swimming against the current

Had an epiphany/d-uh moment over the weekend after accumulation of numerous rejected improvement recommendations at work:
Arguments are won with the heart, not facts.

I've always regarded the pursuit of knowledge, information, truth, and consideration of the bigger picture as fundamental, and assumed most people would share that interest in continuous self-/improvement.

Unfortunately, (most of) the rest of the world doesn't seem to work like that. Usually, the rest of the world (at least part of my work environment) seems to value collaboration and conventionalism in general. Relevance of any supporting facts presented is generally not (well?) understood, and many openly revel in being able to point out your errors and discredit you. It can become a competition of show-uppance. It's also very difficult for someone to accuse you of not being kind and considerate, regardless how mistaken their direction.

Looking past the probable negative outcomes of people's intentions and effectively reguiding their efforts is an ability I clearly have yet to learn to fake, never mind develop.

career coaching

I recently won a free career coaching session. Not sure what that entails, nor am I sure whether I'll be able to avoid digressing into philosophical over-analysis use it optimally.

Kinda reminds me of the stupid "Choices" program our guidance counselor offered in high school. It suggested completly random jobs like architect, politician, teacher, garbageman, hotel concierge, helicopter pilot and heavy-equipment operator. When I asked the guidance counselor for actual "guidance" (silly me), she merely reflected: Well, tell me what you want to do and we can do the test again with that in mind. Though subconsciously sensible, it's hardly a logical response and certainly did not impress my concretish way of looking at things (which inevitably led me down an engineering path). Thing is, dealing with imperfections, inconsistencies, public ignorance/apathy and other such irritants on a daily basis is a never-ending battle. On that, can anyone tell me how that finger-in-the-failing-dyke fable ends?

disposable gadgets

Apparently you can't change the batteries on iphones, ipods, and probably other such devices (at least not cost-effectively), pretty much forcing consumers to buy new and toss the old.
That obviously generates a lot of unnecessary waste. I wonder, is there an app for that?