Do you know one of the many things computers are good at? Automatically keeping track of stuff and rapid calculations. Do you know what happens when I upload a new comic episode or create a blog article? No? Well, in the case of the blog article it stamps the article with the current date and time as I save it (I can, if I like, specify a different date and time). In the case of the comic, I wrote a little program that automatically lists all the valid comic dates (Wed and Sat) and in the upload form insert the next valid comic date for me. If I'm uploading a batch, it also takes into account unpublished episodes and presents the date according to the episode number currently being uploaded (again, I can override this if I so wish).

If I send an email, it automatically gets stamped with the date and time of sending. If I write a letter in a word processing application, there is a menu option to insert the current date.

Most of the time when using a computer, I never have to remember the current date. So why, oh why, in Star Trek do they always explicitly state the highly complex (and difficult to remember) stardate when they open a new log entry? They just commanded the computer to open the log, surely it can automatically insert the date too?

This has always bugged me. If Starfleet personnel want the ability to specify a different date, then they could have still have the "stardate" command, but have the computer accept either a spoken stardate, or the word "now", which would insert the current date and time.

I've thought about this a lot.

Panel 1: Houston Texas is in his engineering lab with the black market laser sword.

Caption:

Meanwhile, in the Tranquility Base Engineering Department...

Chief Houston Texas:

Computer, lock all the doors to this lab.

Authorisation code: Texas dash zero zero zero one seven zero one dash smoke gets in your eyes.

Panel 2: Houston puts the laser sword under the lens of a piece of lab equipment.

Chief Houston Texas:

Chief Engineer's Log, stardate: now.

I'm putting the black market laser sword in the Embiggenator, there's a rough patch on its hilt that I want to examine in more detail.

Panel 3: Houston is looking through the view finder of the Embiggenator.

Chief Houston Texas:

There is something there, I need to embiggen it some more.

Panel 4: Close-up of the laser sword in the Embiggenator.

Chief Houston Texas:

What is that?

I'm increasing the Embiggenation Field by a factor of two point five.

Panel 5: The laser sword is embiggened.

SFX:

Whirrr

Panel 6: The laser sword is embiggened some more.

SFX:

Whirrr

Panel 7: Again, the laser sword is embiggened.

SFX:

Whirrr

Panel 8: The laser sword is at maximum embiggenation and a message engraved on the sword is now visible.

VFX:

Message Engraved on Laser Sword: Houston, we have a problem.

Chief Houston Texas:

Huh?