Kendall Giles

It is clear to most that the politicians of today are no where near the caliber of our Founding Fathers, and we have been reminded of this fact quite frequently during this campaign season. For example, even John F. Kennedy knew where to tip his hat: in 1962 the former President was entertaining forty-nine Nobel Prize winners at the White House, where he said,

"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House---with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

If you find yourself needing a reminder of those who helped forge our nation, or want to gain some small insight into their lives, one suggestion is to visit their former homes---even the homes of Jefferson himself, perhaps.

While many know of Jefferson's main retreat in Charlottesville, Virginia, called Monticello, fewer know of his summer home about 90 miles South in Forest, Virginia, called Poplar Forest.

Jefferson, also an architect especially excelling in the Palladian style, designed Poplar Forest to be his private retreat to get away from the constant interruptions and visitors at Monticello, and work began on the home in 1805. Jefferson wrote of his home in 1812:

"When finished, it will be the best dwelling house in the state, except that of Monticello; perhaps preferable to that, as more proportioned to the faculties of a private citizen."

Visitors to the home today can see the progress being made in restoring the house and grounds to what they would have been like in Jefferson's time.

So if all the hot air in Washington gets you down, you may want to consider retreating to Poplar Forest, as Jefferson did, for some contemplation and rejuvenation.

At the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, James Bond loses the love of his life. Falling into a downward spiral of depression and loneliness, James loses his fire, his will to live, and perhaps, his job.

On one last assignment to see if he has anything left, in You Only Live Twice, by Ian Fleming, James must go to Japan to recover secret spy technology and intercepts by the Japanese. While there, James soon finds himself on the trail of a mysterious and sinister foreigner who has created an island of death, filled with macabre poison plants, piranhas-filled lakes, and scalding lava pits. But James is rejuvenated through the mentor relationship with Tiger Tanaka and the chance for revenge when James discovers something important about the mysterious creator of the island of death. The love of an island fisher girl saves him though, in a very touching side to the typical action-oriented James Bond thriller.

This book finds an end to the Blofeld trilogy, and is actually a very satisfying conclusion. It resolves many of the inner demons inside James, and rekindles the fire that makes our favorite 00-agent tick. We also get to see a bit of the inside of Japanese culture, experienced through the eyes of a British agent.

The plot of the movie version deviates somewhat from the real storyline, but Sean Connery nevertheless provides a commendable rendition of the James we know and love on the silver screen.

Note that reading this book completes part of one task of my 101 Goals in 1001 Days project.

Some say that Thunderball, by Ian Fleming, was the book that really started James Bond on his path of world-wide fame and recognition as a literary icon. For Thunderball was the first of the Blofeld trilogy - that iconic villain Ernest Stavro Blofeld.

Here, we are introduced to SPECTRE via their plot to steal two nuclear warheads and explode them at key locations in a ransom plot for money. James gets involved, accidentally, when a chance encounter with someone involved in the SPECTRE plot sets off a series of unfortunate incidents, resulting in James being sent to the Bahamas as a scout for the missing nuclear warheads. James teams up with CIA agent friend Felix Leiter, falls in love with the beautiful Domino, and winds up in the clutches of Blofeld's number one agent, Emilio Largo. That Domino seems to be Emilio's lover only adds to the spice, and trouble for Bond.

But while the movie version is pure action-oriented James Bond thriller that we know and love, the book version actually adds more subtle and introspective layers to the James Bond character that I would have never known from only watching Sean Connery. So while the movie is nice, I find the book much more authentic and, frankly, gripping.

I am sure you recognize the interface by now:



Yes, it's Apple's new iPod Touch 2.0, dubbed "the funnest iPod ever" by Steve Jobs.

It has a new outer design - sleeker than the first generation iPod Touch, now with a shiny stainless steel design. There are also volume control buttons on the side - convenient when you want to quickly change the volume of a song without having to activate the interface. It also has a built-in speaker - convenient for when you want to set a wake-up alarm, but not too useful when you want to listen to music or watch a movie in a crowded subway - you'll still want your earphones in that case.

It also has built-in Nike+ sensor software - you just need to add the shoe sensor and you can save your running workouts directly to your iPod Touch. Also, there is longer battery life - up to 36 hours of audio or 6 hours of video, plus the built-in accelerometer, which adds new dimensions to user interface possibilities.

Speaking of which, perhaps the best feature of the new iPod is the AppStore. Apple opened up their development environment to allow anyone to create games, utilities, reference applications, entertainment packages, and other finance, sports, social networking, productivity, weather, travel, photography, news, navigation, music, lifestyle, healthcare and fitness, education, business, and book applications, and offer them for free and for sale through their App Store. Downloading and installing new software packages is trivial, and the number of useful software packages will only increase going forward.

And there's even a built-in stock tracker, in case you would like to keep track of how poorly your stocks are doing.

The built-in Safari browser renders web pages in a very readable format, and the ability to zoom in at-will with the Touch's unique interface makes reading and surfing very enjoyable on such a small device.

But one of the main reasons I got one was because I travel a lot, and like to listen to audio books while on the road. Especially if you have an audible.com account, the iPod is perfect for this.

As for where to buy them, I tried hard to buy it from an Apple retail store. I called prior to going there to see if they had them in stock - they didn't, and didn't know when they would get them in stock. Might be soon, they said.

After waiting a week, I called again and they said they *did* have them in stock. But by the time I drove all the way out to the store, they didn't have any more in the 32 GB version.

So rather than deal with the hassle, I finally decided to order it online. If you order from the Apple store, then you can get free engraving, as well as free shipping. Interestingly, with the default shipping option, my iPod travelled from the engraving factory in Kunshan, China, to my doorstep in Virginia in three days, stopping briefly in Shanghai, China, Anchorage, Alaska, Indianapolis, Indiana, and a few more little towns on the way to my doorstep.

iPod Touch

Prices as of 23 September 2008:

Apple iPod touch 8 GB (2nd Generation)$219.94

Apple iPod touch 16 GB (2nd Generation)$289.94

Apple iPod touch 32 GB (2nd Generation) $379.94

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