Word: ripper
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...scoop, edged with pronglike "ripper tines," is designed to crunch into the tough polar permafrost. NASA's plan is to dig trenches about 19 in. (.5 m) into the surface, a depth where scientists believe ice meets soil, and haul a sample onto the spacecraft. There, an instrument will heat the soil in tiny ovens, checking the resulting vapors for water and carbon compounds. An on-board chemistry lab with dual microscopes will add water to the sample and analyze the spectral and electrochemical results to check acidity, salt levels, and ion concentrations...
...fitted with a movable scoop and what NASA calls "ripper tines," sharp teeth able to chew through a concrete-like permafrost a lot tougher than the powdery soil found at lower Martian latitudes. The scoop will be able to dig about 19 in. deep (.5 m), or about the depth at which NASA scientists believe the ice meets the soil. It will then transfer what it gouges out to the spacecraft itself, where the onboard science lab will examine it for organic materials, biochemical processes and other signs of life...
...Also on display is the notorious "Dear Boss" letter, written in blood-red ink and sent to the Central News Agency. It purported to be from the murderer, promised more killings, and was signed, "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper." The letter was republished by many papers, though police considered it hoax, possibly written by a journalist. Still, the name stuck. "It seized the public's imagination," Hoffbrand says. It also resulted in a torrent of other gruesome - and probably fake - letters being sent to newspapers and police, each purporting to be from the killer...
...more well-known suspects, but makes no attempt to solve the case. "It's not a whodunit," Hoffbrand says. Actually, 120 years after the fact, it doubtful anyone really wants to see the world's most famous murder mystery solved. That might spoil the rich legacy of Jack the Ripper. And rich it certainly is - a multimillion-dollar industry, featuring periodicals, chatrooms, websites, conventions and the countless books that continue to be written on the subject. The murders have also inspired numerous films, plays and TV dramas, even several stage musicals...
...These days, a visitor to Whitechapel would be hard-pressed to avoid one of the myriad Jack the Ripper walking tours crisscrossing its narrow streets. One operator, London Walks, says of the 140 tours it offers, the Ripper walk "is by far the most popular," the only one scheduled seven evenings a week. "He's almost become a fictional character," Hoffbrand says. "We're obsessed with...