Stardates Explained - 20120212.2234

You don't understand the startdates?

Take, for example, 20120212.2234

Let me stick some spaces in some helpful places:

2012 02 12 . 22 34

That better?

20120212 means 12th February 2012, and 2234 is in 24-hour clock format, IE 10:34PM

Stardates in the Star Trek universe work in an entirely different way. Wikipedia has a good explanation on how Stardates work.