awful workaround

wp-content/db.php

@@ -724,6 +724,15 @@ class hyperdb extends wpdb {
 
 		$this->set_charset($this->dbhs[$dbhname], $charset, $collate);
 		
+		if ( !isset( $charset ) ) 
+			$charset = null;
+
+		if ( !isset( $collate ) )
+			$collate = null;
+
+        // AI workaround: set all queries to latin1
+		$this->set_charset($this->dbhs[$dbhname], 'latin1');
+
 		$this->dbh = $this->dbhs[$dbhname]; // needed by $wpdb->_real_escape()
 
 		$this->last_used_server = compact('host', 'user', 'name', 'read', 'write');