public static long parseDayMonthYearUS(final String date) {
        @SuppressLint("SimpleDateFormat") final SimpleDateFormat pattern = new SimpleDateFormat(CalendarUtils.PATTERN_DDMMMYYYY, Locale.US);
        try {
            final Date result = pattern.parse(date);
            return result.getTime();
        } catch (ParseException e) {
            return 0;
        }
    }
parses given date to a long

@param date in Format dd-mmm-yyyy with mmm=Jan,Feb,Mar,...
@return time value or 0 on error
main/src/main/java/cgeo/geocaching/utils/CalendarUtils.java