traditional Halloween season cocktail made of ale or whiskey spice and apple?

Oh. Everyone loves them a good old cocktail.

All right I mean that sounds great. Can we have that after the show?

Have it during oh Andrew's having it during. So I feel like um I think it's called lambs wool.

I think. Okay I think I'm gonna disagree. You're going to disagree?

Yeah. Oh darn I mean this is the time you're supposed to go widdle girl. Oh no.

I'm sorry about that honey it is correct. It is lamb wool which is a cream with British origins made from crushed apples that give it a wooly top at the at the top of the drink which that's pretty creative.

Drink with a sweater on it great.

Okay so but there is no lamb involved right? No. It's a vegan it's a vegan drink.

It's a vegan drink got it but we have a non-vegan name for it.

I don't know how I don't know how I feel about that. Okay so then I think that actually gives.

You got two minutes left lightning round.

Uh. I'm pretty sure I'm trying.

So now David uh would you like to pick a square? Sure. I will uh let's go with Carrie again.

What? Oh sorry no that was the last one. Okay all right we're going with Carrie.

Okay. So Carrie what do pumpkins grow on trees, bushes or vines?

I'm from Kansas so I know this and it's a vine and I'll be offended if you don't believe me.

You'll be real clammy.

Yeah I'll be real clammy. Question is now can you trust a clam is the question.

Right. I was just at a pumpkin patch and so I know they grow on vines so I'll agree with Carrie.

What were they doing up there is the question because you.

Fighting 30,000 of them. Okay. All right and ding ding ding that is correct they do grow on some vines.

Thank you everybody ladies and gentlemen that was a great round.

Thank you. I appreciate the time that we had happy Halloween and have a great day.

Thank you her royal highness. We take care of everyone.