Reminder to self...

[alexpgp]

As a result of some quick research, know ye the following:

1. The city of Leninsk is called Baykonur, and has been, since 1995.

2. The space center near what is now Baykonur, which used to be called just "Baykonur," is now known as the Baykonur Cosmodrome (same time frame).

2. The country in which these places are found is properly spelled Kazakstan (same time frame).

The time difference between Baykonur and Pagosa Springs is currently 12 hours. I don't know if Kazakstan observes "summer" time (what we call "Daylight Savings Time"), and if they do, when they might revert back to "standard" time.

Comments

[laisan.livejournal.com]

I used to think that is should be not Kazakstan but Kazakhstan.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Until fairly recently, I also rendered the country name as "Kazakhstan." It would appear, though, in the aftermath of the dissolution of the USSR, that the name Kazakstan reflects the wishes of the government of that country, as communicated to the United Nations in 1995 or 1996.

It would appear that, using the Kazak alphabet, a more proper transliterated rendering would be Qazaqstan, but apparently, the use of the letter "K" instead of "Q" is a one-time exception to the rule.

The "kh" combination in the country name is apparently also exclusively Russian, which is another strike against it.

Somewhere, I have a link that explains it all... I just need to find it again.

Cheers...