def ask_ok(prompt, retries=4, complaint='Yes or no, please!'): while 1:
ok = raw_input(prompt) if ok in ('y', 'ye', 'yes'): return 1 if ok in ('n', 'no', 'nop', 'nope'): return 0
retries = retries - 1 if retries < 0: raise IOError, 'refusenik user'
print complaint