PAVLOV & POK LONG

Derumo's Lakseganu post made many keyboards wet. It is a conditioning reflex when something tweaked your brain under the right conditions. Let us confirm this. If you are game, read on. If not, you are free to move somewhere else.

First, you have to relax. Go to the bathroom if you have to. If you have a mother-in-law bothering you, go find her false teeth or her falsies and make her quiet and leave you in peace.

Relax and imagine a lime. See the lime clearly in your mind. See it almost round, shiny green with pockmarked skin. There is a nipple-like nub on one end of the oval of the lime. If you cannot picture this lime, you are not relaxed enough. Stop reading and start relaxing before going on. If you got the picture clearly, take the lime and place it on a table. Now, imagine a very sharp knife. The blade is made of stainless steel forged in Sheffield, Great Britain. The blade is about 6 inches long. Strike the blade with your finger and you hear the "tinggggggggg". The knife has an ivory-like handle 4 inches long. Hold the handle and it feels very comfortable in your hand. Put down the knife next to the lime.

Now imagine a clear glass shorter than the teh tarik glass. If you have seen a whisky glass before, imagine that and see it in your mind. It is made of good crystal and when you strike its side with your finger, it will make a nice sound. Hear that note. Put the glass down on the table.
Now, take the knife in one hand and hold the lime with the other. Cut the lime in half. You can see vapors and bits of lime escaping as the sharp blade parted the lime. You have two halves of lime. Take one half and squeeze the juice into the glass. Watch the thick lime juice streaming down the side of the glass to the bottom. Discard the now pulpy half of lime and tak ethe other half. Squeeze the juice into the glass and once again watch the juice oozing down the side of the glass and making the bottom rise. Now you have about an inch of thick, sour lime juice in the glass. Take the glass to your lips and drink the juice.

When I gave this "Lime Test" to friends in my old chat room, they had many reactions. Some salivate, some puckered their lips and some screwed up their face. You tell me what was your reaction. If you had some reactions, you will understand Pavlov's conditioning reflex. If you don't, it is alright. Pok Long's plight may help you understand better.

Pok Long was never away from his wife. He made it a point to sleep (and fall asleep) with his wife. One day, Pok Long was forced to be away and he had to put up in his good friend's house for the night. His friend, Deramang Loley, was a good host and gave Pok Long the guest room downstairs for greater privacy. In the middle of the night, Deramang Loley was awakened by some noises downstairs. He came down to investigate and found his good friend rummaging drawers. Pok Long told him that he was not used to sleeping without his wife, could not sleep and wanted to borrow a shoe brush. Deramang Loley did not question his friend's wisdom or sanity but promptly gave him a shoe brush. The next morning, he found Pok Long sleeping peacefully with one hand firmly on the bristles of the shoe brush. Now, that's conditioning.

Read about Pavlov
Play Pavlov's Game from the Nobel Prize webpage.