title: Base64 encoding variations? I have base64 encoded data not decoding properly
body: <p>I have some data coming through a web service that was described as base64 encoded.</p>
  
  <p>Example: <code>AgAOAAAAQQEA3AcKDhIyCNwHCg4SMgyYIzSWoACP1T2TRRw1MTExMDUwMTE2ICAAAAAAAAAAAAAA3AAjU1QsKzAyMjEuMGxiDQo=</code></p>
  
  <p>However, attempting to decode this isn't coming up with the results I would have expected:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; base64.b64decode('AgAOAAAAQQEA3AcKDhIyCNwHCg4SMgyYIzSWoACP1T2TRRw1MTExMDUwMTE2ICAAAAAAAAAAAAAA3AAjU1QsKzAyMjEuMGxiDQo=')
  '\x02\x00\x0e\x00\x00\x00A\x01\x00\xdc\x07\n\x0e\x122\x08\xdc\x07\n\x0e\x122\x0c\x98#4\x96\xa0\x00\x8f\xd5=\x93E\x1c5111050116  \x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xdc\x00#ST,+0221.0lb\r\n'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It looks like the end of the decoded string is kinda-sorta along the lines of what I'm looking for. It should theoretically be transformable to something resembling <code>MT=2012-10-14 18:50:08, TT=2012-10-14 18:50:12, BT=00:A0:96:34:23:98, SN=5111050116  , BL=6.30V, S/H=4/3, Weight=221.0lb(100.24kg)</code> but I can't figure out what's going on with the encoding here.</p>