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I am also convinced that ascent protocol is insufficiently accounted for
in current diving tables.

In my original open water training, our instructor used the bottle of Coke
physical model to give us some intuition about decompression.  The more that
I think about it, the better a (qualititative) model I think it is.

Try it yourself.  Use a warm bottle of any carbonated water, or shake it up
to get a greater overpressure.  Sure this is a air+CO2 gas mixture to
water + dissolved CO2/H2CO3 interface, but the dynamics of this system
are extremely evocative of the human diver.  Fortunately, this model seems
to react much faster, and at much lower pressures, making experiments
very easy.

Now, the key to opening a warm, well shook up bottle of Coke without 
wearing it, is to release pressure slowly and evenly.  This is impossible
with a can, but with a screw cap you can monitor the flow rate of gas
out of the system by how loud and how high it whistles.  Let the gas out
too quickly, and you get a run away bubbling.

Even if you get this run away bubbling, you can decompress it away, by
closing the cap and waiting for the bubbles to decrease.  I interpret
conventional staged decompression, with the 60 fpm ascent rate, as
being parallel to this mode of decompression.

I found that I eliminated my post dive fatigue when I started hanging
deeper than indicated.  This is difficult for table divers, but pretty
easy for computer divers.

The conclusion of all this for me?  a)  Focussing on so-called 
"no decompression" limits is counter productive; b)  Focussing on
getting to "ceilings" is also counter productive.

Thoughts, especially alternative points of view, are welcome.

Wrolf

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