title: Rails: Invalid byte sequence in US-ASCII (Argument Error) when I run rake db:seed
body: <p>When I run <code>rake db:seed</code> in my <code>Rails</code> app, I'm getting this error:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>invalid byte sequence in US-ASCII (Argument Error)</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I just added <code>science_majors</code> and down to my seed file, and now when I run <code>rake db:seed</code> it gives me this error:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>invalid byte sequence error</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Why is this, and how can I fix it?</p>
  
  <p>part of <strong>seeds.rb</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>@college = College.find_or_create_by_name!('University of Pittsburgh')
  if @college.update_attributes(
    url: 'university-of-pittsburgh',
    public: 'Public',
    years: '4-year',
    category: 'National University',
    calendar: 'Semester',
    location: 'Pittsburgh, PA',
    setting: 'Large City (250-500k)',
    retention: '90',
    majors: 'business/marketing: 15%|social sciences: 14%|health professions: 11%|english: 10%|engineering: 9%|psychology: 8%|biology: 7%|history: 5%',
    scholarships_link: 'http://www.oafa.pitt.edu/universityschlrs.aspx',
    map: '&lt;iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;amp;source=s_q&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;geocode=&amp;amp;q=university+of+pittsburgh&amp;amp;aq=&amp;amp;sll=40.444261,-79.970448&amp;amp;sspn=0.142165,0.251656&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;hq=university+of+pittsburgh&amp;amp;t=m&amp;amp;ll=40.443486,-79.958245&amp;amp;spn=0.010798,0.021038&amp;amp;output=embed"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;amp;source=embed&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;geocode=&amp;amp;q=university+of+pittsburgh&amp;amp;aq=&amp;amp;sll=40.431368,-79.9805&amp;amp;sspn=0.142165,0.251656&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;hq=university+of+pittsburgh&amp;amp;t=m&amp;amp;ll=40.443486,-79.958245&amp;amp;spn=0.010798,0.021038" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left"&gt;View Larger Map&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/small&gt;',
    street_view: '&lt;iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;amp;source=embed&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;geocode=&amp;amp;q=University+of+Pittsburgh,+4200+Fifth+Ave,+Pittsburgh,+PA&amp;amp;aq=0&amp;amp;oq=uni&amp;amp;sll=40.444261,-79.970448&amp;amp;sspn=0.142165,0.251656&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;hq=University+of+Pittsburgh,+4200+Fifth+Ave,+Pittsburgh,+PA&amp;amp;ll=40.443486,-79.958245&amp;amp;spn=0.010798,0.021038&amp;amp;t=m&amp;amp;layer=c&amp;amp;cbll=40.441775,-79.956671&amp;amp;panoid=BgWQKMiSI1fpwP7JUF16Vg&amp;amp;cbp=12,45.25,,0,-3.34&amp;amp;output=svembed"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;amp;source=embed&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;geocode=&amp;amp;q=University+of+Pittsburgh,+4200+Fifth+Ave,+Pittsburgh,+PA&amp;amp;aq=0&amp;amp;oq=uni&amp;amp;sll=40.431368,-79.9805&amp;amp;sspn=0.142165,0.251656&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;hq=University+of+Pittsburgh,+4200+Fifth+Ave,+Pittsburgh,+PA&amp;amp;ll=40.443486,-79.958245&amp;amp;spn=0.010798,0.021038&amp;amp;t=m&amp;amp;layer=c&amp;amp;cbll=40.441775,-79.956671&amp;amp;panoid=BgWQKMiSI1fpwP7JUF16Vg&amp;amp;cbp=12,45.25,,0,-3.34" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left"&gt;View Larger Map&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/small&gt;',
    housing: '&lt;iframe src="http://www.tour.pitt.edu/tour-categories/residence-halls" scrolling="no" height="820" width="900"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;',
    food: '&lt;div style="overflow: hidden; max-width: 1000px;"&gt;&lt;iframe scrolling="no" src="http://www.pc.pitt.edu/dining/menus.php" style="margin-left: 0; height: 2000px; margin-top: -370px; margin-bottom: -375px; width: 750px;"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;',
    weather: '&lt;div style="overflow: hidden; max-width: 500px;"&gt;&lt;iframe scrolling="no" src="http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USPA1290" style="margin-left: -40px; height: 1570px; margin-top: -490px; width: 500px;"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;',
    dorms: 'Towers (fr.)|Sutherland (fr.)|Lothrop (fr.)|Nordenberg (fr.)|Holland (fr.)|Forbes (fr.; honors)|McCormick|Brackenridge|Amos|Bruce|Panther|Pennsylvania|Ruskin|Bouquet Gardens|Oakwood Apartments|Centre-Plaza Apartments|Forbes-Craig Apartments (honors)',
    science_majors: 'Actuarial Mathematics|Applied Mathematics|Bioinformatics|Biological Sciences|Chemistry*|Computer Science|Ecology and Evolution|Environmental Geology|Environmental Studies|Geology|History and Philosophy of Science|Linguistics*|Mathematics*|Mathematics-Economics|Mathematics-Philosophy|Microbiology|Molecular Biology|Natural Sciences Area|Neuroscience*|Physics*|Physics and Astronomy|Scientific Computing|Statistics',
    social_science_majors: 'Economics*|Economics–Statistics|History*|Political Science*|Politics-Philosophy|Psychology|Sociology*|Urban Studies',
    humanities_majors: 'Africana Studies*|Africana Studies–English|Anthropology|Chinese*|Classics*|English Literature*|English Writing|Film Studies*|French*|German|History of Art &amp; Architecture|Humanities Area|Italian*|Italian Studies|Japanese*|Liberal Studies|Music*|Philosophy*|Religious Studies*|Russian|Slavic Studies|Spanish|Studio Arts*|Theatre Arts*',
    business_majors: 'Accounting|Finance|General Management|Global Management|Marketing',
    engineering_majors: 'Bioengineering*|Chemical Engineering*|Civil Engineering*|Computer Engineering|Electrical Engineering*|Engineering Physics|Industrial Engineering*|Materials Science and Engineering*|Mechanical Engineering*',
    professional_majors: 'Administration of Justice*|Applied Developmental Psychology|Architectural Studies|Athletic Training|Clinical Dietetics and Nutrition|Communication: Rhet &amp; Comm|Communication Science|Dental Hygiene|Emergency Medicine|Health Information Management|Health Services|Health and Physical Activity|Information Science|Legal Studies*|Media and Professional Communications|Nursing|Pharmacy|Public Service*|Rehabilitation Science|Social Work*'
  )
  else
    # handle validation errors
  end
  
  @college= College.find_or_create_by_name!('Harvard')
  if @college.update_attributes(
    url: 'harvard',
    public: 'Private',
    years: '4-year',
    category: 'National University',
    calendar: 'Semester',
    location: 'Cambridge, MA',
    setting: 'Small City (50-250k)',
    degrees: 'Bachelors, Masters, Doctoral',
    rotc: 'Air Force, Army, Navy',
    considered: 'Academic GPA|Alumni Relation|Application Essay|Character/Personal Qualities|Extracurricular Activities|First Generation College Student|Geographical Residence|Interview|Racial/Ethnic Status|Recommendations|Rigor of secondary school record|Standardized Test Scores|Talent/Ability|Volunteer Work|Work Experience',
    student_faculty: '7 to 1')
  else
    # handle validation errors
  end
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I left out all the other colleges. I have 200 schools so far, but Pitt is the only one with comprehensive data so far.  The rest just have basic data, like Harvard.  I also left out some of the data for Pitt for the sake of brevity, but let me know if you'd like me to include the rest.</p>
  
  <p>Edit: I tried taking out the <code>*</code>'s in <code>science_majors</code> on down and then running <code>rake db:seed</code>, but that didn't change anything.</p>