Today the Times tantalizes us with a blind item about bedbugs. Apparently a crack bedbug-investigative team found the vermin in the home of "a couple of well-known television personalities and a famous actor." Ooh, who do you think they are? We love it when the Gray Lady indulges in a little gossip in spite of herself. This comes from an adorable story about dogs Ruby and Pasha, a beagle and a basenji (it's like a geisha, we think), who are trained to sniff out bedbugs:

“Our dogs have found bedbugs in suitcases in the lobby as people were coming in” in hotels, [owner] Mr. Frey said. Nosing around in guest rooms, Ruby and Pasha have discovered them in items every hotel room has — Bibles and telephone books.

Every item? Forget the Bibles and telephone books — who uses those? What about the things you take home from the hotel with you, into your own home? Are there bedbugs in those? Like the mini-lotions and travel toothbrushes? And the slippers? And the fancy silk coat hangers? And the monogrammed washcloths? And the cellophane shower caps??? Is nothing safe at all?

Bedbugs Can’t Hide From Ruby and Pasha [NYT]