[Orgmode] gnash crunch... latex whitespace defaults! + numbering in only some subheadings

[Matt Price]

Hi folks,

I'm pretty sure I had this answered once already but I can't find the reference!  sorry to ask again.  I have two issues right now as I try rather deperately to print something reasonable-looking for my course syllabus (the html version is lovely).

1) what is te recommended or canonical way to reduce whitespace, not only in the margins, but especially between paragraphs?  In particular, I use a lot of lists and subheadings; latex puts enormous emounts of whatespace between items, and very quickly the syllabus becomes difficult to navigate.  It would be great for me if I could make these settings default, too -- I would much rather have my paper copies look more word-processor-ish, to ocnform iwth expectations in my discipline (history).
2) is it possible to turn numbering off for most headings, but to turn them on wihtin a specific heading?  In my case, I would like to number _only_ the weeks in my course outline, but leave all other elements (course requirements, texts, introduction, etc) unnumbered.  I bet it's possible but it's not trivial to find this in the extensive manual. 
Thank you as always!  
matt