How do I convert a string to a UTC date?
<p>I have the following text on my page:</p>

<pre><code>&lt;span class="UTCDate"&gt;Date.UTC(2011, 8, 7, 7, 9, 20)&lt;/span&gt;
</code></pre>

<p>I'd like to do something like this:</p>

<pre><code> $(function () {

     $('.UTCDate').each(function () {
         var server_time_utc = $(this).html();
         var subbed = new Date(server_time_utc - 12 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
         var d = new Date(subbed + new Date().getTimezoneOffset());
         var localTime = $.format.date(d, "ddd, MMMM dd GG hh:mma");
         localTime = localTime.replace("GG", "at");
         $(this).html(localTime);
     });

 });
</code></pre>

<p>I'm taking the UTC Date, changing it to the local browsers time and formatting it.</p>

<p>My problem is I get a string instead of a date object in this line:</p>

<pre><code> var server_time_utc = $(this).html();
</code></pre>

<p>If I type:</p>

<pre><code>var server_time_utc = Date.UTC(2011, 8, 7, 7, 9, 20);
</code></pre>

<p>I get a date object.</p>

<p>How can I make the text from $(this).html() return a date object instead of a string?</p>

<p><strong>EDIT</strong> 
  The string I get is<br>
server_time_utc: "Date.UTC(2011, 8, 7, 7, 9, 20)"</p>
