What if everyone had tatoos of their name.

Scenario: You are at the library/at a happy hour/at a conference/in the restroom, and you run into someone you know, or you know you've met before... but can't remember their name. What do you do?

There are a lot of helpful hints out there on the internet.
AU Interactive suggests:

1. Ask for a business card. (Not well suited for college parties).
2. Ask for the email address. This doesn’t work if their email address is bigboy79@hotmail.com. But if that’s really their email address, are you sure you still want to talk to them?
3. Introduce them to a friend. Use the friend ploy where you introduce them to someone you know by saying, “Hey, have you met my friend Walter? This is Walter Solbcheck … (spacey pause)… This is where they start saying their name, a split second after which you repeat the name like you were going to say it all along.
4. Be upfront. “I’m sorry I forgot your name”. You can also follow this up with “I can never remember names.” Often the other person will say the same thing.

All of which I've done. Fine.

Happieness Project had some slightly more creative ones:

1. The “I know your name, but I’m blocked” dodge:
“I keep wanting to call you "David," but I know that’s not right.”

2. The “Of course I know you -- in fact, I want all your information” dodge:
“Hey, I’d love to get your card.”

3. The “The tip of my tongue” dodge:
“I know I know your name, but I’m blanking right now.”

4. The “You’re brilliant!” dodge:
“Wow, you have a terrific memory. I can’t believe you remember my name from that meeting six months ago. I can’t remember the names of people I met yesterday! So of course I have to ask you your name.”

5. The “Sure, I remember you” dodge:
“Remind me – what’s your last name?” If you ask a person for his last name, he’s likely to repeat both names. “Doe, John Doe.”

6. The “One-sided introduction” dodge:
“Hey,” you say to the person whose name you can’t remember, “let me introduce you to Pat Smith.” You introduce the two and say the name of the person whose name you remember. Almost always, the nameless person will volunteer his or her name.

Ok now we have some real strategy. See Doing it for me as well.

Now wikiHow suggests: Once you forget that person’s name, just continue acting like you know it.

Now, lets say it's someone you've known for a while. See frequently, but you've continued "acting like you know it" but there is some mitigating factor that puts them on the top of the important-names-to-know list. Then what do you do?
Maybe they are a relative, one you've seen every January for the last five years at the family reunion; maybe it is the IT guy who has fixed your computer umpteen times because you've been surfing the internet too much at work and downloaded multiple viruses; maybe it is you're boss' son, who didn't tattle on you when he saw you drop a pesto appetizer on the rug at thier house, and moved a plant over the spot. Those kinds of people, who you then feel like you need to do a little more reconnaissance work. You know those people...

So then what do you do? Any suggestions?