One of the most enduring principles I've ever found, which applies across many domains is:

'Less' is less, unless 'less' is enough. Then, it's more.

Engineering is one example. Despite seeming "perfunctorily STEM," which when caricatured means pocket protectors, "well, actually's," and know-it-alls with encyclopedic knowledge of preordained correct answers, engineering exists squarely in the realm of creative problem solving.

It's an entire field devoted to literally "solving for enough."

But what is "enough"? Well, that's obviously where the creativity comes in. Rarely is "enough" perfectly defined in neat and tidy diagrams or equations.

Usually, it's the inventive application of the tidy to the messy.

Productivity is another subject brimming with opportunities for less. Without devolving into a tangential rant about why most productivity advice is trash, let's just say there's a reason offices are still spectacled with sticky notes, Bullet Journaling exists, and many digital tools hearken back to analog-based design conventions.

But I think the reason I find this notion so endearing, beyond the fitting sorts of utilitarian applications already discussed, is that it helps me continue to make sense of my own difficulties.

This website has gone through...a few renamings since its inception. It started off as oddlynx.com, then to the less confusing oddlinks.com, and most recently to caw.blog. If you're reading this in email, you might've noticed a cat paw and not the adorable crow logo. It's now come full-circle-ish to lynx.blog.

Why? Because it's enough.

If, from the future, you'll graciously allow "past me" the courtesy, I will continue to explain.

All of the evolutions detailed above were to try and get at this notion of enough. To find the essential elements, and let the design congeal around that.

From oddlynx.com to oddlinks.com, it was about being more clear when telling people the name, or when reading it ("odd lynx" or "oddly nx"?!).

And then to caw.blog, to simplify things: get rid of the extraneous "odd" in the name, that added flavor, but not focused flavor. Like, a judge on Iron Chef when a contestant adds something tasty but it isn't cohesive with the thematic "secret ingredient." It was also about being more honest with what I'm doing here: "curiosity across disciplines" to the more descriptively accurate "scavenging across disciplines."

Often when writing, I am, to keep the Food Network train rolling here, kinda just grabbing ingredients from an assorted Chopped basket and seeing what I can come up with.

But what I thought was honesty, was a marginally-creative solution to the wrong problem. Going from some flavor of "connections" (links/lynx) to a theme inextricably tied to a personal brand (CAW are my initials), the focus went from "the stuff" and "the connections [across disciplines]" to "MY stuff" and "MY connections."

And while that's accurate—there's no one else here besides the nagging voice in my head; they are my insights in both cases—it's not helpful.

I'm much better when I'm remixing ideas and focusing on things, rather than myself or even being critical of other people. Even when criticizing, I follow the rule of thumb of the late, great Michael Brooks:

"Be ruthless with systems, be kind to people."

Even right now, I'm deeply uncomfortable with yammering on about myself this much. That's why I say things like "yammering" and make jokes about my own writing at regular intervals.

And that's fine. It's totally okay to struggle with that. But it doesn't lend to my best creative output.

So, why lynx.blog?

It's simple, it's focused on the connections, but still has some flavor (apologies to whoever owns "links.blog," but that's boring as hell!). Plus, the internet is for cats. I didn't make that rule, but I will abide it.

I don't have a neat and tidy wrap up to this one. It's raw and rambly and messy. I'm not even going to explicitly answer why "enough is more."

That's a contextual answer, in the case of engineering, productivity, or any other utilitarian domain. Or, in the case of defining "enough," for yourself, it's a personal one.

With regard to this publication, having finally meandered my way to a focus on "connection" — that's more than enough.