how to get ls to list files in case-insensitive order?
Emacs mode hooks to the rescue! Taken from EmacsWiki:

(defun mydired-sort ()
  "Sort dired listings with directories first."
  (save-excursion
    (let (buffer-read-only)
      (forward-line 2) ;; beyond dir. header 
      (sort-regexp-fields t "^.*$" "[ ]*." (point) (point-max)))
    (set-buffer-modified-p nil)))

(defadvice dired-readin
  (after dired-after-updating-hook first () activate)
  "Sort dired listings with directories first before adding marks."
  (mydired-sort))