convert date and time to epoch in awk

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>
> b> I want to write a script that parses the last, say, 10 minutes of a log
> b> file looking for a certain string, like 'error', or failed', and returns
> b> how many times it shows up. The script would be run by Nagios and if it
> b> returns > 0 an alert is raised. Each line of the log file starts with a
> b> date like 'Feb 19 23:45:32'.
>
>     Instead of looking for 'error' or 'failed', I'd recommend weeding out
>     benign log entries and returning everything else.

Well, that was just an example, my needs are a bit more specific, but I 
found some new stuff for later in those links, thanks.