Why does Rails 3 with Mysql2 Gem ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute(sql) return Array not Hash?

Question

I\'m in the process of upgrading an application to Rails 3. I\'ve decided to go with the mysql2 gem. There\'s some legacy code in the app that makes calls like:

Answer 1

Improving dan's answer, Rails 3.2.8 won't accept RAILS_ENV.

    config = ActiveRecord::Base.configurations[Rails.env].symbolize_keys
    conn = Mysql2::Client.new(config)
    conn.query("select * from users").each do |user|
        # user should be a hash
    end