code: public void setStart(final String s) {
        SimpleDateFormat stf = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:ss");
        stf.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
        try {
           start = stf.parse(s).getTime();
        } catch(ParseException ex) {
            LogLog.warn("Error parsing start value " + s, ex);
        }
    }
docs: Set start (inclusive) of time span.
  @param s string representation of start time as HH:mm:ss.