Tony Greenberg

The Technologist's Guide to Trust, Tech, Life and Society

  • Tech
    Tech
    Show More
    Top News
    customer demand
    Why Good Service Is All About Trust
    December 17, 2024
    detroit decay
    Where’s My Flying Car … and an Efficient IT Market?
    December 17, 2024
    Trust Your Tongue – The Only Wine and Spirit Critic That Matters Is You
    December 17, 2024
    Latest News
    The Decay of Modern Day Communication & Demoralizing Lack of Accountability in Personal Messaging Which is Especially Dangerous Given all the Nearby Baboons
    December 2, 2024
    MARC ANDREESSEN REBUTTAL 2020
    December 10, 2024
    How CIOs Must Maximize ROI ~ Learn This Or Find A New Role – Joe Weinman
    December 12, 2024
    10 Magic Questions to Make Your Project Go Right- How to Kick Ass by Kicking Assumptions
    December 12, 2024
  • Business
    Business
    Show More
    Top News
    customer demand
    Why Good Service Is All About Trust
    December 17, 2024
    Big Business Keeps Buying Startups
    Save the Entrepreneur: Big Business Keeps Buying Startups, And Killing ‘Em
    December 17, 2024
    Trust Your Tongue – The Only Wine and Spirit Critic That Matters Is You
    December 17, 2024
    Latest News
    The Decay of Modern Day Communication & Demoralizing Lack of Accountability in Personal Messaging Which is Especially Dangerous Given all the Nearby Baboons
    December 2, 2024
    Hiding Fees & Tips in the Transparent Age is Just Bad Business
    February 21, 2025
    More Ignorance or Indignance in the Wake of Covid-19?
    February 21, 2025
    MARC ANDREESSEN REBUTTAL 2020
    December 10, 2024
  • Tony
    Tony
    Show More
    Top News
    The Arithmetic of Relationships > What’s Our Mutual Net Profit?
    January 26, 2025
    HIGH HELLS – The Demise of Powerful Femininity
    December 12, 2024
    Mastering Human and Business Development
    December 9, 2024
    Latest News
    Trap: How DMN8 Gym Became A Poster Child for Fitness Fraud
    May 16, 2025
    DMN8 The Most Beautiful (Crooked) Gym in the World?
    May 16, 2025
    Mastering BD: The Art of the No That Opens the Real Door
    March 22, 2025
    Productivity Apps That Rocked My World in 2024: Secrets of a Workflow Wizard
    February 25, 2025
  • TonyG: Transforming Industries and Perceptions
Reading: From Dr. Bronner’s to Pressure Cookers
Share
Aa

Tony Greenberg

The Technologist's Guide to Trust, Tech, Life and Society

Aa
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Tony
  • TonyG: Transforming Industries and Perceptions
  • Tech
  • Business
  • Tony
  • TonyG: Transforming Industries and Perceptions
Follow US
Tony Greenberg > Blog > Business > From Dr. Bronner’s to Pressure Cookers
BusinessHealth

From Dr. Bronner’s to Pressure Cookers

Tony Greenberg
Last updated: 2024/12/17 at 6:52 AM
Tony Greenberg
Share
9 Min Read
Simplify your life
SHARE

Simplify your life

Simplify your life

Contents
Simplify your lifeScrubbing Our Lives Clean

Scrubbing Our Lives Clean

From Dr. Bronner’s to Pressure Cookers

By Tony Greenberg

“What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.”  – Sappho

Not long ago, I was taking a shower in a beautiful woman’s home. A close beautiful woman’s home.  For those of you who know of my existence, this revelation is, I know, shocking.  Actually, even being there was a bit stressful, given that this Santa Monica-bound beach hound travels to New York more often than to Hollywood.

But to the point, as I groggily peered around my friend’s shower, I saw at least 25 products that promised to defy age, remove wrinkles, add fake sun, block real sun, delete smells, add smells, straighten hair, curl hair, nutrify hair, kill hair, add (body to) hair, remove cellulite, reshape what’s under the cellulite and, I’m pretty sure, create small miracles by invoking some deity or another.

All told, there might have been $1,000 worth of goops, goos, tools, salves, soaps and more, with all their attendant belief systems and unsubtle claims of transformation, wedged into every cranny and nook of this shower. It made me wonder how soon Cash for Gold will start a new division for your unused RéVieve. At $600 a bottle, surely there’s a market, at least on late-night TV.

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius

Soon enough, though, I snapped out of my reverie and started doing what I’d come there to do, inspired by this bounty of possibility. I scrubbed and dubbed, washed and conditioned and nutrified, anti-oxidized, vitamin enriched, non-GMO-modified, plumped, whitened, de-wrinkled, body-fed, sun-blocked and fake-sun-applied, de-cellulited and reshaped and age-defied and yes, called in the miracle-working skills of at least a couple of minor demigods. In short, I was once again the same curly-headed 19-year-old Antoine Greenberg I see in my mind every morning when I wake up.  Ah youth, the divine physical manifestation of my ever-ebullient self.

Except, of course, as looked in the mirror, I wasn’t my French alter-ego boy, once again. As I got past my dismay, I got to thinking about whether all that scrub and dub was worth the time, effort and (somebody’s) money. Would I have been just as well off to break out my old favorite, Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 Magic Soap-one pronounced as a natural GHB, for a quick shave, shampoo, and scrub, and then moved on to the rest of my day?

Beauty is not caused. It is.” – Emily Dickinson

Spurred further by this holiday season of wretchedly excessive giving, I began thinking about what we really need in this life.  Newer doesn’t automatically equal improved. More complex doesn’t necessarily equal more useful.

Dr. Bronner’s is a great example. For a mere eight bucks at Trader Joe’s, I get a quart bottle that offers “18 in 1” different uses. It’s massage oil, a cleaner of dentures and diapers (hopefully not at the same time), a car wash, an aftershave, toothpaste laundry soap a concoction for facials and shampoo and yes, I even use it for soap. Making Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps even more magical, the bottle labels even educate me.  Depending on the bottle, I get Kipling and Longfellow, Thomas Paine, Confucius and Mohammed, and of course the good doctor’s own Moral ABC, should I ever need an ethical alphabet.

I love this stuff. Forget swilling an ’82 Montrachet, racing a Ferrari on Mulholland, Alba truffles or enjoying OOO vegetarian caviar.  I wont live without a little Doc’s in my day, in at least a couple of its different uses (no diaper or denture washing yet, thank you).

“Simplicity is the peak of civilization.” – Jessie Sampter

Doc Bronner’s is just one mere example. My kitchen favors the simple too, nowhere more so than with my favorite tool, invented by Denis Papin, the Pressure Cooker. Replaced by a hundred or so Cuisinart and Breville one trick ponies that clutter my precious counter, be gone.

Now don’t assume I found a way to replace my Rancilio, my conical burr grinder, Blue Bottle mix and tamp box with my divine steam bath above.

With it, I can make green beans in 3 minutes, potatoes in 8, artichokes in 10, gourmand cauliflower zuppe’ with red pepper coulis in less effort than my Magical Mystery time machine shower tour. What a glorious tool this is! Yet pressure cookers have slipped into disuse, haunted by ancient steampunk nightmares of exploding pots and scalded babies. Instead, people roast the heart of their food with a microwave, thinking it’s better and safer to zap away what makes their food healthy, filling and fulfilling.

“Simplicity in character, in manners, in style; in all things the supreme excellence is simplicity.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Meanwhile, people are giving each other ludicrously obscure kitchen tools and appliances, to fill needs they didn’t know they needed. We’ve got knives just for herbs, four different kinds of juicers for various vegetation, margarita makers by singers, grills by aging sports stars and incessant random stuff. It’s a fast track to credit card debt, overflowing kitchen cabinets and useless, endless narcissism.

Simplify your life

A buddy traded in his rocket ship Mercedes Benz SL 65 for a Smart Car and transferred his vanity plates, which still read, “SL65BLK,” to the new chariot. But the importance was stepping toward the simple and the sublime.  Simplify your life

“Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.”  – Charles Dudley Warner

It’s time we do the same during this nervous economy’s tentative holiday season. I know it may seem patriotic to buy everything not bolted down at Wal-Mart. But really, we can simplify our lives a lot, shrink our carbon footprint and still look great, feel great and do amazing random acts of kindness. We won’t be buying some gizmo built by overworked assembly lines half a planet away. We can focus on issues that matter for here and now. Like energy ROI in Amanda Little’s new book Power Trip.

Instead of getting soaked in the cosmetics or the appliance aisle, here’s a different kind of soaking everyone should consider: Wash your face, and your soul free, of the lies, luxury and excess, the obnoxious belief systems we’ve let drive our decisions, our nature, our values. Even a few small steps forward could make for a very happy holiday.

Trust me, there isn’t a woman out there who would look that much better by spending more time on herself than it takes to steam an artichoke, or to wash her hair and clothes in some of the good doctor’s soap.

I’m going to do my part. My friends can expect to get a pressure cooker and a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s from me this holiday season. And for Hanukah, gift me your gratitude if I have earned it, a smile and a card if you can afford it, nice ripe banana for my famous baked bread.

“Nature has a great simplicity and therefore a great beauty.” – Richard Feynman

The Ball and Blockchain: Obstacles to a World-Changing Trajectory

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Related

You Might Also Like

The Decay of Modern Day Communication & Demoralizing Lack of Accountability in Personal Messaging Which is Especially Dangerous Given all the Nearby Baboons

Covid Deniers Need to Take a Breath

Hiding Fees & Tips in the Transparent Age is Just Bad Business

More Ignorance or Indignance in the Wake of Covid-19?

MARC ANDREESSEN REBUTTAL 2020

TAGGED: Amanda Little, Charles Dudley Warner, Denis Papin, Dr. Bronner's, gift giving, luxury items, Power Trip, Pressure Cooker, pressure cookers, Richard Feynman, Tony Greenberg, Trader Joe's

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
[mc4wp_form]
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Copy Link Print
Share
By Tony Greenberg
Follow:
I speed through life building relationships, businesses and finding extraordinary people and contemplating the curious decisions they make. The premise of this space is to expose the bridges and chasms of trust, truth and bias that I encounter daily.
Next Article detroit decay Where’s My Flying Car … and an Efficient IT Market?
3 Comments 3 Comments
  • Ada Homan says:
    February 2, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    Ace writing. You have won a new regular reader. Please maintain the fabulous writings and I look forward to more of your gripping writings.

  • Megan Metzga says:
    March 1, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    I really like the fresh perpective you did on the issue. Really was not expecting that when I started off studying. Your concepts were easy to understand that I wondered why I never looked at it before. Glad to know that there’s an individual out there that definitely understands what he’s discussing. Great job

  • marvin, colorado says:
    March 7, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    well said, my friend. simplify, respect and trust. theme: be human. since i'm in the southwest at the moment, i can assure you that the people here lack it all. think very dumb sheep. and as far as simplify goes, i hope you have converted your worthless dollar bills into gold. in the spirit of "atlas shrugged," we are in the depths of a huge shift – greatest depression – massive industrial shift – point being simplify your life, respect those who deserve it and trust, yeah give it time. maybe soon the public sheep should realize that what is on tv is not immediately fact. and customer service. if cs was a requirement, BOA would be bankrupt. but who cares, be american, give more cash to the banks… it will save us! because we can't save ourselves or so they say on tv.

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stay Connected:

Business Insider Huffington Post RSS Tony on Twitter Tony on Facebook RampRate on Facebook Tony on LinkedIn

Business Insider

Huffington Post

RSS

Twitter

Facebook

Linkedin

Forbes

Latest News

Trap: How DMN8 Gym Became A Poster Child for Fitness Fraud
Tony May 16, 2025
DMN8 The Most Beautiful (Crooked) Gym in the World?
Tony May 16, 2025
Mastering BD: The Art of the No That Opens the Real Door
Tony March 22, 2025
Productivity Apps That Rocked My World in 2024: Secrets of a Workflow Wizard
Tony December 11, 2024

Copyright ©2000 - 2024. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?