gistfile1.rb

require 'iconv'
class String
  def to_ascii
    to_ascii_string = self
    begin
      result = Iconv.new("CP1250", "UTF-8").iconv(to_ascii_string)
    rescue Iconv::IllegalSequence => e
      puts e.failed.chars
      failed = e.failed.chars.split(//, 2)
      to_ascii_string = to_ascii_string.gsub(failed[0], '')
    retry
    end
    result
  end
end