When you run a command using the Unix time utility, it provides three distinct metrics to help you understand how resources were consumed.
1. Real Time (Wall Clock Time)
Real time is the actual elapsed time from the moment you hit “Enter” until the program finishes. It is exactly what you would measure if you used a physical stopwatch.
Includes: Time spent waiting for data from a disk (I/O), network delays, and time the CPU spent working on other processes.
Analogy: The total time you spent at a restaurant, from walking in the door to walking out.
2. User Time (User CPU Time)
User time is the amount of CPU time spent executing the actual code of your program. This occurs in “User Mode.”
Includes: Mathematical calculations, loops, and logic that don’t require the operating system’s help.
Excludes: Any time the program was “sleeping” or waiting for I/O.
Analogy: The time the chef spent actually chopping vegetables and cooking your specific meal.
3. Sys Time (System CPU Time)
Sys time is the amount of CPU time spent by the operating system kernel on behalf of your program. This occurs in “Kernel Mode.”
Includes: Tasks like opening files, reading/writing to disk, allocating memory, and handling network connections.
Analogy: The time the restaurant manager spent finding you a table, processing your credit card, or coordinating with the kitchen.
Understanding the Ratios
You can diagnose performance bottlenecks by comparing these three numbers:
Scenario
Meaning
Real > (User + Sys)
The program is I/O bound. It spent most of its time waiting for the disk, network, or other processes.
Real ≈ (User + Sys)
The program is CPU bound. It used the processor almost continuously from start to finish.
Real < (User + Sys)
The program is Multi-threaded. Multiple CPU cores were working simultaneously, so the total “work time” exceeded the “elapsed time.”
Practical Example
If you run time sleep 10, you will see:
Real: ~10.0s (The actual time you waited)
User: ~0.0s (The CPU did no work for your code)
Sys: ~0.0s (The kernel did no work for your code)
For further technical details on how these are gathered via system calls like getrusage(), you can refer to the official Linux man pages for time. Use tools like top or htop to monitor these values in real-time for active processes.
House Pond, located about seven miles north of Stratford on Piseco-Powley Road serves as a quiet monument to the vanished industry and transient settlements of the southern Adirondacks. While often overshadowed by Ferris Lake, the Potholers, and other destinations along the road, this pond’s history is deeply intertwined with the development of the Piseco-Powley Road and the early 19th-century logging and tanning era.
The Industrial Roots: Oregon and the Tanning Era
The history of House Pond is inextricably linked to a defunct settlement known as “Oregon,” which once existed near the southern end of the Piseco-Powley Road.
The Tannery Settlement: During the mid-to-late 1800s, this area was a bustling industrial outpost. The settlement of Oregon was centered around a large tannery that utilized the abundant hemlock trees in the surrounding forest. Hemlock bark was a critical ingredient for the tanning process, and the remote location allowed for direct access to these vast timber stands.
The “House” in House Pond: The pond’s name is derived from the structures that once stood on its shores during this period. It is locally understood that the name refers to a “boarding house” or a cluster of dwellings built to house the woodsmen and tannery workers who labored in the Oregon settlement. While these buildings have long since succumbed to time or were removed by the state, the name remains as a phantom of that era.
Logging and Abandonment
Like many early Adirondack settlements, the community near House Pond was temporary.
Resource Depletion: Once the accessible hemlock and spruce stands were exhausted, the economic viability of the Oregon tannery vanished.
Reclamation by Nature: By the early 20th century, the settlement was largely abandoned. When New York State established the Forest Preserve and the Ferris Lake Wild Forest, the land was designated “Forever Wild”. Under this mandate, any remaining structures from the old boarding house era were either demolished or allowed to decay, returning the site to its natural state.
Transformed to A Secluded Wilderness Site
Today, House Pond is a prime example of the Adirondacks’ “reclaimed” wilderness. It is accessible via an unmarked but well-traveled trail located behind Campsite 2 on Piseco-Powley Road.
Hiking and Camping: The hike to the pond is a short, half-mile trek with a modest elevation gain of about 100 feet starting at Piseco-Powley Roadside Campsite 2.
Seclusion: Because it is not a primary tourist destination and lacks official signage, it remains a bit of a “locals’ secret,” offering a primitive campsite on the shore where the historic boarding houses once stood.
Marijuana Moment POLITICSFederal Agencies Would Have To Study State Marijuana Laws Under New Directive From Congressional CommitteePublished on April 20, 2026By Tom Angell
A key congressional committee is expected to issue a directive this week for federal agencies to study the “adequacy” of state marijuana laws and to assess methods for “preventing diversion of state legal cannabis product into jurisdictions that do not permit the use of cannabis.”
The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday is scheduled to take up spending legislation and related reports, one of which contains the marijuana provisions.
It does feel so good to have that title in hand for Old Smokey with name on it and the words “No Leins Recorded” , and with the strong markets this year note that unrealized Capital Gains since January basically paid for the SuperDuty.
Another cold but sunny morning, ☀️ at least after being so spoiled last week but it should warm up fairly quickly and turn out nicer later on but the best is yet to come, as they say. Friday is bedliner day. I want to wash the truck on Thursday so it’s good and clean before the big spray, not sure if it will fit in the car wash down the street or I’ll have to go Glenmont. Certainly once the MX truck cap is on the big SuperDuty, I’ll have to use the Glenmont Car Wash and hand wash the truck. I do want to get that under body coated before next winter though with lamolin.
Riding to work again today. 🚴 I wish it was a little warmed but no complaints about the sun an lack of breeze. 🥕 Carrots again for pancakes, I shredded one up and with some defrosted strawberries 🍓 in the mix, made for a pretty good and filling breakfast. 🛏️ Kind of slept in late, I don’t know, I found it hard to get asleep last night. Not sure why, I should be content, the markets recovered 💵 putting my net worth solidly in seven digits again, and I got the title with No Leins Recorded to SuperDuty, 🏡 but maybe I was trolled again 🧌 by one of those social media posts that claimed the only way to be financially secure and live a good life is to buy one of those plastic houses and a 25-year old Honda Civic and drive to work every day. 🤷♂️ Fuck it, I want that log cabin in woods, or at least something made out of woods, and I’ll take a burn barrel 🛢️ over any weekly trash service. Make my own damn electricity. 🔌 That’s how I feel about it. And with the SuperDuty spend much of my days in wilderness. Without children or hogs to feed. 🐽
Still I am freaked out a bit about gas prices ⛽ and everything else going out in woods, but don’t worry BETTER HELP IS HERE TO HELP WITH YOUR FINANCIAL STRESS! the midnight advertisements on the podcast I put on to get asleep warned me. But you bought a SuperDuty, which while quite possibility the most reliable and simple modern gas engine out there there 🧑🔧, has no fuel economy features outside of a keyed 🔑 ignition and a supposedly somewhat marginal variable oil pressure pump. I don’t know, it’s not like I am dependent on SuperDuty to get me everywhere, and if gas gets too expensive, I’ll just plan longer trips closer to home. Still I think this is the year to go and see Michigan and possibly some of Wisconsin. 🛻
