Why does this work...
$ curl http://$auth@registry.npmjs.org/-/user/org.couchdb.user:isaacs
{"_id":"org.couchdb.user:isaacs","_rev":"93-157a5d9f44f3ef8fe6b21380632becf1","name":"isaacs","email":"i@izs.me","type":"user","roles":[],"date":"2013-12-25T20:42:32.599Z","fullname":"Isaac Z. Schlueter","fields":[{"name":"fullname","value":"Isaac Z. Schlueter","title":"Full Name","show":"Isaac Z. Schlueter"},{"name":"email","value":"isaacs@izs.me","title":"Email","show":"isaacs@izs.me"},{"name":"github","value":"isaacs","title":"Github","show":"isaacs"},{"name":"twitter","value":"izs","title":"Twitter","show":"@izs"},{"name":"appdotnet","value":"isaacs","title":"App.net","show":"isaacs"},{"name":"homepage","value":"http://blog.izs.me","title":"Homepage","show":"http://blog.