Shorthand term for Mandrax (pronounced "Mandrakes"), a line of highly addictive British pharmaceutical tablets no longer in legal production. They act as barbiturates (or "downers") and were prescribed as sleeping aids in the late 60s and early 70s. They are prevalent on the drug market in many African countries, as well as a few south Asian countries. As Mandrax was initially produced in pill form and meant to be taken orally, many abusers ground up the pills and smoke them with Dagga, because like most other illicit substances, the effects are greatly enhanced when snorted, smoked, consumed in conjunction with alcohol or injected into the bloodstream. Short-term side effects are not much worse than your average anti-depressant (cramps, headaches, emotional problems, etc.) but loss of muscle control (resulting in the user suddenly collapsing) and toxin-induced psychosis have also been found to result from Mandrax use.
by Siegfried Zaga May 22, 2005
Get the mandiesmug. Of or relating to a "kill or be killed" mentality pertaining to the inherent fear that residents of crime-prone areas have of each other. This fear-thy-neighbor mentality causes individuals to feel they have no way of protecting themselves from crime or violence, except by killing anybody who threatens or harasses them.
Such mentality is usually the result of living in violent, crime-prone (typically inner-city) areas for long periods of time and/or watching too much television (no joke).
"Urban survival syndrome" has been used as a legal defense sporadically throughout American history but was first invoked in Texas (go figure) in 1993 by a black youth named Daimion Osby. Osby had been shooting craps with a group of people and had collected a hefty wad of cash ($400). Osby then violated the etiquette rules of street craps by trying to abandon the game without giving the other players a chance to win some of their money back.
Marcus Brooks, who had suffered considerable losses during the game, threatened to "get" Osby as he walked off. With the help of cousin Willie, M. Brooks attempted to shake down Osby during a basketball game, resulting in a fight that was ultimately broken up by police. Osby was again confronted by the duo while in his car sitting at a traffic light; the Brooks brandished a shotgun and tried to force Osby to pull over, but he fled. After a final uneventful confrontation in a public park, Osby purchased a .38 caliber handgun and started carrying it with him for protection.
While conversing with a woman on the curb one evening, Osby was accosted by the Brooks duo for one final time. The Brooks drove their car onto the curb, hitting Osby. They then got out of the car and began assaulting him using their fists. At this point Osby drew his gun and killed one of the Brooks cousins with a single shot to the head. As the surviving cousin attempted to retreat to the car to retrieve the handgun that was stored inside, Osby aerated his assailant's skull with a single shot to the head as well.
At his first trial his attorneys claimed the double homicide was an act of self-defense in the name of urban survival--if he hadn't shot them, they would have returned to threaten, harass or kill him later. Amusingly enough Osby's attorneys tried to convince the jury that anybody having to fight off black men would probably react similarly in fearing for their life; given the statistics, there's a lot of reason to believe black men are scary. But even more amusingly, the defense succeeded (to some degree).
There was no verdict; the jury was hung because one of two black jurors on the panel believed Osby had acted in self-defense. Prosecutors vowed a retrial.
The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution provides for protection against retrials; unless the defendant appeals a guilty verdict, he cannot be tried for the same crime twice (except being tried in both civil and criminal court). However, a hung jury does not prove conclusive--he was neither convicted nor acquitted, so he was fair game for a retrial.
The retrial was held and the "urban survival" plea was not repeated; Osby was found guilty and received an automatic life sentence, as prosecutors had decided before the second trial to not seek the death penalty.
Such mentality is usually the result of living in violent, crime-prone (typically inner-city) areas for long periods of time and/or watching too much television (no joke).
"Urban survival syndrome" has been used as a legal defense sporadically throughout American history but was first invoked in Texas (go figure) in 1993 by a black youth named Daimion Osby. Osby had been shooting craps with a group of people and had collected a hefty wad of cash ($400). Osby then violated the etiquette rules of street craps by trying to abandon the game without giving the other players a chance to win some of their money back.
Marcus Brooks, who had suffered considerable losses during the game, threatened to "get" Osby as he walked off. With the help of cousin Willie, M. Brooks attempted to shake down Osby during a basketball game, resulting in a fight that was ultimately broken up by police. Osby was again confronted by the duo while in his car sitting at a traffic light; the Brooks brandished a shotgun and tried to force Osby to pull over, but he fled. After a final uneventful confrontation in a public park, Osby purchased a .38 caliber handgun and started carrying it with him for protection.
While conversing with a woman on the curb one evening, Osby was accosted by the Brooks duo for one final time. The Brooks drove their car onto the curb, hitting Osby. They then got out of the car and began assaulting him using their fists. At this point Osby drew his gun and killed one of the Brooks cousins with a single shot to the head. As the surviving cousin attempted to retreat to the car to retrieve the handgun that was stored inside, Osby aerated his assailant's skull with a single shot to the head as well.
At his first trial his attorneys claimed the double homicide was an act of self-defense in the name of urban survival--if he hadn't shot them, they would have returned to threaten, harass or kill him later. Amusingly enough Osby's attorneys tried to convince the jury that anybody having to fight off black men would probably react similarly in fearing for their life; given the statistics, there's a lot of reason to believe black men are scary. But even more amusingly, the defense succeeded (to some degree).
There was no verdict; the jury was hung because one of two black jurors on the panel believed Osby had acted in self-defense. Prosecutors vowed a retrial.
The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution provides for protection against retrials; unless the defendant appeals a guilty verdict, he cannot be tried for the same crime twice (except being tried in both civil and criminal court). However, a hung jury does not prove conclusive--he was neither convicted nor acquitted, so he was fair game for a retrial.
The retrial was held and the "urban survival" plea was not repeated; Osby was found guilty and received an automatic life sentence, as prosecutors had decided before the second trial to not seek the death penalty.
by Siegfried Zaga July 15, 2008
Get the urban survival syndromemug. (n.)
Another word for extortion/blackmail, or the obtaining of a good or service through means of force, threats/intimidation, or abuse of power.
Another word for extortion/blackmail, or the obtaining of a good or service through means of force, threats/intimidation, or abuse of power.
Shakedown by force, threats and intimidation:
The Mafia would usually give small business owners "the shakedown," in which if the owner did not pay protection money (or "tribute") to the Mafia Don, their store would mysteriously be firebombed by vandals (read: Mafia thugs) who presumably would have been deterred if the owner had opted to partake in the Mafia protection plan.
Shakedown by abuse of power:
City councils are notorious for shakedowns by abuse of power. Suppose you bought a house for an inflated price of $50000, before property values started declining. The state wants to build a highway, and decides that your house is in the way. You don't want to move, but they offer you $25000 to pack up and leave. If you don't leave, the council will employ the eminent domain laws, which will simply *force* you to leave and *force* you to accept a measly compensation of $15000 (fair market value) for your property. While such practice is actually legal, it's still a shakedown, because if you don't agree to their initial unreasonable demands, you're going to be even worse off as a consequence--just like debating whether you want to drown in your own piss, or someone else's.
The Mafia would usually give small business owners "the shakedown," in which if the owner did not pay protection money (or "tribute") to the Mafia Don, their store would mysteriously be firebombed by vandals (read: Mafia thugs) who presumably would have been deterred if the owner had opted to partake in the Mafia protection plan.
Shakedown by abuse of power:
City councils are notorious for shakedowns by abuse of power. Suppose you bought a house for an inflated price of $50000, before property values started declining. The state wants to build a highway, and decides that your house is in the way. You don't want to move, but they offer you $25000 to pack up and leave. If you don't leave, the council will employ the eminent domain laws, which will simply *force* you to leave and *force* you to accept a measly compensation of $15000 (fair market value) for your property. While such practice is actually legal, it's still a shakedown, because if you don't agree to their initial unreasonable demands, you're going to be even worse off as a consequence--just like debating whether you want to drown in your own piss, or someone else's.
by Siegfried Zaga June 02, 2005
Get the shakedownmug. (n.)
Pertaining to the car tuning hobby and the gaudy aftermarket car parts industry, the name "Uncle Ben" comes from a trademark brand of rice (Asian food staple) whose namesake has been misappropriated to describe ricers/riceboys.
A recurring joke held against the ricer community is that ricers don't buy their own cars or mods; everything is either a gift from parents or is just charged to daddy's credit card--hence the appeal of the "Uncle Ben" label.
Pertaining to the car tuning hobby and the gaudy aftermarket car parts industry, the name "Uncle Ben" comes from a trademark brand of rice (Asian food staple) whose namesake has been misappropriated to describe ricers/riceboys.
A recurring joke held against the ricer community is that ricers don't buy their own cars or mods; everything is either a gift from parents or is just charged to daddy's credit card--hence the appeal of the "Uncle Ben" label.
"Hey check out Uncle Ben's Civic there. That thing's louder and more annoying than Gilbert Gottfried and it's got more stickers on it than a teenage girl's locker."
by Siegfried Zaga May 26, 2005
Get the uncle benmug. Term used to characterize an oppressive majority, set of standards, or other oppressive mainstream institution.
The term was coined by writers Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea in 1975 through the persona of Markoff Chaney, a midget struggling to understand and destroy society's oppressive managerial hierarchy in one of the books of the duo's "Illuminatus! Trilogy."
The relevant passage of the term's context is as follows:
---
The Midget, whose name was Markoff Chaney, was no relative of the famous Chaneys of Hollywood, but people did keep making jokes about that. It was bad enough to be, by the standards of the gigantic and stupid majority, a freak; how much worse to be so named as to remind these big oversized clods of the cinema's two most famous portrayers of monstro-freaks; by the time the Midget was fifteen, he had built up a detestation for ordinary mankind that dwarfed (he hated that word) the relative misanthropies of Paul of Tarsus, Clement of Alexandria, Swift of Dublin and even Robert Putney Drake. Revenge, for sure, he would have. He would have revenge...
Damn the science of mathematics itself, the line, the square, the average, the whole measurable world that pronounced him a bizarre random factor. Once and for all, beyond fantasy, in the depth of his soul he declared war on the "statutory ape," on law and order, on predictability, on negative entropy. He would be a random factor in every equation; from this day forward, unto death, it would be civil war: the Midget versus the Digits....
---
The term was coined by writers Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea in 1975 through the persona of Markoff Chaney, a midget struggling to understand and destroy society's oppressive managerial hierarchy in one of the books of the duo's "Illuminatus! Trilogy."
The relevant passage of the term's context is as follows:
---
The Midget, whose name was Markoff Chaney, was no relative of the famous Chaneys of Hollywood, but people did keep making jokes about that. It was bad enough to be, by the standards of the gigantic and stupid majority, a freak; how much worse to be so named as to remind these big oversized clods of the cinema's two most famous portrayers of monstro-freaks; by the time the Midget was fifteen, he had built up a detestation for ordinary mankind that dwarfed (he hated that word) the relative misanthropies of Paul of Tarsus, Clement of Alexandria, Swift of Dublin and even Robert Putney Drake. Revenge, for sure, he would have. He would have revenge...
Damn the science of mathematics itself, the line, the square, the average, the whole measurable world that pronounced him a bizarre random factor. Once and for all, beyond fantasy, in the depth of his soul he declared war on the "statutory ape," on law and order, on predictability, on negative entropy. He would be a random factor in every equation; from this day forward, unto death, it would be civil war: the Midget versus the Digits....
---
(n.) "For well over a year, those black kids fought the statutory ape, but to no avail--they ended up getting convicted for crimes they didn't commit."
(adv.) "I got rejected by the NBA again. Apparently geriatrics are automatically disqualified. It's statutory ape, I tell you."
(adv.) "I got rejected by the NBA again. Apparently geriatrics are automatically disqualified. It's statutory ape, I tell you."
by Siegfried Zaga May 24, 2005
Get the statutory apemug. Towards the end of Konami's Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2), a computer AI operating under the alias of Colonel Campbell becomes infected with a computer virus codenamed "GW." The virus proceeds to scramble the AI's memory and logic, causing the AI Campbell imposter to utter numerous phrases of complete nonsense, among them the phrase "...I need scissors! 61!" It is part of a longer quote, listed below.
The phrase "I need scissors!" has no particular or coherent meaning, as it is simply the product of a horribly scrambled AI.
The phrase "I need scissors!" has no particular or coherent meaning, as it is simply the product of a horribly scrambled AI.
"I hear its amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hari Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!"
by Siegfried Zaga May 23, 2005
Get the I need scissors! 61!mug. (n.)
Terminology related to the BDSM lifestyle. A "shrimper" is a person who derives sexual satisfaction from sucking toes.
Terminology related to the BDSM lifestyle. A "shrimper" is a person who derives sexual satisfaction from sucking toes.
by Siegfried Zaga June 07, 2005
Get the shrimpermug.