Today we discuss immortality through technology and several stories related to Russia: Putin's goals in the Middle East, a possible deal with Israel to develop the Leviathan natural gas field, and Russian code infects Pentagon servers with viruses.

AN ASTEROID will fly by Earth on Halloween at only 1.3x the distance of the Moon. It's nicknamed "Spooky", it's been identified by astronomers as a dead comet -- and it just happens to look like a human skull.

Also: Comet Lovejoy spews alcohol and sugar into space; robots that can read your emotions; IS claims responsibility for tragic Russian airliner crash; insect-sized drones; and Putin positions Russia as the defender of Christendom.

A CREEPY new video presents a dark puzzle that apparently threatens U.S. President Barack Obama. As of today, nobody seems to know who created the video and what it really means.

Also: More evidence of intrigue at the Vatican, UN initiative adopted by several US cities targets right-wing extremists, Parliament of World Religions pushes universalism, and Shiite Muslims commemorate 7th century Battle of Karbala with bloody self-flagellation.

RUSSIA AND Iran have sent troops to fight for Syria’s largest city, Aleppo. Since it borders on the “Islamic State-free zone” declared by Turkey and the US last month, will the NATO allies have a problem with this? And how will the Islamic State respond?

More significantly, the IS-free zone (which is definitely not IS-free) includes Dabiq, the village where the Islamic State believes it will fight a climactic battle against the forces of Rome (Christendom) before they go on to establish the global caliphate. How will the IS respond?

Also: Mindfulness makes converts even in Christian churches, a recommendation for Annie Jacobsen's history of DARPA (The Pentagon's Brain), and scientists claim they can make Christians disbelieve in God -- with magnets.

WE TEND not to be alarmists when it comes to Christian persecution in the USA. But things have shifted in recent years and it's starting to get ugly.

But things have shifted in recent years and it's getting ugly. Think what you will of Kim Davis (the Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, who has refused to comply with the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage and issue marriage permits to gay couples), some of the criticism she's received is chilling--for example, equating her actions with sharia law.

Lest we forget, the Islamic State marked the Supreme Court's ruling by throwing four gay men off a rooftop and tweeted the pictures under the hashtag #lovewins. THAT is what sharia looks like.  And frankly, some supporters of same-sex marriage are getting close to advocating sharia-type penalties for people who don't share their worldview.

Also: Blood Rave in Amsterdam; Cicada 3301; remembering Operation Blackjack; the "gospel" chorus that sang for Hillary; and living forever as a virtual social media profile.

IT'S SURPRISING how often otherwise respectable news outlets publish stories with little verification. Some are difficult to take seriously, such as the alleged werewolf in Brazil, and some are intended mainly to raise questions, such as the so-called "Stonehenge in space".

We also discuss Buzz Aldrin's interesting expense report for Apollo 11, advances in genetics that could lead to really creepy mind control, the Blue Moon Murders in Escambia County, Florida, and how Black Hat hackers have figured out how to get your washing machine to spy on you.

By the way: Derek was almost right about the Philae lander on Comet 67-P. The probe is looking for organic molecules (which means anything with carbon atoms), but the request of Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe to include a test for microbial life was denied during the planning stage of the mission 15 years ago.

TRANSHUMANISTS AIM, generally speaking, to fulfill the promise made in the Garden: You shall be as gods. Today we discuss a variety of memes and news items related to the topic: A new theory of memory storage in the brain, research on connecting our brains to the cloud (and to a hive mind), and occult themes in the Johnny Depp film Transcendence.

AS THE classic rock song goes, "Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...into the future..." Thanks to quantum physics. it seems those lyrics might not be technically correct.

A recent experiment with helium atoms demonstrated that, at the quantum level, time may run backwards, and reality does not even exist until it is observed. Some New Age teachers take this as confirmation of the Law of Attraction, or mind over matter -- much to the annoyance of quantum physicists.

Also: MERS and Avian flu continue to spread (and Ebola in West Africa is not quite dead); organ harvesting in China; the Bilderberg Group meets this weekend; "Contact in the Desert" spreads the ancient alien gospel; California moves to eliminate personal belief exemptions for unvaccinated children;  and a child dies in Mexico, apparently sacrificed to Santa Muerte.

THE TELEVISION series Dig is a well-written and stylish archaeological thriller, dramatizing an attempt by secretive groups of Christian and Jewish zealots to bring about the Apocalypse by destroying the Dome of the Rock, the mosque that is believed to occupy the site of Solomon's Temple.

We discuss elements of the show and the tendency of people -- selves included -- to incorporate fiction into our theology.

Also: The ongoing bird flu disaster in the United States, a reoccurrence of Ebola in west Africa, implications of sacrificing religious freedom to gay marriage, and Rick Warren's weight-loss guide named "Christian Book of the Year".

MOUNTAINS ARE shaking. A massive earthquake has left over 2,400 dead in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Tibet at last count, and that number will almost certainly grow in the hours ahead.

Meanwhile, a volcano in Chile has unexpectedly erupted for the first time in 40 years, spewing a cloud of ash that's reached southern Brazil.

What's more, people spotted something that looked like a giant in the cloud and some locals are convinced that it was a manifestation of the god of the volcano.

This isn't surprising. Mountains and volcanoes have been considered the abode of gods since the dawn of time. In fact, Eden was on "the holy mountain of God" (Ezekiel 28:13-14). And the climactic battle between the armies of heaven and the forces of Antichrist will be at Armageddon -- har-mo'ed -- the "mount of assembly" in the Holy Land, Mount Zion.