Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship founded in 1935 (two years after the end of Prohibition in the United States in December 1933) by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio. AA stated "primary purpose" is to help alcoholics "stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety". With other early members Bill Wilson and Bob Smith developed AA's Twelve Step program of spiritual and character development. AA's initial Twelve Traditions were introduced in 1946 to help the fellowship be stable and unified while disengaged from "outside issues" and influences.

The Traditions recommend that members and groups remain anonymous in public media, altruistically helping other alcoholics and avoiding official affiliations with other organization. The Traditions also recommend that those representing AA avoid dogma and coercive hierarchies. Subsequent fellowships such as Narcotics Anonymous have adopted and adapted the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions to their respective primary purposes.

Jim

Jim is a diminutive form of the forename "James". For individuals named Jim, see articles related to the name Jim.

See also

Twelve Traditions

The Twelve Traditions of twelve-step programs provide guidelines for relationships between the twelve-step groups, members, other groups, the global fellowship, and society at large. Questions of finance, public relations, donations, and purpose are addressed in the Traditions. They were originally written by Bill Wilson after the founding of the first twelve-step group, Alcoholics Anonymous.

Origins

Several of the tenets of what was to become AA's Twelve Traditions were first expressed in the Foreword to the First Edition of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939. By 1944 the number of AA groups had grown along with the number of letters being sent to the AA headquarters in New York asking how to handle disputes caused by issues like publicity, religion, and finances. By 1946 AA cofounder Bill Wilson had more clearly formulated the basic ideas for the Twelve Traditions directly from such correspondence with groups (via the group conscience method), setting guidelines on how groups and members should interact with each other, the public, and AA as a whole. The Traditions were first published in the April 1946 AA Grapevine under the title Twelve Points to Assure Our Future and were formally adopted at AA's First International Convention in 1950. Wilson's book on the subject, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, was published in April, 1953.

The Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous)

Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism (generally known as The Big Book because of the thickness of the paper used in the first edition) is a 1939 basic text, describing how to recover from alcoholism, primarily written by one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Bill W. but with one chapter, "To Employers" written by Henry Parkhurst. It is the originator of the seminal "twelve-step method" widely used to treat many addictions, from alcoholism and heroin addiction to marijuana addiction, as well as overeating, sex addiction, gambling addiction, with a strong spiritual and social emphasis.

It is one of the best-selling books of all time, having sold 30 million copies. In 2011, Time magazine placed the book on its list of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923, the beginning of the magazine. In 2012, the Library of Congress designated it as one of 88 "Books that Shaped America."

Magic: The Gathering core sets, 1993–2007

The collectible card game Magic: The Gathering published nine core sets from 1993–2007, also referred to as basic sets and base sets. These sets consisted entirely of reprints, usually focusing on staple cards Wizards of the Coast felt should always be available. These cards were generally simpler than cards in expansion sets, omitting multicolored cards, and all but the simplest mechanics such as Flying, Trample and Haste. As Magic grew, the base sets were considered descendants of the original Limited Edition, and shaped the default setting and feel of Magic. In contrast, Magic "expansion sets" usually chose a particular theme, such as artifacts for Antiquities. All cards were given a white border to mark them as reprints, with a few exceptions (Tenth Edition, foil cards in Seventh-Ninth Editions). From Fourth Edition in 1995 onward, a new base set would come out once per two years in the spring or early summer; for tournament play, that set would be legal for two years in the Standard format until the next core set replaced it.