code: def safely_encode(unicode_or_str, encoding='utf-8'):
    ''' Encodes <unicode> into byte <str>. Replaces any non utf8 chars '''
    if isinstance(unicode_or_str, unicode):
      rstr = unicode_or_str.encode(encoding, 'replace')
    elif isinstance(unicode_or_str, str):
      rstr = unicode_or_str
    else:
      raise Exception(u'Not of type unicode or str')
  
    return rstf safely_encode(unicode_or_str, encoding='utf-8'):
    ''' Encodes <unicode> into byte <str>. Replaces any non utf8 chars '''
    if isinstance(unicode_or_str, unicode):
      rstr = unicode_or_str.encode(encoding, 'replace')
    elif isinstance(unicode_or_str, str):
      rstr = unicode_or_str
    else:
      raise Exception(u'Not of type unicode or str')
  
    return rstr
docs: Encodes <unicode> into byte <str>. Replaces any non utf8 chars