viewing battery life and charging?!

i can't tell how charged this new ipod nano is or when it is charging (or draining).

for instance right now it is plugged into a usb connection and charing and i see a full white battery with a lightning symbol. is this saying it is fully charged or just that it is charging?

either way - how do i know how much batttery life is left in the device? i don't see any indicator or any settings for this.

finally, if i have this plugged into my car and i turn off the car - does the ipod keep playing even though i have turned off the car? i mean, do i have to get back into the music i was listening to and pause or stop the song? seems like this device is always discharged.

i had a little shuffle without the visual display and life seemed a lot simpler back then....

thanks for reading the noob questions!