Yes, staring at your console while github's down is definitely time well spent. Oh, and it works with other site too!
npm install down``sh`
$ npm i -g down
Don't hesistate to fork/issues/bugreport/pull request.
`sh`
$ down gh
UP [github] Everything operating normally.
UP [github] Everything operating normally.
...
or
`sh``
$ down hv
UP [harvest] last response time: 609
UP [harvest] last response time: 609
...
* circleci (http://status.circleci.com/history.atom)
* facebook (https://www.facebook.com/feeds/api_status.php)
* github (https://status.github.com/api/last-message.json)
* harvest (http://harveststatus.com/status.json)
* slack (https://status.slack.com)
* More services
* Tests for when service is actually down.