[Orgmode] - before *, special C-a with plain lists, and * to - conversion

[Scott Jaderholm]

Welcome back Carsten,

I hope you enjoyed your well-deserved vacation.

#1 is a bug, #2 and #3 are feature requests (both of which sound
familiar; apologies if they've been mentioned before).

1. Type "- " at the beginning of a blank buffer and then press M-RET.
On my system it stalls but if you press C-g it will insert another
line with -, but leave the cursor on the first line. I think it's a
problem with there not being a * first.

2. Should special C-a on plain lists work like it does on headings?

3. Is there a way to convert back and forth between headings and plain
lists? I often find myself creating a list of headings and then
deciding I'd really like it to be a plain list, or visa versa.
Handling indentation would obviously be important. Perhaps C-c - on
headings and C-u C-c - on plain lists could be used?

Thank you,
Scott