Github was down
status.github.com
status.github.com
It is true that rubygems runs on AWS and is effected by AWS outages (like much of the internet, it seems like).
It's also true that individual application Gemfiles can choose to express dependencies to gems hosted in a git repo, such as github, instead of the rubygems repository. If you don't want to be dependent on github, then don't do that. Of course, you're dependent on the rubygems repo ordinarily still, which has gone down occasionally. But the rubygems repository is independent from github.
Downtime is inevitable, and sometimes the thing that fails will cause huge problems and it's almost entirely unavoidable.
I'd much rather trust their team, which they've built to design the best service possible, to handle the infrastructure than having to use an internal team to design a competing product (albeit internal) with the same uptime requirements.
status.github.com
DNS, eh? Related to the recent CDN changes?
Not external, which would fall into the CDN-managed territory.
http://www.dynstatus.com/dynect-dns/5628/possible-dnssec-iss...
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Tangential graph criticism:
If you aren't going to put "zero" at the bottom of the Y axis, and you have graphs with only a single numbered data tick, then I have no idea whatsoever the value that correlates to a Y axis position. (except when it hits your label.) If you have fewer than 3 labeled data ticks then I don't even know if you are linear.
Starting your data at zero is a really good idea unless you really mean to be graphing the derivative, in which case, maybe you should just graph the derivative. The exception is when you have a constant offset in the concept you are graphing. Like atmospheric pressure on earth. But please give me at least three ticks and try to leave them consistently spaced if I'm every going to see another graph of them from you.
Including unlabeled ticks, evenly spaced, is a terse visual language that you are a linear graph.