RIP STEVE C. – A HUGE LOSS FOR OUR BIG FAMILY

I received this tragic message from Steve’s close friend today. I had been hoping for the best after hearing about his sickness over a month ago. The message was also sent to nkit and Anthony Aaron, his Sunday Classics colleagues. Steve was a good man, a vital TBP contributor, and has joined a hall of fame of TBP stars in heaven. Below is his first official article on TBP in 2019, talking about his dysfunctional TBP family. RIP Steve. We will miss you. 

Per my Special Instructions. I am to inform you all that Mr Candidus passed away On August 28, 2025. He was hospitalized July 8, 2025. It was at this time it was found he suffered from stage 4 cancer of the colon.

It had already metastasized, and was thru out many other organs and bones. He was moved to hospice care on July 27th. The Hospice staff kept him “comfortable” until it was his time.

Living In a Big Family

“…Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others…” — Otto von Bismarck (1815 – 1898)

People that grew up in a big family seem to have a different outlook than those that didn’t.

Although my nuclear family consisted of only our parents and four kids, we spent the summers at an old boarding house that was owned by my dad and all of his brothers and sisters (nine in all). There was no heat installed in it so it was just a summer home, but with all of those uncles, aunts, and cousins, it was a zoo.

Not only did it have all of those boarding house rooms, the attic was a huge open space with no finished walls, just the outside boards, and was filled with beds. We kids usually occupied the attic.

As family, we learned to get along. We had to. It was wall-to-wall people. In fact, it carried over even to our individual homes.

I would have a knockdown, drag out fight with my brother, and walk out to the kitchen to get a glass of milk and when I returned I would ask him he wanted to go fishing or something just as if nothing had ever happened. He would answer the same way – sure. Because that’s the way it is in big families. You have your fight and it’s over.

I find that this site is kind of like living in a big family. A good shitfest today and tomorrow we act as if nothing ever happened. At least the smart ones do. Jim provides us with a place where we can express ourselves without censorship or moderation. What a luxury. I was still writing sh**tf**t when I first came here. I love it here.

One of my first articles on TBP was about companies that have non-disclosure agreements for employees that leave the company. Llpoh and I really went at it in the comments. Llpoh beat me like a mule. HSF got in a few shots too as I recall. We are all men of strong feelings and opinions and although we never did agree, we were all able to leave it on that thread. – Big family.

After the dust settled and I licked my wounds, I never looked back or ever gave any of it a second thought. I have commented for and about each of them since then numerous times without any carry over. – Big family.

When I first started posting articles and making comments El Coyote mentored me. To be honest, he can be pretty condescending at times – even downright irritating.

BUT

The fact that he was mentoring me at all told me that he must have seen something good in me and that he wanted for me to be successful here so I accepted his criticisms and more importantly, I took his advice. At least most of the time. I did get in that fight with SSS one night against his advice, but I came out of it ahead I think…

Perhaps the most recent shitfest wasn’t really about big dogs versus newbies, but people that come from big families and those that don’t. You can’t stay mad at someone in this place for very long and expect to survive. – Big family.

I personally don’t care for people posting as anonymous or this doppelganger thing, but you take the good with the bad and it’s Jim’s house so he makes the rules. If I don’t think that I can live with them, I can go and start my own Blog. Truthfully, I don’t dislike them that much, so I live with them and by them. That’s just being a good guest to our good host. – Big family.

Yes, I know, I’ve read all the reasons (excuses) for posting as anonymous, but we are all anonymous here. If protecting your identity is so important then just a make up a name and post consistently as that. You disclose nothing, but it would make following the comments a lot easier.

I won’t even touch on the doppelganger thing.

It’s always good practice to learn from mistakes, but as Bismarck said, only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from other peoples.

So what did I learn from this most recent shitfest?

First and foremost of course is that when you live in a big family you fight and then get over it quickly. – Got that one down.

Second is that El Coyote is more versatile than I had given him credit for. Jim would give the three combatants a warning to knock it off and EC would immediately bait HR. And HR always, and I mean always, took the bait and would go off on one of his tirades. I guess HR never did any boxing. You never fight the other guys fight. Big mistake. – Small family. I learned that I don’t want to get into a dust-up with EC. He’s tricky.

Stucky is another that loves to bait people. He baited me one time on an article that I wrote on my birthday that was actually about abortion and some fun suggestions about how to combat it with those that support it. I wrote it in a sort of a Dave Barry kind of humor. It didn’t go over well for reasons that still escape me, but Stucky did one of his crazy number things where he added and multiplied all kinds of numbers until he reached the number 666 and then declared me to be the Anti-Christ.

I didn’t take the bait.

HR commented that Stucky was a genius, but I think that he was still mad at me for criticizing him for commenting on an article a few weeks earlier that he admitted he hadn’t read. I let his first comments about it go, but when he criticized the author – Daisy Luther – (full disclosure here – I have written some articles for Daisy and she is a nice lady) I commented that he should go and read the article before commenting on specifics of what she had or hadn’t written.

HR responded that I was obviously an antifa troll. How he got to that conclusion from what I wrote is known only to him.

A few months later I managed to poke Stucky back answering one of his comments on some thread when I mentioned that the last time I wrote something about that particular topic he used one of his numbers things to conclude that I was the Anti-Christ. Stucky recognized both the jab and the humor of my response. – Big family.

Third is that this place is resilient. TBP will survive and go on. – Big family.

So kids in the attic and it’s on to the next shitfest!

Let the games begin…

Steve Candidus is a writer and history buff that works as a product and application specialist of large AC electric motors in Spring, Texas.