Happy Birthday, Ivy Bean, English Centenarian Tweep

The first cool thing about the subject of today's news story is that her name is Ivy Bean. If there was such thing as an ivy bean, you'd be able to harvest it right in the back yard. Surely it would make a good soup.

The second remarkable thing about Ms. Bean, according to CNN, is that she turns 104 today. And the third — the real kicker — is that this 104-year-old's favorite hobby is social networking via Twitter.

Wow. I know plenty of 60-somethings (hi Mom) who wouldn't know a tweet from an ivy bean.

To cap it all off, she's English, which, based on the stereotypes we peddle here in the U.S., makes it all so perfect I can't keep a stiff upper lip about it. I mean, I say!

Anyway, from her home in Bradford, northern England, she broadcasts her thoughts to 36,016 (and rapidly counting) followers. She switched to Twitter from Facebook after she got so many friends (5,000) the site wouldn't let her make any more. She prefers being a Tweep (a Twitter-user) because updating her posse on her comings and goings — getting her hair done with Mabel, eating (of course!) fish and chips, mourning her friend Norma's passing — is simpler.

Ms. Bean doesn't spend all her time in front of the computer, though. She recently won the gold in frisbee-throwing in the Over-75 Olympics at Hillside Manor, the residential home where she lives. Her other hobby? Bowling on Nintendo Wii.

Jolly good!

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng