awful workaround

wp-content/db.php

@@ -723,6 +723,15 @@ class hyperdb extends wpdb {
 			$collate = null;
 
 		$this->set_charset($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()