def to_utf8!(s=nil,from:nil)
      s=self if s.nil? #if we are included
      from=s.encoding if from.nil?
      return s.encode!('UTF-8',from, :invalid => :replace, :undef => :replace,
               :fallback => Proc.new { |bytes| '<'+bytes.unpack('H*')[0]+'>' }
             )
    end
def to_utf8!(s=nil,from:nil)
      s=self if s.nil? #if we are included
      from=s.encoding if from.nil?
      return s.encode!('UTF-8',from, :invalid => :replace, :undef => :replace,
               :fallback => Proc.new { |bytes| '<'+bytes.unpack('H*')[0]+'>' }
             )
    end
assume ruby>=1.9 here