Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate Bar, Part Trois Chocolat, The Monster Lives!©

 

 

For More on Tropical Chocolate Bars click HERE for “Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate Bar, Part Deux, It’s Alive, Bwahahaa!©” and HERE for “Hershey’s Tropical Chocolate Bar, Part Deux, The Taste Test!©”

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

The cocoa butter finally came in, so I tried to mix the ever elusive Tropical Chocolate Bar.  It wasn’t a total failure, but it certainly wasn’t the success I hoped for.  

But I believe I know where I went wrong.  It wasn’t as dry as my first attempt, it could be molded, but it still wasn’t the wonderful chocolate bar I remembered from the 1970’s.  It did make a great cake of ready to drink hot chocolate, just add water, though.  It had a café mocha flavor and was quite good.

 

Oh well, I believe that where I went wrong was in the conversion of parts to grams to teaspoons (tsp), I screwed up the math, so back to the drawing board. 

 

Now, it is time for the final mixing and then the torture test...I mean the temperature test...bwahaha!

 

The laboratory is now set up, so let’s make a Tropical Chocolate Bar, bwahahaha!

 

·       8 squares (60 grams) of Bakers Unsweetened Baking Chocolate

·       6 tablespoons (46 grams) of powdered sugar

·       1 tablespoon (18 grams) of nonfat dry milk powder

·       1 teaspoon (8 grams) of cocoa butter (8 grams)

·       a smidgen, no more than ¹/₃₂ teaspoon (less than ½ gram) of ethyl vanilla

 

To melt the Bakers Unsweetened Baking Chocolate, use either a microwave or a double-boiler on a stove.

Microwave the chocolate in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until the chocolate is mostly melted and only a few tiny pieces remain, about 1 1/2 minutes in total.

 

I used a double boiler for this test and found that it allowed me to keep the chocolate warm long enough to mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.

 

Mix in the remaining ingredients until it is a fudge like consistency and comes cleanly off the bottom of the pan and then press the chocolate into a mold with a rubber spatula or an icing spatula .  If the mix appears to be too liquid, add another ½ teaspoon of nonfat dry milk powder.

 

Let cool, remove from the mold and enjoy.  The mold I used made three bars, so each bar weighs 1.3 ounces (38 grams).

 

Now, to find out if the chocolate bar will survive an hour at 120^o F (49^o C).  To do this I used an Elite Gourmet food dehydrator, and a candy thermometer.

 

After an hour at 120^o F (49^o C), the chocolate bar must survive a dent test with a dropped ball bearing, to be a true Tropical Chocolate Bar.  I dropped a one ounce (28 gram) ball bearing from 4 inches (10 cm) and the chocolate bar barely dented, although it was sticky and soft.

 

I had two chocolate lovers try it and they both asked for more, enjoying both the taste and the mouth feel.  So, it’s alive!  Bwahaha!

 

I originally scanted the ingredients by rounding down the number of teaspoons of powdered sugar and nonfat dry milk powder, so the next time I make this recipe, I plan on adding ¾ of teaspoon (4 grams) more of nonfat dry milk powder to see if it withstands the temperature test even better than this batch, since there is some room to spare in the recipe¹.  Good luck and I hope you enjoy the chocolate!

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Behind The Eight Ball©

 

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

So, over the last eight days I’ve worked over 75 hours, this deadline (see last week’s note) is kicking my ass!  I just didn’t have the time to write anything worth sharing with you this week, so I thought I would list my Top 8 Articles of All Time, in case you have missed any of them.

 

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

 

Hopefully, I will be back to you next week with a new article and until then I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

  

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Sources

 

Wikimedia; “A little fun on a Friday night”, by Will Folsom, October 29, 2010, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Elusive_Eight_(5127727938).jpg, accessed February 28, 2025

Fighting that Tired Feeling©

 

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Deadlines, I hate it when they unexpectedly shorten.  But, hey tis the season and I am an accountant in my day job, so to work I go to make the money to feed the family.  Unfortunately, there just wasn't time this week to write a high quality article, one that I would have wanted to read, so your regularly scheduled installment from The Woodsman’s Journal Online is going to be a bit delayed.  My apologies and as soon as I get through the end of year accounting stuff, you can be assured that I will have a researched, outstanding article on something fascinating to share with you all.

The Great Bear and the Big Dipper©

 

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Everyone knows how to find the North Star with the Big Dipper, right? ... Well, okay most people know how to ... Right, right, but anyways, everyone should know how to! 

 

But what hardly anyone knows is the part that the Great Bear and the Big Dipper have played in human culture and thought since as far back as paleolithic times, that is more than 400 generations or at least 12,000 years.

 

The Great Bear (Ursa Majoris) and the Big Dipper are two different star patterns that both make up one larger star constellation.  This constellation can be seen from most places on Earth, except those locations closer to the South Pole, such as Argentina, the south of Australia or some parts of South Africa.  It is considered to be the oldest constellation and has been known by many names over many years and many different cultures.  It was called the bear in Asia, in northern Europe, and in Egypt and Greece.  In North America, the Native Americans called this constellation the “Bear and the Hunters”, since they envisioned the three stars in the handle of the Big Dipper, as three hunters hunting the bear in front of them.  For some of the Finno-Ugric people of northern Europe, the Big Dipper was seen as a celestial elk (a moose in North America) during the winter and a celestial bear during the summer.

  

In fact, there is some thought that the paleolithic bear cult that was common throughout northern Europe, might have been tied to the Great Bear constellation, because of remnant legends and practices that continued until the 18^th and 19th centuries in northern Scandinavia, the Baltic areas and Finland.

 

Since the Great Bear is a northern circumpolar constellation and since the Greeks called this constellation “Arctos”, the area around the north pole is called the Arctic, and the south pole, is called Antarctic, which means “opposite of the Arctic”.

 

The Great Bear/Big Dipper rotates slowly around the current north pole star, Polaris, in a counter-clockwise direction through the night and through the seasons.  In the spring it will rise upside down directly over the North Star and set to the west of the star; in the summer it will rise west of the star and before setting below the star; in the autumn it will rise directly under the star, before setting to the east of the star; and in the winter it will rise to the east of the star and then set upside down directly over the North Star.

 

For information on how to tell time with the Big Dipper go HERE.

  

So now we know, and next time you are enjoying a game of Trivial Pursuit, maybe this will help!

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

 

Sources

 

Banksy; “Fast Food Caveman”, from Pyramid America Framed Plexi Posters on Amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Pyramid-America-Caveman-Graffiti-enmarcada/dp/B01NBC0CIB, accessed November 12, 2024

 

Harding, Arthur M.; Astronomy, [Garden City Publishing Company, Garden City, NY, 1935] pages 278 to 283, https://books.google.com/books?id=pf8_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA278&dq=%22great+bear%22+%22the+plough%22+%22big+dipper%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjeu_-9r8aLAxXPkokEHQg-EKIQ6AF6BAgNEAM#v=onepage&q=%22great%20bear%22%20%22the%20plough%22%20%22big%20dipper%22&f=false, accessed February 15, 2025

 

Kinney, Muriel; Stars and Their Stories, [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1926], page 23, https://books.google.com/books?id=6Dl0twR6WnQC&pg=PA23&dq=%22great+bear%22+%22the+plough%22+%22big+dipper%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNwIS0_8OLAxWHFVkFHbAkB7UQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=%22great%20bear%22%20%22the%20plough%22%20%22big%20dipper%22&f=false, accessed February 15, 2025

 

Ridderstad, Marianna P.; “The Bear and the Year: On the Origin of the Finnish Late Iron Age Folk Calendar and its Connection to the Bear Cult”, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 16, No 4, 2016, pages 355-341, https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/ba73551f-3c12-46bc-bae2-3cbcdfc222d8/content, accessed February 15, 2025

 

Stone, Elena; “Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) Explained For Kids. Facts, Myth & Stars”, [Little Astronomy], https://littleastronomy.com/ursa-major-explained-for-kids/, accessed February 15, 2025

 

Wikimedia, “Starry Night Over the Rhône”, by Vincent van Gogh, 1888, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Starry_Night_Over_the_Rhone.jpg, accessed February 15, 2025

 

The Eyes Have It©

 

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Number five of “The Ten Commandments of Situational Awareness©”, HERE, states to always be AWARE of your surroundings, and to do that you need to use all your senses, but 80% of the information that your brain processes in any fast paced situation is received by your eyes and most of that is from your peripheral vision, so the eyes have it!

 

Your field of vision is the area you can see when looking forward without moving your head.  The human field of vision is determined by the shape of our skulls, the placement of our eyes on the front of our skulls, and the structure of our eyes.

 

Because of these biological givens, the normal human visual field is between 160^o to 170^o, side to side and 130^o to 135^o, up and down.  There are two types of vision; central vision, which is a cone 60^o to 70^o wide directly in the front, and peripheral vision, which is also called “side vision” or “indirect vision”, and covers between 95^o and 100^o to each side of the head.

 

This means that your visual field, horizontally, is from about “9” to just past “3” on the clock dial and vertically, from about “1” to almost “5” on the dial.

 

Your peripheral vision, or as it sometimes called “peripheral awareness”, is less focused than your central vision, and because of this it is weak at distinguishing detail, color, and shape, but it is extremely strong at detecting movement and light.  The visual information picked up in your mid and far peripheral fields, actually travels 25% faster to your brain than information coming from your central vision.  Your peripheral vision is also used to help you stay upright; in fact, your brain uses 20% of its visual capacity just to keep you standing!

 

Directly ahead of you at “12” on the clock, in the central vision cone, is where you can see the best, with the most detail.  And in the very center of your central vision cone is the foveal cone, and this is where your vision is the sharpest.  The foveal cone is only about 1^o wide, and outside of this cone your visual acuity drops off rapidly.  Outside of the 10^o degree cone, surrounding the foveal cone, you can only see about one-tenth of what you can see within the foveal field.  That is why you must “put your head on a swivel” and actively scan your surroundings.

 

By scanning your surroundings, turning your head to the right and left and using your peripheral vision, you are able increase your visual field by 60^o on each side, or to “5” on the clock dial, and all the way around to “7” o’clock.  

 

So, actively scan your surroundings, by turning your head from either your left or right to your center over a count of one second, or “one-mississippi”, then scanning your forward area for one second, or “two-mississippi”, before moving your head to the other side over a count of “three-mississippi”.

 

Keep your head on a swivel and stay aware and stay safe.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Strengthening the Eyes©”, where we will talk about strengthening your peripheral vision and how this will help you.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Sources

 

FAA’s Civil Aeromedical Institute; “Pilot Vision”, FAA Aviation News: A DOT/FAA Flight Standards Safety Publication, April 1998, page 19 to 20, https://books.google.com/books?id=6QL35AnwsD0C&pg=RA1-PA20&dq=%22field+of+vision%22+aviation&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjin77h87KLAxXcm4kEHbviJzQQ6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=%22field%20of%20vision%22%20aviation&f=false, accessed February 7, 2025

 

George, Fred; “Can You See In Time To Avoid”, Flying Magazine, April 1991, pages 81 to 84, https://books.google.com/books?id=l29cHVBNFhMC&pg=PA81&dq=%22field+of+vision%22+aviation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivmoLFhbOLAxVCD1kFHSWUNSs4KBDoAXoECAUQAw#v=onepage&q=%22field%20of%20vision%22%20aviation&f=false, accessed February 7, 2025

 

Grand Developmental Vision Institute; “2 Ways Strong Peripheral Vision Can Help You Avoid Sports Injuries”, January 12, 2021, https://www.grandvisioninstitute.com/2-ways-strong-peripheral-vision-can-help-you-avoid-sports-injuries/, accessed February 8, 2025

 

Langewiesche, William; “The Eyes Have It”, Flying Magazine November 1978, page 116, https://books.google.com/books?id=S8rkR5Hozv8C&pg=PA116&dq=%22field+of+vision%22+aviation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj738f6hrOLAxVCMlkFHVyVEso4PBDoAXoECAsQAw#v=onepage&q=%22field%20of%20vision%22%20aviation&f=false, accessed February 7, 2025

 

Newman Therapy Services; “Exercises for Your Eyes”, https://www.newmantherapyservices.com/exercises-for-your-eyes/, accessed February 8, 2025

 

Peter; “Peripheral Vision Training”, June 28, 2024, https://www.eye-hero.com/blog/peripheral-vision-training/, [Smart Optometry Ltd. ©], accessed February 8, 2025

 

Reflexion Admin; “How To Improve Peripheral Vision With Simple Exercises”, June 1, 2020, [© 2023 Reflexion Interactive Technologies, Inc.], https://reflexion.co/blog/how-to-improve-peripheral-vision/, accessed February 8, 2025

 

Sports Vision Training; “What Are the Best Exercises to Train Peripheral Vision?”, https://sportsvisiontrainingmn.com/what-are-the-best-exercises-to-train-peripheral-vision/, accessed February 8, 2025

 

Wikimedia, “Field of view for both eye - human binocular vision”, November 9, 2014, by Zyxwv99, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FOV_both_eyes.svg, accessed February 8, 2025

 

Wikimedia, “Vertical field of view of the human eye”, November 2, 2014, by Zyxwv99, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vertical_FOV.svg, accessed February 8, 2025