def dateToMS( dateString )
      milliseconds = 0
      if dateString and dateString.match( /[0-9][0-9]\-[0-9][0-9]\-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]/)
         d = Date.new( dateString[7,4], dateString[4,2], dateString[0,2] )
         milliseconds = d.jd
      end
      milliseconds
   end
def dateToMS( dateString )
      milliseconds = 0
      if dateString and dateString.match( /[0-9][0-9]\-[0-9][0-9]\-[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]/)
         d = Date.new( dateString[7,4], dateString[4,2], dateString[0,2] )
         milliseconds = d.jd
      end
      milliseconds
   end
Returns the milliseconds representation of a date specified in mm-dd-yyyy format.