def api(self):
        """
        .. warning:: Deprecated: will be withdrawn since JPC doesn't appear 
           to return the nice documentation object any more
        
        ::
        
            GET /
        
        :Returns: a programmatically-generated API summary using HTTP verbs 
            and URL templates
        :rtype: :py:class:`dict`
        """
        if self.verbose:
            print("%s\t%s\t%s" % 
                (datetime.now().isoformat(), 'GET', self.base_url), 
                file=self.verbose)
        resp = requests.request('GET', self.base_url, verify=self.verify)
        if 400 <= resp.status_code < 499:
            resp.raise_for_status()
        if resp.content:
            return json.loads(resp.content)