def sample_static_prior(self, samples, batch_size, fixed=False):
    """
    """
    dist = self.static_prior()
    if fixed:  # in either case, shape is (samples, batch, latent)
      sample = dist.sample((samples, 1)) + tf.zeros([batch_size, 1])
    else:
      sample = dist.sample((samples, batch_size))
    return sample, dist