Last Sunday the New York Daily News published an article titled "Fast
Lane" that took a look back at fifteen people who got their fifteen minutes of fame in 2008. Being social climbers ourselves, we scrutinized the article closely, trying to read between lines in hopes of discovering some obscure pattern that might help us to achieve similar results in 2009.

Here's a random sampling of the men and five out of six of the women they featured. See if you can come up with anything.

Michael Forbes:  Scottish fisherman who refused to sell his family farm to Donald Trump
William Lopez:  Streaked Yankee Stadium during his graduation ceremony
Veeramuthu Kalimuthu:  Mechanic who jumped onto subway tracks to rescue a stranger
Alain Robert:  French daredevil who climbed the New York Times building

Kristin Davis:  Ran a high-end Manhattan prostitution ring
Laura Fay:  Slept with Vito Fossella
Rielle Hunter:  Slept with John Edwards
Mindy McCready:  Slept with Roger Clemens
Ashley Dupre:  Slept with Eliot Spitzer