That's correct: it's an indirect observation, and really the "observing gravity waves" aspect of this is the least interesting part. There have been other indir

That's correct: it's an indirect observation, and really the "observing gravity waves" aspect of this is the least interesting part. There have been other indirect but compelling observations corresponding to gravity waves before (like the precise rate that pulsars' rotation slows down, which I'm told is a perfect match to the energy expected to be carried away by gravitational waves). The big deal here is the insight that it gives into the early universe (VERY early!) and into very high energy physics. As for the lack of direct detection of gravity waves, I wouldn't read too much into it. Gravity is very weak, and we've known that for most of the century. Figuring out what sources might produce strong enough waves to be observable is really tricky, not because we don't understand gravity but because we don't understand the complicated astrophysical processes involved at the level of precision that we'd need (e.g. merging binary stars: how does that play out in detail?).