If you were making "real money" you wouldn't be hear pissing and moaning
about Jim's advice.... which by the way was good......... idiot.

If he doesn't have that much time, stop f*cking around with it and bring it
to a shop that does have a test light and know what they are doing

There must be something wrong with human nature. Threads invariably
deteriorate to personal attacks after a certain length. Usually they
remain civil longer than this one, though.

OP, you need to find out which wire is suppose to be hot, and then you
need to determine if it's hot. A test light may be better than a meter
for this purpose.

Jim was correct in that the word "seem" shouldn't be in your
determination. Is it hot or not? And Jim did use a precautionary
introduction to give himself license to criticize. In other words, he
had a right to scold you for being ambiguous. Moreover, looking at the
previous posts, he *was* trying to help you. And I think he'll continue
to do so if you show that you're man enough to apologize.

The rest of your post - about cancer, pills, and stocks - is childish
and irrelevant. Let's say I have all three; are you going to treat me
any differently in a NG? No. And I wouldn't want you to.
--
         (||) Nehmo (||)

I don't trade stocks for a living.... I deal with automobiles.... If you
feel we can fix an automobile by dealing with "I'm not sure if there is
power there...", I surely wouldn't want any investment advice.

I am sorry that your Dad has cancer... I lost my father to heart disease
and, six months later, cancer took my mother.... My wife has Crohns disease
and both of her parents are gone.... My son is lucky... when his parents are
gone, there will be no other siblings to dispute the will... We all go some
time or another - when the angel blows in your ear, you will follow....

I do not take any meds... modern people depend on pills for too many
"ailments" that may or may not be real..... Besides, my loving brides
condition has her taking enough pills for both of us....

You are not wasting my time... you are wasting both of our times... I care
about mine... apparently you are too cheap (being the big money stock
trader) to get your Dad back on the road as quick as possible... since he
has only a finite amount of time left. If it was my Dad, and I was a trader
that could show folks how to make "real money", I wouldn't be pissing around
in the driveway pretending to care for the old buzzard. This is the man that
raised you... he deserves better than what you offer.

Go ahead and ask a "good" mechanic.... change as many parts as you feel
comfortable with... (if you were as good as you indicate, you could lease
him a car and write it off on your taxes). You tell people how to invest
their money. I'm telling you how it works in my field.... like a stock
trader, I can do you good or I can do you bad.... If I'm working with bad
information.........

BTW, you have a real interesting posting history