How am I doing?

In my last post I wrote about New Year Resolutions and set myself one. Concerned about the number of books piling up unread I said "I am going to try to pick up a different one of my books from my shelves each week and see what interesting facts I can find.  I'll make a record of these facts and aim to produce a list of 52 gems of information by the end of the year."
So, how am I doing?  I am pleased to report that in week 4 I am sticking to my resolution. I am indeed keeping a record of the books read and my file '52 Gems' is building up. Two interesting snippets are in a book about Symbols. Did you know, for instance, that there is no name in the English language for the @ symbol?  We call the & symbol an ampersand and the * symbol an asterisk but what do we call the @ symbol?
Also, from the same book did you know that the # symbol was originally called an "Octothorpe" named after a 1912 Olympic athlete called James Thorpe?
Keep watching.......