BBC reporting gravitational waves discovered

The BBC is reporting that gravity waves may have been spotted emanating from a white dwarf pair. This has happened through visible light observations, and may be used to guide other experiments looking to detect gravitational waves directly through the distortion of the shape of space-time. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19408363

A scientific theory is often said to be a guess, a shot in the dark explanation. Nothing could be further from the truth. In science, a theory is a well-tested comprehensive explanation of why something works the way that it does. A theory isn't a guess, it's not random, it's not a shot in the dark. Development of a theory begins with facts - observations - things that we can see or measure directly. Based on the facts, scientists will conduct experiments to learn new true things about the world. These new true things can become facts too, if they are confirmed sufficiently. When scientists consider the results of their experiments and research, the final step to to provide a powerful explanation, and that explanation is called a theory. Thus, a theory is as far from a random guess as anything could be. A theory is an interpretation of scientific fact and experiment by experts. It represents the best understanding of how things work, developed over a period of years by experts.

A theory has several important requirements before it can be considered a good theory. It must explain all the known facts satisfactorily. It must have withstood years of withering attack from scientists attempting to tear it down and prove it wrong. It must be possible to prove the theory wrong in the first place. PREDICTION is an important feature of a theory, and that's what we're observing here. General relativity has passed over a hundred years of testing. Every predicted effect of the theory has eventually been found, and this gravity wave effect appears to be on the verge of actual observation. After a hundred years, you'd probably think that Einstein's theory is the best example of a scientific theory to ever be discovered. You'd be right, except there is one other with an even greater and longer record of success - the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.

Woolworths Counter

I heard there were crowds of people supporting anti-gay bigotry at Chick-Fil-A today. That reminds me of some other crowds of people supporting bigotry.

MIT Aircraft Systems Engineering

MIT Aircraft Systems Engineering course. The title is a bit misleading because the aircraft chosen as the course example is the Space Shuttle. This probably reflects the natural biases of the professor, Jeff Hoffman, a former NASA astronaut.

All the course videos are presented here, featuring many distinguished guest speakers who designed, tested, and operated the Space Shuttle.

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/index.htm