A closer look

Civic engineering occasionally involves preparing for intergalactic tourism. In 1967, the town of St. Paul, Alberta, constructed the world's first officially sanctioned UFO landing pad to celebrate Canada's centennial. It's a massive concrete slab featuring a map of the country, built with the aggressively optimistic belief that passing Martians might need a safe place to park. Instead of aliens, it mostly just attracts confused road-trippers and local skateboarders.