title: rails mysql encoding issue/question - Mysql::Error: Illegal mix of collations (latin1_swedish_ci,IMPLICIT) and (utf8_general_ci,COERCIBLE)
body: <p>Rails 2.3.5 and Ruby 1.8.7 and Mysql 5.1.53</p>
  
  <p>Im loading in a csv file, it has a field that TM symbol in it (trademark)</p>
  
  <p>Tart Deco™   - looks like this</p>
  
  <p>I am trying to do an active record find:</p>
  
  <p>Influencer.find(:first,:conditions => ["author_name = ? and url_discovered = ?",author_name,site_profile_url])</p>
  
  <p>Mysql::Error: Illegal mix of collations (latin1_swedish_ci,IMPLICIT) and (utf8_general_ci,COERCIBLE) for operation '=': SELECT * FROM <code>influencers</code> WHERE (author_name = 'Tart Deco?' and url_discovered = 'http://www.joelnylund.com') LIMIT 1</p>
  
  <p>In ruby debugger the String shows up as:</p>
  
  <p>p author_name
  "Tart Deco\231"</p>
  
  <p>My table is encoded "utf8_general_ci"</p>
  
  <p>So what should I do? I dont really care to much if I store the TM, it would be nice, mainly I just dont want it to break...</p>