Alot of the blinking that you are seeing (not all) is due to the sun pulsating at a very high rate. Here in about four years (around 2012) it will be changing its magnetic poles (it does it every eleven years), just this time it is doing it at a much HIGHER rate.
Did you know that a comet (very large) almost hit the sun??? They didn't tell you about that in the news, did they??? Thankfully, one of the pulses from the sun magnetuted enough to throw the very large crater off course. You may/may not hear about this in the near future. But anyways, yes the sun is pulsating.
Thought I'd share
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