docs: def safely_decode(unicode_or_str, encoding='utf-8'):
    ''' Decodes byte <str> into <unicode>. Ignores any non-utf8 chars in <str>s '''
    if isinstance(unicode_or_str, unicode):
      ustr = unicode_or_str
    elif isinstance(unicode_or_str, str):
      ustr = unicode_or_str.decode(encoding, 'ignore')
    else:
      raise Exception(u'Not of type unicode or str')
  
    return ustr