>>> idmapfile = open("idmap", mode="w")
    >>> pickle.dump(idMap, idmapfile)
    >>> idmapfile.close()
    >>> idmapfile = open("idmap")
    >>> unpickled = pickle.load(idmapfile)
    >>> unpickled == idMap
False
idMap[1]
{1537: (552, 1, 1537, 17.793827056884766, 3), 1540: (4220, 1, 1540, 19.31205940246582, 3), 1544: (592, 1, 1544, 18.129131317138672, 3), 1675: (529, 1, 1675, 18.347782135009766, 3), 1550: (4048, 1, 1550, 19.31205940246582, 3), 1424: (1528, 1, 1424, 19.744396209716797, 3), 1681: (1265, 1, 1681, 19.596025466918945, 3), 1560: (3457, 1, 1560, 20.530569076538086, 3), 1690: (477, 1, 1690, 17.395542144775391, 3), 1691: (554, 1, 1691, 13.446117401123047, 3), 1436: (3010, 1, 1436, 19.596025466918945, 3), 1434: (3183, 1, 1434, 19.744396209716797, 3), 1441: (3570, 1, 1441, 20.589576721191406, 3), 1435: (476, 1, 1435, 19.640911102294922, 3), 1444: (527, 1, 1444, 17.98480224609375, 3), 1478: (1897, 1, 1478, 19.596025466918945, 3), 1575: (614, 1, 1575, 19.371648788452148, 3), 1586: (2189, 1, 1586, 19.31205940246582, 3), 1716: (3470, 1, 1716, 19.158674240112305, 3), 1590: (2278, 1, 1590, 19.596025466918945, 3), 1463: (991, 1, 1463, 19.31205940246582, 3), 1594: (1890, 1, 1594, 19.596025466918945, 3), 1467: (1087, 1, 1467, 19.31205940246582, 3), 1596: (3759, 1, 1596, 19.744396209716797, 3), 1602: (3011, 1, 1602, 20.530569076538086, 3), 1547: (490, 1, 1547, 17.994071960449219, 3), 1605: (658, 1, 1605, 19.31205940246582, 3), 1606: (1794, 1, 1606, 16.964881896972656, 3), 1719: (1826, 1, 1719, 19.596025466918945, 3), 1617: (583, 1, 1617, 11.894925117492676, 3), 1492: (3441, 1, 1492, 20.500667572021484, 3), 1622: (3215, 1, 1622, 19.31205940246582, 3), 1628: (2761, 1, 1628, 19.744396209716797, 3), 1502: (1563, 1, 1502, 19.596025466918945, 3), 1632: (1108, 1, 1632, 15.457141876220703, 3), 1468: (3779, 1, 1468, 19.596025466918945, 3), 1642: (3970, 1, 1642, 19.744396209716797, 3), 1518: (612, 1, 1518, 18.570245742797852, 3), 1647: (854, 1, 1647, 16.964881896972656, 3), 1650: (2099, 1, 1650, 20.439058303833008, 3), 1651: (540, 1, 1651, 18.552841186523438, 3), 1653: (613, 1, 1653, 19.237197875976563, 3), 1532: (537, 1, 1532, 18.885730743408203, 3)}

>>> unpickled[1]
{1537: (64880, 1638, 56700, -1.0808743559293829e+18, 152), 1540: (64904, 1638, 0, 0.0, 0), 1544: (54472, 1490, 0, 0.0, 0), 1675: (6464, 1509, 0, 0.0, 0), 1550: (43592, 1510, 0, 0.0, 0), 1424: (43616, 1510, 0, 0.0, 0), 1681: (0, 0, 0, 0.0, 0), 1560: (400, 152, 400, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1690: (408, 152, 408, 2.7201111331839077e+26, 34), 1435: (424, 152, 61512, 1.0122952080313192e-39, 0), 1436: (400, 152, 400, 20.250289916992188, 3), 1434: (424, 152, 62080, 1.0122952080313192e-39, 0), 1441: (400, 152, 400, 12.250144958496094, 3), 1691: (424, 152, 42608, 15.813941955566406, 3), 1444: (400, 152, 400, 19.625289916992187, 3), 1606: (424, 152, 42432, 5.2947192852601414e-22, 41), 1575: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0), 1586: (424, 152, 42488, 1.0122601755697111e-39, 0), 1716: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0), 1590: (424, 152, 64144, 1.0126357235581501e-39, 0), 1463: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0), 1594: (424, 152, 32672, 17.002994537353516, 3), 1467: (400, 152, 400, 19.750289916992187, 3), 1596: (424, 152, 7176, 1.0124003054161436e-39, 0), 1602: (400, 152, 400, 18.500289916992188, 3), 1547: (424, 152, 7000, 1.0124003054161436e-39, 0), 1605: (400, 152, 400, 20.500289916992188, 3), 1478: (424, 152, 42256, -6.0222748507426518e+30, 222), 1719: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0), 1617: (424, 152, 16472, 1.0124283313854301e-39, 0), 1492: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0), 1622: (424, 152, 35304, 1.0123190301052127e-39, 0), 1628: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0), 1502: (424, 152, 63152, 19.627988815307617, 3), 1632: (400, 152, 400, 19.375289916992188, 3), 1468: (424, 152, 38088, 1.0124213248931084e-39, 0), 1642: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0), 1518: (424, 152, 63896, 1.0127436235399031e-39, 0), 1647: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0), 1650: (424, 152, 53424, 16.752857208251953, 3), 1651: (400, 152, 400, 19.250289916992188, 3), 1653: (424, 152, 50624, 1.0126497365427934e-39, 0), 1532: (400, 152, 400, 6.2537390010262572e-36, 0)}

The keys come out fine, the values are screwed up. I tried same thing loading file in binary mode; didn't fix the problem. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Edit: Here's the code with binary. Note that the values are different in the unpickled object.

>>> idmapfile = open("idmap", mode="wb")
>>> pickle.dump(idMap, idmapfile)
>>> idmapfile.close()
>>> idmapfile = open("idmap", mode="rb")
>>> unpickled = pickle.load(idmapfile)
>>> unpickled==idMap
False
>>> unpickled[1]
{1537: (12176, 2281, 56700, -1.0808743559293829e+18, 152), 1540: (0, 0, 15934, 2.7457842047810522e+26, 108), 1544: (400, 152, 400, 4.9518498821046956e+27, 53), 1675: (408, 152, 408, 2.7201111331839077e+26, 34), 1550: (456, 152, 456, -1.1349175514578289e+18, 152), 1424: (432, 152, 432, 4.5939047815653343e-40, 11), 1681: (408, 152, 408, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1560: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1690: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1435: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1436: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1434: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1441: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1691: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1444: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1606: (25784, 2281, 376, -3.2883343074537754e+26, 34), 1575: (24240, 2281, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1586: (24240, 2281, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1716: (24240, 2281, 376, -3.0093091599657311e-35, 26), 1590: (24240, 2281, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1463: (24240, 2281, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1594: (24240, 2281, 376, -4123208450048.0, 196), 1467: (25784, 2281, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1596: (25784, 2281, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1602: (25784, 2281, 376, -5.9963281433905448e+26, 76), 1547: (25784, 2281, 376, -218106240.0, 139), 1605: (25784, 2281, 376, -3.7138649803377281e+27, 56), 1478: (376, 152, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1719: (25784, 2281, 376, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1617: (25784, 2281, 376, -1.4411779941597184e+17, 237), 1492: (25784, 2281, 376, 2.8596493694487798e-30, 80), 1622: (25784, 2281, 376, 184686084096.0, 93), 1628: (1336, 152, 1336, 3.1691839245470052e+29, 179), 1502: (1272, 152, 1272, -5.2042207205116645e-17, 99), 1632: (1208, 152, 1208, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1468: (1144, 152, 1144, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1642: (1080, 152, 1080, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1518: (1016, 152, 1016, 4.0240902787680023e+35, 145), 1647: (952, 152, 952, -985172619034624.0, 237), 1650: (888, 152, 888, 12094787289088.0, 66), 1651: (824, 152, 824, 2.1299736657737219e-43, 0), 1653: (760, 152, 760, 0.00018310768064111471, 238), 1532: (696, 152, 696, 8.8978061885676389e+26, 125)}

OK I've isolated the problem, but don't know why it's so. First, apparently what I'm pickling are not tuples (though they look like it), but instead numpy.void types. Here is a series to illustrate the problem.

first = run0.detections[0]
>>> first
(1, 19, 1578, 82.637763977050781, 1)
>>> type(first)
<type 'numpy.void'>
>>> firstTuple = tuple(first)
>>> theFile = open("pickleTest", "w")
>>> pickle.dump(first, theFile)
>>> theTupleFile = open("pickleTupleTest", "w")
>>> pickle.dump(firstTuple, theTupleFile)
>>> theFile.close()
>>> theTupleFile.close()
>>> first
(1, 19, 1578, 82.637763977050781, 1)
>>> firstTuple
(1, 19, 1578, 82.637764, 1)
>>> theFile = open("pickleTest", "r")
>>> theTupleFile = open("pickleTupleTest", "r")
>>> unpickledTuple = pickle.load(theTupleFile)
>>> unpickledVoid = pickle.load(theFile)
>>> type(unpickledVoid)
<type 'numpy.void'>
>>> type(unpickledTuple)
<type 'tuple'>
>>> unpickledTuple
(1, 19, 1578, 82.637764, 1)
>>> unpickledTuple == firstTuple
True
>>> unpickledVoid == first
False
>>> unpickledVoid
(7936, 1705, 56700, -1.0808743559293829e+18, 152)
>>> first
(1, 19, 1578, 82.637763977050781, 1)