11-2-95. W$Japer: "Happy, Healthy and Odd: Nonconformists Live Longer." For modern-day eccentrics, computer hackers qualified, as did academics, scientists, rock stars and artists. Traits: nonconforming; creative; strongly motivated by curiosity; idealistic (wanting to make the world a better place and the people in it happier); cheerfully obsessed with one or more hobbyhorses; aware from early childhood of being different; intelligent, opinionated, outspoken; convinced of being right and that the rest of the world is out of step; noncompetitive (not in need of reassurance from the rest of society); unusual in eating habits and living arrangements; not particularly interested in the opinions or the company of other people, except to persuade them to his point of view; possessed of a mischievous sense of humor; single; usually the eldest or an only child; a bad speller. ECC_boo (9 kb)