The nature of catastrophe is after all reasonably unvarying in the way it ruins destroys wounds and devastates. But if something can be learned from the event - not least something as profound as the theory of plate tectonics - then it somehow puts the ruination into a much more positive light.
Natural selection as it has operated in human history favors not only the clever but the murderous.
Television of course actually started in Britain in 1936 and it was a monopoly and there was only one broadcaster and it operated on a license which is not the same as a government grant.
When it comes to Chinese food I have always operated under the policy that the less known about the preparation the better. A wise diner who is invited to visit the kitchen replies by saying as politely as possible that he has a pressing engagement elsewhere.