Mysql and caching

[coolrunr]

By running the query 'SHOW VARiABLES' I see that cache is set to on, but when I check the status via 'SHOW STATUS' all the Qcache_ stuff is zero. I added SQL_CACHE to my select statements to try and force them to be cached. Is caching disable with mysql or does zend take care of caching if it's php that's using the db?

Not important, but this would decrease the load that my site is placing on the server right now so I'd like to use it.