EyeWideShut
Answer for 2)
As was said in previous thread and I am sure was said to one of your alter egos - an ascending cabin altitude even of 2500 ft/min won't cause pain and is unlikely to cause much discomfort. It is a descending cabin altitude that causes the discomfort or pain at high rates of descent.
If you have flown on a hot summers day it is possible, even likely you have been a pax for a bleeds closed takeoff and never known it was occuring.
TH