title: Compare two javascript string dates
body: <p>How would I compare the following two dates?</p>
  
  <pre><code>var start_date = $('#start_date').text();
  var end_date = $('#end_date').text();
  alert(start_date + ' ' + end_date); // '2013-01-01 2013-01-02'
  
  # how to do the following?
  if (start_date &gt; end_date) {...}
  </code></pre>