This piece leaves out the most important advice for staying respectable when drinking: EAT. There's a huge difference between 4 drinks on an empty stomach and 4 drinks on a full stomach.
One thousand times this. And it doesn't count if you eat after the first drink, and hors d'oeuvres are useless. You need to scarf down a burger, a couple of slices of bread, some rice, pasta, anything voluminous to line your stomach BEFORE that first sip. It makes all the difference.