I know what I’m cooking this Saturday morning:

There’s a reason you should never look at the sun – that’s because NASA does it for you and when they do they see cool stuff like Jupiter and its moons travelling behind the sun – if you were to do it you’d see your retinas fried:

That mild green glow on the left side of the sun is billions of tons of plasma blasting off the surface into outerspace.

Forgive me – a few emails have trickled through from people asking when we’re going to add some more fun stuff to our fun stuff page. I’ve been in Thailand for the past few weeks leading our tag-along tours so I haven’t really had time to put anything up here … except for this cool video. Comedian Louis CK was on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and points out just how amazing everything is and yet we’re still not happy. The video is funny and some of the language is NSFW. And to those who wanted more content on this blog, think about this – two days ago I was in another country, how amazing is that!

So what exactly does it take to write a hit song? Just 4 chords. So parents, save money on music lessons for your kids, just have them learn the four chords in this video and your kids could become your new retirement fund – best investment you’ll ever make:

The guy in the video is Benny Davis and he’s Australian – he and his two friends created a band/comedy act called Axis of Awesome and now tour the world.

BTW, the chords are I V VImin IV – so that could translate as D, A, Bm, G if you’re playing in the key of D – OR – E, B, C#m, A if you’re in the key of E.

I love an open kitchen, but it gets more exciting when danger is involved. A Japanese chef creates a volcano from onion rings, and oil plus some neat lava:

What! – they don’t even eat this.

World War – 3D Animation @ University Of Hertfordshire 2008 from Digital Animation Herts Uni UK on Vimeo.

It seems like short films were becoming a dying art – but thanks to the interweb you can see some truly world-class films that otherwise would never reach your local theatre. Vincent Chai made this awesome animated video for his final project at the University Of Hertfordshire – amazing graphics, cute story and an ending that takes you by surprise.

This guy should enter ‘India’s got talent’ – I’m sure he’s going to get more money on that show compared to what he gets doing the following day in day out:

I don’t know why, I just love this video – makes you realise the world is amazing:

Guaranteed: You’ve never seen data presented like this. By any logic, a presentation that tracks global health and poverty trends should be, in a word: boring. But in Rosling’s hands, data sings. Trends come to life. And the big picture — usually hazy at best — snaps into sharp focus.

Rosling developed breakthrough software which animates trends in incredible ways showing you that most of the third world is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity, and many countries are moving twice as fast as the west did. This has UNBELIEVABLE impacts on the world as you and I might know it.

Cool short film that won the NFB online competition at Cannes 2008. With a change of words, a stranger transforms the afternoon for a blind man: