Windows 10 was End of Life – So I decided to go to Linux Mint using ChatGPT!

Paul
A fun illustration of a person stepping off a sinking ship with the Windows 10 logo on its sail, onto a bright, stable island with the Linux Mint logo. Bright colors, cartoonish but clean, eye-catching.
A fun illustration of a person stepping off a sinking ship with the Windows 10 logo on its sail, onto a bright, stable island with the Linux Mint logo. Bright colors, cartoonish but clean, eye-catching.

Windows 10 = End of Life updates

We knew this was coming a mile a way.   It’s been advertised by Microsoft for years now and I just didn’t like Windows 11 and how they were wanting everyone to have an account to be able to use Windows 11.  I shouldn’t need to link my account and that is one reason I “Jumped Ship” to Linux Mint.   Don’t get me wrong, I use Windows 11 at work and I have no problem with it in my organization but Microsoft has very little information from my work life to my personal life and I am going to keep it that way.  Since Microsoft is wanting to prevent users from making local accounts, I0 decided it was time to go check out some other operating systems like Linux Mint.

Using ChatGPT to help Installation!

I knew with my own built system, I built this desktop from mother board to GPU and Intel cpu.   I knew I would have some issues with the installation of Mint to this system because it isn’t a prebuilt or one that is built by any companies.  Let me be clear my system was built by me 3 years ago and it has been solid ever since the real issue is that the Mint is a lot of time developed for prebuilt systems, Asus, Dell, HP, and even Microsoft computers.    It’s not something that will be a lot of issue for most because if you have a laptop or desktop that is pre-built then it most likely will install without a problem but my system has some special needs.  I need it to do Video editing, Gaming, and even word processing from time to time.   That’s where ChatGPT was really helpful.    I didn’t have to go searching Google or Bing for how to solve issues like my video drivers and my KeyChron Keyboard which is AWESOME with this setup.    Don’t get me started on Getting Resolve Video editing to be able to work with Linux but Chat GPT walked me through how to setup all the things I needed for me to be able to do what I needed.   It even suggested ways to install the software from

Apt-get  update to Apt-get Install
  Or from the
Software Manager

First Impression of Linux Mint

It’s really not bad and I have a Good Geoforce RTX 3050 that is working just fine with the video drivers that I installed using ChatGPT.   Gaming on it might be a bit different but most of my games including Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 are working just fine using Steam and Proton.   They’ve really did do a good job with that and making it more available to the Linux Community is strangely getting better and better every day.  I’ve used ChatGPT to help install Microsoft Flight Simulator even though there is people who have talked about how to get it to run on ProtonDB but it would of been harder to do without using ChatGPT to help install and get the game running smoother than it would have in previous years.   The graphics for the game are top notch even now using the Graphics drivers and it even has seen some better FPS on MINT than  Windows 10.   So I can’t say I am looking at this without saying it is getting better.

 Final Thoughts on Mint

If you’re staring down the “End of Life” message on Windows 10 and wondering what to do next, Linux Mint is absolutely worth trying. The learning curve is real, especially on custom-built hardware like mine, but ChatGPT made every step from Nvidia drivers to DaVinci Resolve, way easier than digging through old forum posts.  What surprised me most is that not only does everything I need actually work, but in many cases it works better. My games run smoother, Resolve is stable, and my Keychron keyboard feels like it was built for Mint. If you’re on the fence about switching, let me just say this: I wish I had done it sooner.

In my opinion I’d say give a few Linux Operating systems a try and decide which one is best for your situation and know that at the end of the day.  Your data is kept away from Microsoft now that you are using a free operating system.

She Said I Was the Problem… Until Everyone Saw the Truth

Paul

Before the Breakup

She said I was the only one who ever truly loved her. She cried when she said it, and I believed every word. I thought I was helping her heal, giving her something no one else ever had: unconditional love, safety, support. But the truth unraveled slowly—and painfully.  After the break up, she began to say this Behind my back, she painted me as the villain, telling others I was manipulative, controlling, even dangerous. The same woman who clung to me in private was tearing me down in public. That’s the thing about emotional manipulation—it doesn’t start with a scream. It starts with a whisper that sounds a lot like love.  Some of the most common phrases she said that showed me who she was after the breakup.   Here’s some of the comments she sent through email and even through Whatsapp:

  • “You never let me make my own decisions.” — Making it seem like she’s the victim
  • “I do not want to be controlled anymore. You have done that too much.”  – Projection by Her
  • “I was never enough for you, was I?” — Guilt Tripping
  • “Nobody has ever loved me like you.” — Transactional and other benefits
  • “You gave up on me like everyone else.” — Making it look like she’s the victim
  • “You’re making me look like the bad one again.” — another Victim comment
  • “You always misunderstand me.” — Gaslighting
  • “Even your family thinks I deserve better.” — triangulation with my Family

Understanding the Dynamics

It really took me a while to understand what was going on with her because this was one of the longer relationships I have had.  I made mistakes, I should of asked about her past relationship and saw the signs of her always looking like a victim and I should of saw the other signs that since she is in a third world country she was always be complaining about how she hated Gold Diggers in the Philippines that is something you must be watchful also.  She would also use her kids as a way to tug at your heart because of school fees and supplies.  So if you have someone like that, run the other direction.   Understand me, it is not about money but about manipulative and being dismissive towards me that really got me thinking about if this was the right relationship for me.   She constantly went and talked to my sisters about me and that wasn’t even good too.  Should of been another red flag.

Self Esteem and Self Reflecting

It was at that time that I finally found my inner strength.   I was so morally and psychologically abused by her and I just broke and started yelling at her about what she has done and she was just all quite and said she felt like a toxic relationship because she would say stuff on WA and then delete them because she knew she said stuff that was wrong but didn’t want me to hold her accountable and that started when I first met her.  So this should of been a red flag too but When you are being loved bombed by a woman and she is saying all these sweet things and trying to hook you into being with her this can be very hard to see.   You know what they say about Hindsight being 20/20.   After much of the me looking back at all her messages on Whatsapp and having ChatGPT look through the text messages.   You just basically copy and paste the text from Whatsapp into ChatGPT and ask it to analyze the chat text.   It showed me after the fact that she was being manipulative and possible have a narcissist behavior.   The terrible truth about her need in supply was financial abuse and always critiquing what I did and how I did it.  She also used Sex as a weapon and it was her way to keep control of me I think.  Another Red Flag,  I think.

I’m writing this to warn others about the dangers of having a Long Distance Relationship in a third world country and just to be cautious of the types of women you meet online and even offline and to be watchful for these types of dynamics and to know when it is enough to make you turn around and run away.   Don’t get me wrong there are women or men in the those countries who are great and will not cause a problem but there will always be those who are transactional and want you to support them by sending money.  Be wary of those types of people even if they don’t ask it they will imply it someway or make you feel guilty to have you send it to them.  Got a story about one such relationship, why not leave a comment and talk about your story.  I’d love to hear your story and see if it has happened to you also.

 Janice Marie Seva (Flores) Negros, Bacolod

 

Diary of a Narcissist’s Supply: The Ugly Truth Behind the Fake Love

Diary of a Narcissist’s Supply: The Ugly Truth Behind the Fake Love

Paul1 Reply

What really happens after a Breakup

Most of the time it isn’t even the fact that you broke up with that is the bigger picture but the relief and exhaustion of having to deal with them.    It isn’t something I encourage people to experience.   A narcissist only wants to control and power and manipulation.    That’s what they like and think they deserve to be the center of the world.  It however isn’t something that is ever been talked until recently.   We have so many people with this condition that it isn’t even funny.   It’s dysfunctional at the very least and toxic at the core of a relationship.   When you finally start seeing the signs of the narcissist relationship and even the dynamics it can be too late.     Some of the signs they have issues are quite hard to see at the beginning of the relationship.

  • Idealization –  They put you on a Pedistal and make you feel like your the most important person in the world.   It is usually the first step but can be also included in love bombing techniques.
  • Love Bombing – This is usually their first and second step to grab you and start the process to prevent you from leaving to soon.  They will flatter you and give you all the attention but that’s just the ploy.
  • Devaluation –  This is where they start to dismiss your feelings and gaslight you into doubting your own truth.  They don’t care about your feelings or truths and they only want you to give to them.   This is the problem with kind people they don’t understand that having boundaries is a good thing.   Narcissist love kind people because they hope you don’t notice the cycles until it is too late. This stage they usually stop chasing you and hope you don’t stop chasing them.
  • Repeat Cycle –  I call this the hair washing cycle.  Rinse, lather, repeat.   They will continue to do this cycle.  It’s basically Love bombing and devaluation cycles back and forth until you are walking on eggshells.
  • Discard Phase – If you get to this one you are mostly done for the time being.   This is where they will find a way to get you to leave or make it so you can’t do anything but have to leave.  if you leave on your own, this will cause them to double down and try to get you back.  This never ends well for the person unless they decide to do a no-contact and block them every place they can.

Narcissist Abuse is real!

It can be hard to understand unless you have had this before but when you are in a relationship with a narcissist, it is doubling hard to see the next relationship any better.  You’ll always looking for those red flags and even when you see green flags you are still looking for them acting like a narcissist.   They will leave a long term mark on you thoughts and it takes a strong man or woman to call it out.   Having said that, it can be quite a challenge for anyone who has been the victim of a narcissist relationship.  The Narcissist will not give up though, if you leave or they discard you they may come around again to get their supply of you attention or whatever they may consider to them they need for love.    It’s usually an ego that needs stroking and they will come back when they don’t have anyone lined up to continue the process.

Hovering, Flying Monkeys, and even Triangulation

I put these together because they basically are Narcissist ways of controlling you.  They have friends and family who will let them know what you are doing after the relationship.   They will use every tactic in the book to keep you isolated and make sure they can hoover or control you from afar.  This is why it is best to block their friends and family and ready for this when they decide they want to come back to you for their attention and other things they need.   Flying monkeys will tell the narcissist if you are in a relationship and they will go so far as to smear your name to your next relationship just to show they have control over you.  The real problem is they want to feel powerful and control every aspect of the relationship even after your have broken up.   This can be rather harsh for people to accept but you will have several months to even years before they forget you and go on to another supply.   You’ll just need to stand your ground and learn what to do to fight back and set boundaries.  They will use triangulation to make it sound like they were the victim and you were the problem so it can be quite difficult to keep going after that unless you are far enough away to not be bothered by the smear campaigns.

 

Learn the Signs here are some good websites to visit to learn even more about narcissist abuse and toxic relationship”

The Narcissistic Relationship Cycle

 

https://www.verywellmind.com/narcissistic-abuse-cycle-stages-impact-and-coping-6363187

Stages of a Narcissistic Relationship

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – Not recommended (Day 5)

Paul

 

Microsoft Messed up this game!

I honestly think Microsoft really did work hard at getting this Flight Simulator out before the end of the year and this is the results of their determination to release.   Some of the things people are having the problems with this game is suddenly returning to desktop and other issues with the game if you are using playing on the desktop.   I haven’t heard as much of problems on the XBOX gaming systems but I suspect that was how Microsoft wanted it.   However, I do think the Cloud idea was an idea and wasn’t the best idea.    I much preferred to download the game blob like I did with MSFS 2020 but they want to do it from cloud.   I have yet to get any good playable graphics like they show on the movies.

Career Mode

Great Idea and I love the idea of learning what it really takes to become a commercial pilot and to PPL(Private Pilots License).   I am glad to actually see how you would do it and the walking around the plane is good for the first few missions but is it required for the rest of the missions and flying?  I don’t know it is a necessary thing if you are truly flying the plane to check the plane before you fly it.   So I get the idea and how it is something a real pilot will do.  Doing all the things you learn from becoming a pilot may help you in actually becoming a pilot.  So I can’t say this isn’t a bad idea or part of the game.

World Photographer

Great way to explore the sites around the world and are a combinations of the MSFS 2020 and probably some new places in MSFS 2024.  So it is great resource for those who want to fly a plane and see these places.  You can probably walk around the explore them on foot in if you know how to do it.   However this isn’t anything new because it was somewhat available on the MSFS 2020 and was free for all to download.  I still don’t like the idea of using being maps to create the terrain on MSFS 2024 and I have yet to explore the idea of switching to something that has newer terrain images like Google or some other provider.

All in All

This isn’t really a better version such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.   For the most part it can take anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes to load the game because it being used in the cloud.   Multiple people complaining about how bad it is or put up a negative review of it on steam.   If Microsoft and Asobo wants to make this game better they will need to put out some major updates to address all the crashing and have the game utilize peoples GPU to make the game work even better and make it look like the intro videos that they show while the game loads.   Don’t get me wrong they are doing it in a way to draw people into wanting to play the game but I have a pretty good system myself and I have a 30 series GPU so it should be able to do everything that video is looking like.   However that isn’t the case and it will probably never look that way since the game is being played from the cloud and we aren’t able to use the graphics that they want us to use for the game.    This will be like the Last of Us and the graphics will eventually get better or at least become more stable to not be a problem.  However Microsoft kind of ruined the game by releasing so soon when they should of worked harder at making it a better experience with their customers.  I’m going to sit back and take a waiting stance they fix all these problems that users are complaining about and then I will decide if this is better than MSFS 2020 but for right now it’s not even close.  MSFS is winning in my mind because I don’t have to worry about the game loading and crashing all the time.

The Dark Side of Job Hunting: Are You Being Tricked by Fake Interviews?

Paul
Job search by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

The Rise of Fake Jobs Listing!

There is a rise of fake jobs and even companies who have no intention of hiring anyone.   CBS news did a talk about this on their website but I’m certain people still don’t know about this.   It’s where companies.   I am sure it isn’t being done all the time but i do think it’s something companies are doing that  I have seen in the past.   I’ve seen companies who do the interview but can’t find that one perfect candidate because they don’t want to have to train the potential employee.

I’ve heard all the excuses why the company wouldn’t do this but I suspect that companies are doing for one reason or another and are using potential interviewers as a way to gather data and also to try to find that one special candidate.

Job Interviews and red flags!

The real issue is understanding the red flags that are being done to tell you that it might not be an actual interview.   They will do this for reasons like they want to learn from the interviewer on what it is like.    I’ve had this one job where they reposted the job on LinkedIn before they even had a chance to interview me.    If this happened to you then it is likely going to be like this, but it isn’t the only way to identify a company that might not be actually hiring anyone but doing this for other reason.   Another way to identify if the company is having issues with employee retention is to check out the company careers page and see how many jobs are open in the company.  This won’t tell you if this is a red flag but it will help you understand the chances of this interview being a real or if they are just going through the motions.

Impact to Job Seekers!

The real problem is that it impacts the job seeker by having them hope they get the job and it might be a real job but it really takes a lot out of the job seeker by doing all these interviews.   If the job seeker sees a job that was reposted even before the job seeker goes through the interview process this can curb the enthusiasm and make the potential job seeker not to show the energy they are looking for in an interview.  This is just a few things that will impact a job seeker from finding a job by them having too many interviews.

I could go into details about the job interviews, I’ve done that seemed like they were just going through the motions and that is one way to identify that it might not be a real job interview.

It’s really important to bring this to their attention if you think they are just going through the motions because you should make them consider that your time is valuable just like their time and maybe that will show them how interested you are to getting the job.

Have you had a job interview that you thought went really well and you got a denial letter?  Why not comment and tell me your story.  I’d love to her your experience on the subject matter.