def base36encode(number):
    if not isinstance(number, (int, long)):
        raise TypeError('number must be an integer')
    if number < 0:
        raise ValueError('number must be positive')

    alphabet = '0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'

    base36 = ''
    while number:
        number, i = divmod(number, 36)
        base36 = alphabet[i] + base36

    return base36 or alphabet[0]


def base36decode(number):
    return int(number, 36)


def unicode_safe_truncate(s, max_length):
    """
    Implements unicode-safe truncation and trims whitespace for a given input
    string, number or unicode string. 
    """
    if not isinstance(s, unicode):
        s = str(s).decode('utf-8', 'ignore')
    return s.rstrip()[:max_length]
