The purpose of this is to make a streamlined note-taking system using tufte latex as a sort of Cornell notes system (with the side notes as the questions/definitions).
It uses a customized version of the handout.tex pandoc template from wcaleb. I would add the bash function in the NEEDED_FOR_BASHALIAS file which allows me to run initnotes FILENAME and it will generate a custom Makefile, custom starting point for the markdown file, run pandoc and evince open the output.pdf file.
For headings, I prefer to use :: for main headings and ;; for subheadings (because they are on the home row and allow for even faster typing). And, I don't like manually capitalizing headings so this file takes care of that.
The makefile is meant to be run as :make in vim which, conveniently, automatically rewrites the buffer in vim
I also do not like typing * for each list item and having to manage indenting the items manually so I use vim markdown in order to have the next list item automatically inserted on new line and tab/shift tab manage the indentation