date header like MT?

There must be an easy way to get a Date Header like MT has… it is only displayed at the start of a container of posts from each day, like

*June 29, 2006
Posted at 11:00 am
Post post

Posted at 8:00 am
First post on 6/29

*June 28, 2006
Posted at 11:59 pm
My last post on 6/28

and so forth… Inside the Loop, how do I compare the_date to the_date of the previous iteration of the loop? Thanks!