Hi, my name is Daniel. I like technology, specifically free open source technology. My career is focused around the use of technology and ensuring that software and tools are not exploited.
Outside of technology, I enjoy plants. I have a blog dedicated to my dive into planting out my yard from the literal ground up including irrigation setup, weed control, long term goals and miscelanious challenges along the way. Check out my progress at plants.dannavetta.com 🌵.
I also sometimes like to cook, and when I do I can never find the recipe I used last time. To solve that issue I created recipes.dannavetta.com 🍜 to catalog my recipes. As a disclaimer the recipes located there are likely 'stolen' and slightly modified to my taste or to match my cooking skills.
Privacy
Online privacy is an issue that is slowly building in importance to many people. I consider myself one of these people. Privacy doesn't mean perfect anonymity, but the ability to selectively reveal information about yourself. Privacy tools allow you to prevent tracking services from watching you without consent.
Podcasts
As an active podcast listener since ~2006 I have a long love for the on-demand spoken audio format. Podcasting is build on the open RSS standard and by its very nature is resistant to centralization. All you need is an RSS document and an .mp3 and you have a podcast. There has been a recent resurgence in interest in podcasting and there are many developers working to enhance the podcast listening experience that we all know.
The issue with podcasting since its invention was the directory problem. Apple ran the directory for a long time and many independent podcasters and podcast application developers depended on that listing for people to discover their feed. This is being taken back by developers and given away freely to distribute. Check out Podcastindex.org for more information.
While you are here, consider grabbing a new podcast app newpodcastapps.com.
Send Me a Message
Things I Like
An incomplete list in no particular order.
Raspberry Pi
- Low power use
- Low cost
- Widely supported
![](static/img/raspberry_pi.png)
When many software stacks are moving to dockerized containers running in a VM on a server alongside numerous other projects, it is nice to break away and have a dedicated piece of hardware to run something. Cheap enough to expiriment with, low power consuming so can be kept on 24/7, completely quiet, and runs cool enough to keep in any room, I really have a hard time not buying more of these.
Software
CalyxOS
CalyxOS is an Android mobile operating system that puts privacy and security into the hands of everyday users. Plus, proactive security recommendations and automatic updates take the guesswork out of keeping your personal data personal. Take a look at what CalyxOS can do at calyxos.org.
Pop!_OS
Pop!_OS is an operating system for STEM and creative professionals who use their computer as a tool to discover and create. Unleash your potential on secure, reliable open source software. Based on your exceptional curiosity, we sense you have a lot of it. Learn more pop.system76.com.
Books-Nonfiction
The Psychology of Money
![](static/img/fiat_standard.jpg)
- Author: Morgan Housel
- Publish Date: 2020-01-01
- ISBN: 9780857197689
Doing well with money isn't necessarily about what you know. It's about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money--investing, personal finance, and business decisions--is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don't make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life's most important topics.
The Fiat Standard
![](static/img/fiat_standard.jpg)
- Author: Saifedean Ammous
- Publish Date: 2021-11-16
- ISBN: 9781544526461
In The Fiat Standard, world-renowned economist Saifedean Ammous applies his unique analytical lens to the fiat monetary system, explaining it as a feat of engineering and technology just as he did for bitcoin in his global bestseller The Bitcoin Standard.
This time, Ammous delves into the world's earlier shift from the gold standard to today's system of government-backed fiat money—outlining the fiat standard's purposes and failures; deriving the wider economic, political, and social implications of its use; and examining how bitcoin will affect it over time.
With penetrating insight, Ammous analyzes global political currencies by analogy to bitcoin: how they're "mined" whenever government-guaranteed entities create loans, their lack of inherent restraints on inflation, and the rampant government intervention that has resulted in heavy, devastating, and persistent distortions to global markets for food, fuel, science, and education.
Through these comparisons, Ammous demonstrates that bitcoin could be our next step forward—providing high salability across space, just like the fiat system, but without the unchecked fiat-denominated debt. Rather than a messy hyperinflationary collapse, the rise of bitcoin could look like a debt jubilee and an orderly upgrade to the world's monetary operating system, revolutionizing global capital and energy markets.
Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity
![](static/img/hacking_darwin.jpg)
- Author: Jamie Metzl
- Publish Date: 2019-04-23
- ISBN: 149267009X
From leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie Metzl comes a groundbreaking exploration of the many ways genetic-engineering is shaking the core foundations of our lives -- sex, war, love, and death.
At the dawn of the genetics revolution, our DNA is becoming as readable, writable, and hackable as our information technology. But as humanity starts retooling our own genetic code, the choices we make today will be the difference between realizing breathtaking advances in human well-being and descending into a dangerous and potentially deadly genetic arms race.
Enter the laboratories where scientists are turning science fiction into reality. Look towards a future where our deepest beliefs, morals, religions, and politics are challenged like never before and the very essence of what it means to be human is at play. When we can engineer our future children, massively extend our lifespans, build life from scratch, and recreate the plant and animal world, should we?
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
![](static/img/sapiens.jpg)
- Author: Yuval Noah Harari
- Publish Date: 2011-01-01
- ISBN: 9780062316110
The story of how our species persevered through the decades against enemies, illness, cultures and more. A narrative explanation of how simple accidents led to civilizational changes, and how incentive shifts changed the balance of peace.
Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture
![](static/img/dirt_to_soil.jpg)
- Author: Gabe Brown with Courtney White
- Publish Date: 2018-01-01
- ISBN: 1603587632
Gabe Brown didn't set out to change the world when he first started working alongside his father-in-law on the family farm in North Dakota. But as a series of weather-related crop disasters put Brown and his wife, Shelly, in desperate financial straits, they started making bold changes to their farm. Brown--in an effort to simply survive--began experimenting with new practices he'd learned about from reading and talking with innovative researchers and ranchers. As he and his family struggled to keep the farm viable, they found themselves on an amazing journey into a new type of farming: regenerative agriculture.
Books-Fiction
Columbus Day
![](static/img/columbus_day.jpg)
- Author: Craig Alanson
- Publish Date: 2017-09-18
- ISBN: 1520126247
Near future, alien space action novel.
Little Brother
![](static/img/little_brother.jpg)
- Author: Cory Doctorow
- Publish Date: 2008-04-29
- ISBN: 0765319853
Cypherpunk disaster novel fighting against a police state.