For decades, tormented alcoholics have taken comfort in the clear, soul-penetrating language of AA's "Big Book," which serves as a guide down the path to sobriety. Now they're publishing the original manuscript, with all the edits. Confusion ahoy, alcoholics!

England is merrier than usual today, as ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair's memoir finally hits bookstores! So, is he sorry about Iraq? Did he ever "like-like" the Queen? Many questions remain. Blair makes one thing clear, though: He loved getting drunk.

People who drink heavily have lower mortality rates than those who don't drink at all, according to a new study. Why? Could be because they're way more fun at parties. No, really! Science says so!

"Americans' love affair with top-shelf booze cooled last year as the recession took a toll on high-priced tipples. A new report by an industry group shows people drank more but turned to cheaper brands. They also drank more at home and less in pricier bars and restaurants." [AP]

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Nan Robertson—author of a book about how terribly the paper treated its female employees—died this week at the age of 83.

My hometown paper, eulogizing a beach bum bar that closed after six decades: "Haney wrote a touching obituary to Pomars, observing that 'nobody looked at you funny if you had a beer with your breakfast.'" Well, okay. [Pic via]

Wet-brained scientists have discovered that long-term alcoholics may misread the emotional cues that people project with their facial expressions. And how!

Violent drunks and junkies take heart: If Naomi Campbell can turn her life around, anyone can! The scary supermodel has been telling Giant magazine that she's finally been cured of her addiction to cocaine and alcohol by a therapy she calls The Program, which involves body cleanses and a Buddhisty-sounding philosophy that "teaches you to let go." Let go of what, one wonders? Certainly not bad behavior, since Naomi's image as an impossible diva prone to seismic tantrums is, she reveals, nothing but a silly myth, first perpetuated by her spurned former model agency boss John Casablancas. "He had to attack me because I decided to leave. Models can leave agencies. I was not under a written contract. I was shocked to see how he acted." Isn't it awful how one vindictive rumor can dog an innocent person for their entire career?

It turns out that the Silver Hill rehab facility in New Canaan, Connecticut is ideally located for its new glut of customers: local residents whose Wall Street careers flourished due to personal qualities—being risk-prone and adrenalin-seeking with a deluded sense of invincibility and a work hard/play hard attitude—that have led them down the path of drug addiction and alcoholism now that times are hellishly stressful.

Tracy Morgan's "faulty fish tank" set off a fire yesterday inside his apartment at 160 Riverside Boulevard. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the incident. But could we kindly ask that some city official send the frequently drunk comedian a bill? According to fire officials,"25 units and 78 firefighters responded to the blaze, which was declared under control at 9:01 am." [NYP]

Well now, we got our hands on a survey of people who watch Mad Men, the critically acclaimed show that consists of sex, sexism, cigarettes, booze, boozy sex, racism, and a bit of advertising. And guess what? The audience appears to be made up of off-the-charts alcoholics. Forty-seven times the normal rate of hard Irish Whiskey drinkers, for example. But there's one stunning twist in all this here data!

A new scientific study has determined that Alcoholics Anonymous members drink more coffee and smoke more cigarettes than the population at large. Now that they have that one taken care of, can someone please find out whether baseball fans like Cracker Jacks? [Reuters]

Ah, the good old days of 1947: a simpler time, when titans sat astride the corporate world, and those titans had desks appropriate to men with superhuman prestige—desks that were acknowledgments of the widespread on-the-job alcoholism that was the style at the time. Modern Mechanix digs up a Popular Science story from '47 about an executive dream desk with everything a man could possibly desire: a 'work' side with a six-tube radio, Teletalk Intercommunication Master Unit, and electronic dictaphone; and a 'play' side with a wet bar and fridge. Oddly, the personal safe is also on the 'play' side, but the cigarette lighter is on the work side. A different culture. The cost of this masterwork? "Well into the four figures." Larger image of the story, after the jump.