#Stephanie does commissions

[incorrectbatfam]

It's Bruce's turn to host the annual rich people Christmas party, what does everyone do to ruin it

Dick: swings from the chandelier as Jack Frost

Jason: de-baptizes people

Tim: swaps the tree for a Hanukkah bush

Damian: unties the reindeer from the sleigh

Duke: changes the Christmas light color scheme

Cullen: cosplays as the Grinch and steals party favors

Stephanie: pretends to be a nutcracker statue to scare people

Cassandra: locks the bathrooms

Barbara: changes the address on the RSVP

Harper: brings a fake snow machine inside

Carrie: goes table to table trick-or-treating

Kate: follows old straight men with mistletoe on a fishing pole

Helena: stages a festive Rogues battle

Luke: replaces the stairs with a ski lift

Bette: rents out the Manor as luxury winter lodge

Alfred: hires a bagpipe player

Selina: commissions an ice sculpture of herself

Bruce: dips out to watch Home Alone with his family

[igottatho]

I hope if you’re able to donate, even as little as $1 or $5, please do. DM me and I will send you a sticker or magnet, with no charge on shipping. If you're able to donate more, from $15 - $50, I will compensate you with a piece of artwork, of your choice. Below you can find links to the various categories.

If you exceed $50 in your donation, I will create something custom for you. This can be fanart, something in my style, a Pet Portrait, a D&D campaign map -- I am open to trying anything!

ART CATEGORIES FOUND HERE

You can access my original artwork here.

You can access my original Leaves & Alaskana here.

You can access my fandom-related works here.

You can find my sticker & magnet selections here.

I’ve started a GoFundMe for my friend Mohammad and his family. After many months of learning, stressing, crying and advocating for Palestine… I became engaged in conversation with Mohammed Ahmed Abu Alwan. We’ve been speaking for a few weeks and learned a bit about one another. After some rapport had been developed, Mohammad asked me to help him start a Go Fund Me for him and his family. I agreed, not realizing how much I was undertaking. I don’t regret it - if I can get even one family to safety it is worth it.

Mohammad is 30 years old, and earned a Bachelors in Interior decoration and engineering - what we might call carpentry and interior design, he does it all - at the Al-Aqsa University in Gaza. The university is now destroyed, along with the Alwan families home and livelihood. They lived in occupied Gaza, Rafah, in the Al-Geneina neighborhood, with their small girl (now 3 years old), when the “war” began and have been displaced many times. Four months ago, Mohammad’s wife Samar (26) gave birth to 2 twin boys; the twins were born into a war zone and have never known their home. Samar is now caring for three children, two of them infants, while Mohammad attempts to find clean water, food, sanitary supplies, and safety.

Mohammad hopes to bring his family from Rafah into Egypt and then on to Europe, where he will pursue more work in home-building, to support his young family. He wishes for all of his children to receive educations and a safe, secure future.

As many of you know that to cross the border into Egypt costs ~$5,000 per person. Accordingly, for Mohammad, Samar and the children of the Alwan Family, I have created this Go Fund Me at $25,000. It’s been active for a day and we have raised $100 so far.

If you’re not able to donate - I truly understand, this is a very hard time to afford the necessities of life. Please consider boosting this go fund me post; you never know who might see it and be able to make that little bit of difference.

On tumblr / TikTok, I’ll be posting more artwork with this Go Fund Me in the post script - in hopes of exposing them to as many people as possible. At my local market I also have a flier displayed for donations & anyone who donates will be entitled to some of my artwork.

Please DM me w/ screenshots of your donation & where you’d like me to send your merchandise, and I will send it asap!

Thank for you reading thus far, and may we someday soon have a Free Palestine.

*If you make a sizable donation, I may be able & willing for commissioned art. I will NOT draw anything NSFW, but I am fine w/ couples of any kind, fanart from any fandom (provided I can access reference materials), or even non-fandom art created in my surreal style. *

*I will be adding more fanart (from Fallout specifically) when I am able to get things scanned and uploaded.

Let's Free Palestine today.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

What are your favorite royal wedding looks and flowers

I answered a lot of these in the other ask so I'm going to use yours to do a deeper dive into most of the Millennial royal weddings. You want opinions, you're getting opinions today!

Quick aside: I mainly follow only the British royals. I pay some attention to the other European royal families and a little bit of attention to the Jordanian Royal Family. So that’s what this commentary will focus on. Because I don’t follow the Middle Eastern, Asian, or African royals (and subsequently don’t know much about them), I don't feel it's appropriate for me to give commentary on their wedding looks/styles when I don't know who they are. Obviously, as you'll see, my favorites are the BRF so the commentary does skew heavily towards them.

Adding this halfway through: This is a really text-heavy post so I'm going to break up the rambling with my favorite photo from each wedding.

Crown Princess Victoria, June 2010

The Cameo Tiara is my favorite. It paired very nicely with the heirloom veil. Loved that she went for off-the-shoulder short sleeves. Not really a fan of how the train attached at her waist (vs being all one dress), but it really worked for her.

Kate, April 2011

I loved how timeless her whole look was. If you take everything out of the picture and just look at her and the dress, it's magnificent. It works in black and white 1950s vintage. It works in the modern fashion era. It works for her as the individual girl she was at that time. It works for the future she's growing into.

Not a fan of the hairstyle and the tiara. It was a complete miss for me. She should've gone full updo or full Chelsea blowout instead of the halfway compromise. The tiara, meh. Didn't really add anything to me. After seeing the floral headpiece she commissioned for the coronation, I would have loved to see what she'd have done for the wedding since a floral headpiece is what she originally wanted to wear. I also thought her hair was a smidge too dark, but maybe that's the contrast with all of the ivory around her. I much prefer the golden/bronzey highlights she has now and I think it would've helped the contrast better.

Thought the flower girl dresses were a tad too long and that her bouquet was out of place. It needed to be more substantial for such a formal occasion. Either more flowers/bigger shape or bigger blooms.

Something about Hugo Burnand's work always throws me off. I think it's the scale and the perspective he uses; the subjects are too far away from the camera that their backgrounds seem to swallow them up. Didn't like most of their wedding portraits because of that. They kinda ended up looking like cardboard cutout versions of themselves.

Overall, a perfect day. It was nostalgic without being maudlin. Modern without being trendy. Celebratory without being excessive. Traditional without being stodgy.

Charlene, July 2011

I like her dress. Reminds me a lot of Crown Princess Victoria's, but with a lovely embroidery detailing.

I don't really have a lot to say about the Monaco wedding. It looked like a lovely occasion. The dress is fine. The veil is fine. The photos are fine, but Charlene looks like she'd rather be anywhere but there marrying Albert (and the rumors that have come out since about the wedding makes me side-eye a whole lot).

Stephanie, October 2012

Very pretty dress, very pretty veil, very pretty look. Not really very memorable for me. A lot of the gorgeous detailing in her dress gets lost in most of the photos; the close-up photos of her dress are gorgeous and I wish there were more.

I do really like her bridal bouquet; that's what I expected from Kate.

Her tiara got lost in the look and her veil not being closer to the tiara makes sense (since the tiara really would have gotten lost) but I think we've come to expect royal brides wearing their veils and tiaras together so this is something different. I do, however, really like how the veil flows in this picture.

Princess Madeleine, June 2013

I don't mind that it's a lace dress. I cannot with the dust ruffle hem. This photo just killed the whole look for me, but this one (above) and this one redeem it to where I can pretend the dust ruffle doesn't exist.

The neckline also had its issues. It went rogue at one point during the wedding and ended up giving her a 1980s-one shoulder style look.

Her hair was very Swedish (they do like their big buns). Her veil was gorgeous too, tying with Beatrice for second. I prefer the way Madeleine styled her veil over how Victoria styled hers.

Madeleine has my favorite makeup look; dramatic eye with a nice pink lip.

Sofia, June 2015

My feeling is that this isn't the dress Sofia would have chosen for herself. I think she went more demure and modest because of her controversial background but she's had a lot of fantastic style choices otherwise. Something about the cut of her dress reads maternity to me - the skirt seems like it starts too high in the bodice.

She has the traditional big Swedish bun, but it's quite a slicked back/severe look for her. I think with the wide open neck in her dress, a softer, looser hairstyle would have made it work better. I do feel like her earrings needed to be bigger with the open neckline, or at least should have had emeralds to match the tiara. (This may be my least favorite tiara styling -- a little too "on top" of her head, not very integrated into the hairstyle so it looks kinda like an afterthought.)

Loved the colorful flowers she chose. Her wedding colors were my favorite before Eugenie came along.

Pippa, May 2017

I know, I know. Pippa's not royal and it wasn't a royal wedding, but it had a big royal turnout so it counts!

THIS is how you do a lace wedding gown without it looking like Granny's tablecloth or Miss Haversham (yeah, I'm looking at you, Kitty Spencer). THIS is how you do a classic English country garden wedding. The way she decorated the exterior of the church was a dream.

Her headpiece was invisible and added nothing. I get why she chose the piece she did, but come on. Hugely missed opportunity to get a major piece from her new husband or to pay homage to Carole in something like this (which I realize is Kate's coronation headpiece) or like this.

The matron of honor/children's minder was perfection. The flower girls were perfection.

Meghan, May 2018

I'm glad Prince Philip was able to attend. I feel like he attended more to support The Queen than out of joy for the couple. I kinda wished Zara would have gone into labor during the service.

Everything was just so darkly lit, even the bridal portraits too.

(Edit: Let me know if you're curious about why I like this picture for their wedding.)

Princess Eugenie, October 2018

Her floral design and colors were my absolute favorite. She wins, hands down, bar none. I loved the moody dark florals and loved how she embraced the autumnal vibes by making the chapel feel warm and inviting.

I thought the sleeves of her bridal gown were too long and too big, and felt oversized. They needed to have been more tailored, like Kate's were.

Eugenie's wedding portraits are my favorite. The scale and perspective was pleasing and the simpler white background of the Windsor room made the people pop.

Overall, it was a very princessy wedding. Very well done.

Lady Gabriella, May 2019

Her veil is my favorite. I like the fuller veil style, but it almost seemed too full because the details of her tiara was lost in all the tulle.

I love the story that she had originally planned for a pink/blush gown but changed it to white when she learned The Queen wanted to attend; that says a lot about her character and respect for tradition.

Bridesmaid dresses were a tad long. For some reason, her Hugo Burnand portraits don't bother me as much as Kate's do. LOVE that she got to do some portraits outdoors, and her outdoors portraits are so quintessentially England. I kinda wish Kate had had that opportunity given how meaningful the outdoors are for her.

So sad about her husband. Sending her all the strength, especially with their anniversary coming up.

Princess Beatrice, July 2020

I loved that she went for sentimentality above all else. She really made the best out of a terrible situation. Their wedding photos make it seem like she (and Edo) are the sort of people who prioritize the marriage over the wedding so I sense they don't mind all the changes too much.

Loved her simple make-up and her grandmother's dress. Loved the veil too. The hair felt undone; this hairstyle would have polished the look nicely.

Princess Iman, March 2023

Iman squeaks into this review by 3 months. She is the youngest millennial royal bride.

I love how soft and golden her portraits are. She ties with Gabriella's outside portraits for the #2 spot for me.

Her look was simple, and I feel this is romantic minimalism done correctly. The drape of her skirt reminds me a lot of Sarah Chatto's, a soft delicate look that's unusual for most royal brides (who tend to go with stiffer, heavier fabric for the formality). It works really well.

The tendrils are a little much and too loose for me; I'd rank her use of tendrils #2 between Eugenie (#1) and Meghan (#3).

Rajwa, June 2023

I appreciate that she went for a look befitting her own individual personality but it was a choice. Her bridal look is a case of "too much pageant fashion, not enough wedding" for me. The draping was strange, the fit of the skirt versus the train seemed like she was wearing pants with a huge overskirt behind her. But the dress "sits" very nicely and I suspect since the Jordanians do most of their weddings sitting (like above), the overskirt style may have been an intentional choice for the photos.

Veil was nice. Bouquet was too small. Not a fa of the earrings. I do think her tiara is a little too far back on her head.

Many congratulations to them for the new baby.

[theculturedmarxist]

Warning signs of the instability of the global financial system abounded in the months leading up to the 2008 Lehman Brothers crash. Among these early signs were the astounding revelations about UBS, the world’s largest private bank, by Stephanie Gibaud, who was employee at the bank’s French division. Gibaud refused instructions given to her and other employees to delete all their company files. In doing so, she helped reveal a vast web of corruption and fraud linking UBS to a shadowy tax evasion scheme. More than 15 years later, Gibaud has endured harassment, professional ostracization, lawsuits, and threats. She joins The Chris Hedges Report to speak on her ordeal and the extent of corruption in the international banking system.

Chris Hedges:  Stephanie Gibaud in June, 2008, was ordered by one of her managers at the UBS Bank in Paris, to destroy all her computer files that related to customers with offshore accounts in Switzerland. The order came in the wake of the 2007 American banker, Bradley Birkenfeld’s disclosure of client information to the US Department of Justice, which suggested that UBS was facilitating massive tax evasion schemes for its American clients, which ultimately led to a penalty of $780 million. Swiss banks have long been havens for those seeking to avoid taxes. In 2014, for example, Credit Suisse, which would also plead guilty to sheltering money for its clients so they could avoid paying taxes, had to pay $2.6 billion in penalties.

Gibaud, however, was the only bank employee at UBS who refused to delete her files. She protested to UBS management and French regulators. Her documents would eventually help to identify 38,000 offshore bank accounts amounting to $12 billion. UBS responded by trying to fire her as part of a mass redundancy of 100 employees during the 2008 financial crisis. The French Ministry of Work intervened, but her life at UBS became excruciating. She suffered harassment and discrimination along with social and professional isolation. She endured constant anxiety and depression. UBS fired her finally in 2012. She was sued for defamation by the bank after writing her book, The Woman Who Knew Too Much, part of a series of lawsuits that plague her to this day.

She requested compensation totaling 3.5 million euros and the judge gave her 4,500 euros, which barely covered her legal fees. UBS was eventually forced to pay a record fine in 2019 of $4.9 billion, but Gibaud found herself financially ruined and blacklisted from the financial sector where she had spent her career. The French legal system does not compensate whistleblowers, unlike the US. The Commodities Future Trading Commission, for example, recently awarded an anonymous whistleblower around $200 million for providing information about Deutsche Bank’s manipulation of the LIBOR benchmark. Birkenfeld, who exposed UBS’s offshore accounts for American clients, was handed a check from the US Treasury for $104 million, minus taxes. Gibaud is currently battling in the French courts to become the first legally recognized whistleblower, which could pave the way for greater protection and compensation.

[amanda-multifandom]

For the record, here's these visualization on the characters.

The Defenders of the Earth characters are a bit more mature, especially the young Defenders Rick, Jedda, and LJ. Kshin is 12 to 13 years. Picture the art that's already done for the young Defenders.

April, Sheila (who comes in a little later), Cathleen, Amy, Tori, and Rachel all appear as they have appeared in DoE continuity.

The Batman characters are Bruce Timm style, mainly Batman: the Animated Series. Not only is BTAS my childhood, but some of the characters such as Batman himself, Poison Ivy, the Joker, and the Penguin I picture their BTAS looks when thinking about the Batman characters.

Dick Grayson is a tricky one. He's Nightwing in this continuity, and yet, there hasn't been any artwork of Nightwing in BTAS style, just Bruce Timm in general. I've been working on edits of Dick Grayson in Batman TAS Era and "Photoshopped" some pictures using Paint as I don't have the programs to make better art or dont have spare money for commissions. I wish though, lol.

The others in the continuity Tim Drake (who is a teen in this continuity), Cassandra Cain, Jason Todd, and Stephanie Brown are also tricky. Either they'll have the DCAU looks I found through fan art, or they'll have their Batman Wayne Family Adventures looks.

Now very few like Harley Quinn and Two Face pretty much stayed the same, so.

[welcometojackass2022]

Taking Commissions—Personalized and Kink/Fetish Fics for $10-$15

Figured I’d go ahead and make this official! I’m currently taking commissions. For $10 I’ll write you a personalized smut fic that will be similar to my x reader fics except instead of the reader, you get to choose the name, personality traits and characteristics of the main character; you can use yourself, an OC, anything you want as specifically detailed as you want. You can also choose to have another canon character or person used instead of yourself or an OC (for example, a Harry Potter x Draco Malfoy fic instead of a Harry Potter x Reader fic). I’m also taking commissions for hardcore kink and fetish fics for $15, which can also be personalized upon request. Continue reading for more details!

Fandoms I Take Commissions For:

Jackass (Johnny Knoxville, Dave England, Danger Ehren, Chris Pontius, Steve-O, Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Stephanie Hodge, Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze, Rachel Wolfson, Poopies, Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin, Eric Manaka)

Viva La Bam and CKY (Bam, Ryan, Brandon DiCamillo, Rake Yohn, Raab Himself/Chris Raab), Brandon Novak, Tim Glomb, Lord Bottaro, Joe Frantz, Jess Margera, Chad Ginsburg, Deron Miller, Ryan Gee)

Game of Thrones (too many characters to list, just ask upon request)

Harry Potter (pretty much any character, just ask upon request)

Gotham (most characters, just ask upon request)

Shameless (most characters, just ask upon request)

Jimmy Pop and Evil Jared from Bloodhound Gang

Ville Valo from HIM

Any character from Haggard or Minghags

The Mighty Boosh (Vince, Howard, Naboo)

Peep Show (Mark and Jeremy)

IT Crowd (Moss, Jen, Roy, Douglas, Richmond)

Peaky Blinders (most characters, just ask upon request)

Slipknot (all members)

Pretty much any rock band, including Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, and KISS (check my old account @creativewritingpracticestudio for some of my old rock band fics)

Pretty much any British comedian featured on Would I Lie To You, Taskmaster, Big Fat Quiz, 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and Mock the Week

Dead Poets Society (any of the main guys honestly, I’m not picky)

Inbetweeners (most main characters and Mr. Gilbert)

Umbrella Academy (most main characters, ask upon request)

Types of Personalized Fics I’ll Write ($10 Per Fic, $15 if Hardcore Kinks and Fetishes are involved)

Fluff

Smut (angry smut, fluffy smut, jealous smut, anything really)

Angst

Hurt/Comfort

Song fics

Drabbles or short concepts

M/F, M/M, F/F, anything goes

Types of Hardcore Kinks and Fetishes I’ll Write For ($15 Per Fic)

Hardcore BDSM (bondage, dom/sub dynamics, mild pain play, punishments, use of gags, sex toys, and bondage gear, etc)

Consensual Non-Consent

Somnophilia

Piss kink, piss play, bladder control, etc

DDLG/MDLB and all variations, but no pedophilia.

Blood Kink and/or weapon play

Roleplay

Breeding Kink and Pregnancy Kink

Belly Kink/Weight Gain Kink (this does include feederism and force-feeding)

Cucking, Threesomes, Sharing, Free Use, Cheating Kink, etc

Degradation and Humiliation (and on the opposite end, Praise Kink and Body Worship)

Impact Play and Mild Pain Play

Foot Fetish

Exhibitionism and Voyeurism

Wax Play and Temperature Play

Tentacles (yeah sure, why not)

Inflation (I highly doubt anyone’s gonna request this but it’s there as an option)

Note: Extremely gross fetishes like scat, farting, armpits, etc are a possibility but you’ll have to make a pretty decent offer, definitely more than $15. Pedophilia, Bestiality, and kinks involving explicit torture/mutilation or murder are out, no matter what you offer.

Please note that all requests for these fics need to either be sent to me in DMs or through a non-anonymous ask (the ask won’t be posted, it’ll just tell me who to DM to send the link to the fic or to ask questions about the fic). Once the fic is completed, I’ll ask you to send the $10 or $15 through Venmo, PayPal or CashApp (preferably Venmo but it’s your choice) and I’ll either send you the link to the document the fic is written on or email you the PDF of the fic. You can also choose to have me post the fic on ao3 and just not state who requested said fic. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, I don’t kinkshame or judge and I like to be given as many details as possible to ensure that you get the fic you want.

Also, don’t feel obligated to ask for a commission if you’re one of the people who reads my x reader fics! This is just a way for me to earn some money while I’m in college, I will never demand that any of you ask for a commission. Happy requesting :)

[zeroducks-2]

I have a confession: I kinda don't get people who LOVE characters like Stephanie, Duke or Jean Paul. Like,,, they are so boring and there's nothing interesting about them??? Made only to be a self-insert for readers?? Also, there are fans ready to literally tear you apart when you 1) don't consider Duke to be a member of the batfam and 2) don't mention Stephanie when you talk about The Four Robins. Which makes it even more crazy bc gurl,, you really that butthurted over a character as shallow as Bella from Twilight...?

It took me some time to decide how to go about answering this ask, because first and foremost I want to confirm that yes, it is unfair and gatekeepy to nag at people when "they don't consider Duke a member of the Batfamily", or if they don't mention Stephanie when one talks about The Four Robins.

First of all not everyone has read every DC story ever - I surely did not - and on the contrary, I suspect that the majority of casual DC fans don't even know about Jason, Tim and Damian, assuming there's just one Batman and one Robin (who they don't really know is even named Dick Grayson). Hell, when I read Under The Red Hood for the first time (and I did as it came out!), I had NO IDEA who Jason Todd was. I had read random ass comicbooks up to that point and I just assumed that there were "other Robins" after Dick went on to become Nightwing, but in a vague and non-contextualized way.

It's as simple as many people not knowing that Stephanie and Duke even exist (or they just saw them once in a fanart) because maybe they just read some random comics without any real context, or because they have been focused on the JLA and just recently got into Batman stuff, because they only know the "Batfam" through Young Justice, or for a number of other reasons. It's not on them to be knowledgeable on every single facet of the Batman lore, and no one should expect from a fan to just know ALL the characters like the back of their hands, and include them in the "batfam" scenarios always and all the time (also because one of the reason why people often don't know about Cass, Steph and Duke is because DC does not push them. Finding stories with these characters gets increasingly more difficult every year, thank fuck people don't know them). Or maybe they have read comicbooks with Stephanie and Duke and they decided they dislike them, which is also a totally fair reason not to include them in their art or whatever.

And to be honest, if we wanted to be coherent then we should fuss also with those who don't include Carrie Kelley among the Robins, but no one does that because Carrie isn't famous enough for people to whine about an "all Robins fanart" which doesn't include her (I personally don't care about Carrie, I'm saying this just to point out the hypocrisy).

It's as it usually goes. You want art with "all the Robins"? Pick up a pencil and draw it or commission an artist. You want comedy skits in written form, or mock-twitter posts or whatever to include Stephanie and Duke? Sit down, think of something funny and do it yourself, or again commission someone. Fan-creators aren't there to fulfill your needs about this or that aspect of a fandom, and there is not one single valid reason to harass them about it.

This though is completely unrelated to the fact that Stephanie, Duke and whoever else might be "bad characters" that you personally dislike. People like characters for an array of different reasons, even when these characters are shallow, inconsistent, not created according to the proper rules of characterization and narrative arcs. Sometimes the reason why people love a character is exactly because they are written to be as self-insert, but it can be literally anything and that is OK. It will often be reasons we don't understand or we disagree with, and that too is OK.

To name one, I personally have no idea how anyone who's older than 12 can genuinely enjoy a Harry Potter book, and I've been saying this since I was 13 myself (so around 15 years before JKR outed herself as a misogynistic piece of shit), but it is what it is - a lot of people like things that I don't enjoy and for reasons I don't understand, and I myself have learned to be OK with it a long time ago.

And let's be clear, I could very well make the case that Batman is a hyper-masculine macho fantasy with nothing to offer to the plot of a story. Or that Tim is a useless filler of a character without anything new to add to the narrative. Or that Dick is a repetitive, whiny bimbo whose plot-lines are always the same. And I LOVE those characters to BITS, they are my precious blorbos and I rather defend them tooth and nail against anyone who dares speak ill of them, but the truth is that criticizing a character is easy.

Take one flaw and make it bigger than any good thing about them, you can paint the most awful picture ever and you wouldn't even be wrong from your personal point of view. None of them is objectively perfect or even close to a narrative masterpiece, so go ahead and keep disliking Stephanie and Duke and Jean Luc, and whoever else doesn't tickle your fancy, but my suggestions is to stop focusing on "how is it even possible that people like them" because there will always be that one character you hate that people can't stop pouring love over. It is pretty much always best to shrug and move along when you see something you dislike, and instead spend your energy on the characters and stories you do like instead, and which make you have blorbo thoughts and butterflies in your stomach and whatever else makes you happy.

And if anyone who's reading this is someone who harasses people for not including Duke and Steph in the group fanarts - please don't. Leave artists be. You want that Robin!Steph artwork, go ahead and draw it yourself or pay for a commission, and stop being an ass to people because they didn't do the thing exactly as you wanted them to do it.

[warsofasoiaf]

You said before that price controls don't work. What do you make of the New Yorker article on Isabella Weber?

It's bad journalism, start to finish. It doesn't just misreport the truth, it actively perverts the truth in an attempt to tell a compelling story and promote a false interpretation of economics and policy making.

First off, there's a ton of factual errors. The article makes the claim that the inflation that the world has been experiencing has been concentrated in the energy sector, but a cursory glance at the data shows that to be false - inflation is broad-based to the point where even fuel prices influencing cost-push inflation wouldn't have impacted the CPI as much, and certainly not in the way that service prices have been increasing faster than goods prices last quarter. Second, the article argues that the German government issued a price control on natural gas...but they didn't. They instead cut a subsidy check based on past consumption rates, in essence, subsidizing a certain amount of gas with the onus on the consumer to pay more past a certain quantity. The other members of the commission have attacked the article as being incorrect, which should be enough to tell you the poor level of quality of research done in the article.

Secondly, Weber's actual proposed policy isn't what is being talked about in the German gas commission. Weber proposed a broad screen of price controls, citing the Second World War as a successful example at how non-inflationary they were. The big problems with this, like with most non-expert use of simple policy analogy, is that none of the circumstances are similar. Rationing caused a large decrease in private consumption as valuable materiel was redirect to war production, and monetary policy expectations were different; and Weber is hardly suggesting that we break out the ration cards. Better examples would be the Nixon price controls of 1971, which only kicked the inflationary can down the road a few years and it hit much harder, or the disastrous Venezuelan price control which caused hyperinflation and whose only real utility was to force non-Maduro loyalists to have their businesses confiscated and given to cronies to maintain his unstable grip on power.

Thirdly, the author makes omits the actual interesting economic discussion being done, such as how much of inflation should be attributed to cost-push versus demand-pull, or the utility of the G7 price cap on Russian oil (not to mention the massive extenuating circumstance of Russia's invasion of Ukraine which was the cause for the policy, not inflation). These are actual insights that can be used by policymakers. Instead, the story is crafted of a simplistic fairy tale about an outsider possessing secret wisdom that the establishment scoffs at. It's a psychologically comforting fiction, but it does a great disservice to actual economics work and further discredit actual economics work in favor of simple, psychologically-comforting fictions. It is appealing because it's a reduction of a complicated affair to a very simple morality play - problems are simple and it's just those evil bad people that want to stop us. Misinformation like this actively hurts public engagement with experts, it's psychologically tailored to maximize engagement. Much like the puff piece a few years back on Stephanie Kelton and MMT or the more-recent "greedflation" thesis, it's just more garbage designed to promote ignorance over knowledge.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[goldislops]

AI ‘Surveillance Pricing’ Could Use Data to Make People Pay More

The Federal Trade Commission is studying how companies use consumer data to charge different prices for the same product

Webb Wright

Malte Mueller/Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission is studying how companies use consumer data to charge different prices for the same product

In 2006 mathematician Clive Humby called data “the new oil”—a raw commodity that, once refined, would fuel the digital economy. Since then big tech companies have spent vast sums of money honing algorithms that gather their users’ data and scour it for patterns. One result has been a boom in precision-targeted online advertisements. Another is a practice some experts call “algorithmic personalized pricing,” which uses artificial intelligence to tailor prices to individual consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission uses a more Orwellian term for this: “surveillance pricing.”

In July the FTC sent information-seeking orders to eight companies that “have publicly touted their use of AI and machine learning to engage in data-driven targeting,” says the agency’s chief technologist Stephanie Nguyen. The orders are part of an effort to understand the scale of the practice, the kinds of user data that are being gathered, the ways algorithmic price adjustments might affect consumers and the question of whether collusion or other anticompetitive practices could be involved. “The use of surveillance technology and private data to determine prices is a new frontier,” Nguyen says. “We want to bring more information about this practice to light.”

The orders, which can be enforced similarly to subpoenas, required the eight companies to submit reports outlining their surveillance pricing practices by September 2. One of the companies to receive an order, Revionics, builds AI-powered systems that its website calls “price optimization solutions.” Revionics “does not, in any way, conduct operations related to the surveillance of consumers,” says Kristen Miller, the company’s vice president of global communications. The other companies being scrutinized are Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, e-commerce platform Bloomreach, consulting firms Accenture and McKinsey & Company, and software companies TASK Software and PROS. None of the eight companies have been accused of anything illegal by the FTC.

The agency’s ongoing investigation was sparked by a growing awareness that companies are using AI and machine learning to track certain categories of user data—such as age, location, credit score or browsing history—which many people probably wouldn’t deliberately share.

“What’s frightening is that a company could know something about me that I had no idea they could find out and I would have never authorized,” says Jean-Pierre Dubé, a professor of marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “These are the kinds of things where the FTC might really be onto something.” If companies are deploying AI to gather consumer information that hasn’t been knowingly shared, he says, prices might be getting personalized along “dimensions that aren’t acceptable.”

Nguyen adds that consumer surveillance extends beyond online shopping. “Companies are investing in infrastructure to monitor customers in real time in brick-and-mortar stores,” she says. Some price tags, for example, have become digitized, designed to be updated automatically in response to factors such as expiration dates and customer demand. Retail giant Walmart—which is not being probed by the FTC—says its new digital price tags can be remotely updated within minutes. And e-commerce platform Instacart offers AI-powered “smart carts”: physical carts that can be used to scan items and that are equipped with screens that display personalized ads and coupons.

Movie Tickets and Mortgages

Surveillance pricing is a modern iteration of a much older practice called “personalized pricing”—adjusting prices based on an estimation of a customer’s willingness to pay. A vendor selling fruit in a bazaar in 2000 B.C.E. would probably charge a wealthy landowner more than they would a peasant, just as a modern car salesperson likely wouldn’t offer the same deal to someone who arrives in a Porsche as they would to someone who pulls up on a rusty bike. Flexibly adapting prices to individual customers’ budgets maximizes profits, and it can open doors for lower-income consumers who might otherwise be priced out of the market. Education is an illustrative example: universities sometimes offer more robust aid packages to students from diverse backgrounds or with lower socioeconomic status to maximize fairness and diversity. Further evidence of potential consumer benefits comes from a study Dubé conducted involving two movie theaters, both of which were offering discounts to customers located closer to the competition. (Theater A would offer cheap tickets to moviegoers who lived near theater B, and vice versa.) The result was win-win: both theaters ended up attracting more customers, who in turn saved money by spending less on tickets.

This approach doesn’t always work out so well in other markets, however. When personalized pricing is applied to home mortgages, lower-income people tend to pay more—and algorithms can sometimes make things even worse by hiking up interest rates based on an inadvertently discriminatory automated estimate of a borrower’s risk rating, for example.

Algorithms are now taking personalized pricing from the observable realm to a more shadowy domain. Historically, the practice was based largely on observable traits and information gleaned through face-to-face interactions. Customers could therefore try to game the system: seeking a better deal, a wealthier person buying a new car might leave the Porsche and the Armani suit at home. But in a world of mostly unregulated data collection (at least in the U.S.) and AI processing power, brands may be tweaking prices in more surreptitious ways that are much harder to get around.

Imagine, for example, that you’re shopping online for a new coffee machine on a site that leverages AI to personalize the prices customers see. The algorithm could be factoring in your browsing history (you’ve been searching quite a bit for new coffee makers), your recent purchases (you’re a regular coffee drinker and bought an espresso machine two years ago), the time of day (it’s late in the evening, when your history shows you’re more prone to impulse buys) and your location (there aren’t many brick-and-mortar stores in your area selling coffee makers). Combined, these factors are likely to mean you have more of a willingness to pay at this moment—and as a result, you see a slightly higher price. Meanwhile another person who is shopping for their very first coffee maker and is perhaps a little thriftier with their late-night spending could see a lower price for the same machine.

Your willingness to pay, in other words, could be gauged according to fine-grain demographic information and subtle patterns of behavior, some of which you might not realize are publicly available. “Even though the phenomenon itself is very old, algorithms allow sellers to reach a level of differentiation that they’ve never been able to before,” says Harvard Law School professor Oren Bar-Gill, who has studied the impact of algorithms within consumer markets.

But Is It Dystopian?

Some experts object to the FTC’s use of the word “surveillance,” arguing that it could imply a dystopian disregard for privacy. And even though the agency’s orders were passed with a rare unanimous vote among its five bipartisan commissioners, some had reservations about this phrasing. “This term’s negative connotations may suggest that personalized pricing is necessarily a nefarious practice,” wrote FTC commissioner Melissa Holyoak in an official statement. “In my view, we should be careful to use neutral terminology that does not suggest any prejudgment of difficult issues.”

That note of caution was echoed by some experts interviewed for this story, who agreed that the FTC should keep an open mind in its approach to surveillance pricing. Perhaps the situation calls for more emphasis on transparency rather than a blanket crackdown on all use of algorithms to personalize prices. The practice may even have advantages that the agency doesn’t yet fully understand. Through Miller, Revionics contends that it uses AI to find prices that benefit consumers as well as retailers.

“The fact that data is used in a certain way might mean that we should inform consumers about it so they will know, and they [can] decide whether they want to consent ... and engage with that seller,” says Haggai Porat, a teaching fellow at Harvard Law School, who has studied the effects of algorithmic personalized pricing. “But that shouldn’t lead us to a conclusion that the practice itself is necessarily bad for consumers.”

[eclecticmuses]

Fitzsimmons Silhouette Quotes Pattern

@agl03 commissioned me to make a Fitzsimmons fabric pattern and here it is! I don’t think it’s bad for a first attempt and I definitely want to try more of these in the future. It’s available on Spoonflower for all of your fabric needs and Redbubble for all the pre-made swag you could want!

[mirandamckenni1]

I've been WRONG about Supernovas my Entire Career Massive stars end their existence in a blaze of glory called a supernova. What are those last moments like? And why does it end in a supernova? Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: https://ift.tt/f1tiYbu Nick Lucid - Host, Writer, Editor, Animator Em Lucid - Producer ________________________________ VIDEO ANNOTATIONS/CARDS The Sun and Quantum Tunneling: https://youtu.be/lQapfUcf4Do Life Cycle of the Sun: https://youtu.be/GltTRdM1RW4 Tachyons Explained: https://youtu.be/K_oxeG6LMO0 https://ift.tt/3G8SV1P ________________________________ SUPPORT THE SCIENCE ASYLUM Patreon: https://ift.tt/SkKsiW5 YouTube Membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXgNowiGxwwnLeQ7DXTwXPg/join Sign-Up for Nebula: https://ift.tt/PRk5EQz Advanced Theoretical Physics (Paperback): https://ift.tt/3Mch86g Advanced Theoretical Physics (eBook): https://ift.tt/wtmLQpg Merchandise: https://ift.tt/L32i051 ________________________________ HUGE THANK YOU TO THESE SUPPORTERS Asylum Counselors: Joe K. Kim Asylum Orderlies: Chloë Joan López, Dhruv Singhal, James Smith, Joel Wolhendler, Medec Hurtz, Peter Engrav Einsteinium Crazies: Benjamin Sharef, Dan Sullivan, Eoin O'Sullivan, Jonathan Lima, Joseph Salomone, Kevin Flanagan, Matias Cveczilberg, Sean K, Sheila Owen, William Hutchison Plutonium Crazies: Al Davis, Compuart, Ellis Hall, Fabio Manzini, Kevin MacLean, Rex_zane, Rick Myers, Vid Icarus Platinum Crazies: Cesar Moya, Christopher Bennett, Clayton Bruckert, David Johnston, Ishay Oz, Jonathan Reel, Joshua Gallagher, Li-Ce Hu, Marino Hernandez, Mikayla Eckel Cifrese, Mr. Orn Jonasar, Olga Cooperman, P. Patrick Tukkers, Qin Li, Stephanie Beach, Ulrich, Zachary Milne ________________________________ SOURCES https://ift.tt/XbHL4AD https://ift.tt/6yKRnxW https://ift.tt/Rw9tUPy https://ift.tt/XD9Faqm https://ift.tt/ZjtTuw5 https://ift.tt/GZAwBNQ https://ift.tt/VuY7HBM https://ift.tt/C15Fpm8 https://ift.tt/Jd7gtx1 ________________________________ AFFILIATE LINKS TO BOOK SOURCES "Physics, Formation and Evolution of Rotating Stars" by Andre Maeder https://amzn.to/3TrdJBU "An Introduction to Stellar Astrophysics" by Francis LeBlanc https://amzn.to/48JnOyy "Advanced Stellar Astrophysics" by William K. Rose https://amzn.to/4a0pZij "Structure and Evolution of Single and Binary Stars" by C. de Loore & C. Doom https://amzn.to/4c58dvY "Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis" by Sean G. Ryan & Andrew J. Norton https://amzn.to/48SPjG8 FTC Disclosure: These are affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through my links. ________________________________ LINKS TO COMMENTS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_oxeG6LMO0&lc=Ugx73Id7MWje-noneol4AaABAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_oxeG6LMO0&lc=Ugxvvak5IslSDOKNIlZ4AaABAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_oxeG6LMO0&lc=Ugxv21W7zw9T1CeMnsd4AaABAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_oxeG6LMO0&lc=UgwAhRrHNTYfBY0Ku_l4AaABAg ________________________________ IMAGE/VIDEO CREDITS Supernova Explosion: https://ift.tt/jaPHQmN Ring Nebula: https://ift.tt/XltWVmg ________________________________ TIME CODES 00:00 Intro 00:29 Which stars end with a supernova? 02:08 Stellar Core Structure 03:50 Nuclear Binding Energy 05:55 Exothermic vs Endothermic Fusion 06:26 The Final Moments 07:36 Photodisintegration 08:16 Why a supernova though? 09:36 Supporter Shoutouts 09:54 Featured Comment 10:13 Surprise Surprise! via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoWdgU_QYxA

[dailyweb]

Prominent Couple Indicted Following 19-Year-Old's Drowning Death

A prominent Nashville couple faces criminal charges stemming from the August 2019 drowning of a 19-year-old Montgomery Bell Academy graduate during an overnight graduation party.

Forrest Conner, 49, was indicted on charges that he purchased alcohol for underage partygoers and allowed them to consume alcoholic beverages on the Dickson County farm that he owned.

His wife, Stephanie Barger Conner, 51, faces a single charge of allowing underage drinking on the property.

Both crimes are Class A misdemeanors, which carry a potential penalty of 11 months, 29 days in jail.

Dickson County sheriff's investigators were called to the farm at 1500 Timber Ridge Road, near Charlotte, on the morning of Friday, August 2. The party included recent graduates of MBA, an elite, all-boys school, and the all-girl Harpeth Hall.

A farm aide discovered the body of Will Caver in a pond on the property after he could not be located. 

Will Caver's autopsy has been sealed at the request of District Attorney General Ray Crouch's office.

“Mr. Conner did not provide alcohol that evening to the group, nor did he provide alcohol of any type to anyone under the age of 21 who attended, outside of his immediate family.”

Young provided a statement attributed to Forrest Conner.

“The loss of Will Caver is a devastating tragedy, and we mourn him above all else," the statement said.

"Since the accident occurred, we have cooperated fully with the investigation. We understand and respect the process undertaken by the office of the District Attorney of Dickson County and the Grand Jury. We will continue to work with the authorities and, out of respect for their process, will not have further comment.”

Stephanie Conner's lawyer, Timothy Potter, said in an email that she "is heartbroken over the death of Will Caver. It was a terrible tragedy, and she prays daily for the Caver family."

Potter said Stephanie Conner "did not provide alcohol to anyone. She is also not an owner of the property, nor does she have an ownership interest in the property."

Forrest Conner is the CEO of the manufacturing company McCarthy Jones & Woodard. Stephanie Barger Conner is a member of the Tennessee Arts Commission and former executive director of the Tennessee Film Commission.

The couple was quietly indicted, with no public announcement, on December 9th. DA Ray Crouch had not responded to requests for updates on the status of the investigation.

[broadwaydivastournament]

Brenda Braxton in Caricature

"Jelly's Last Jam," Published April 19, 1992 - Al Hirschfeld

Brenda Braxton appeared in the Ensemble of Jelly's Last Jam alongside the late Gregory Hines, Tonya Pinkins, Stephanie Pope, Allison Williams, Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, and others.

"Smokey Joe’s Cafe," Published 1999 - Al Hirschfeld

She also received a Tony nomination for her featured role in the musical revue. She starred alongside Ken Ard, Adrian Bailey, B. J. Crosby, Pattie D'Arcy Jones, and others. She is featured here, second from the left, with her signature boa.

Broadway on the High Seas 7: Chita Rivera, Faith Prince, Seth Rudetsky, Charles Busch, Jennifer Simard, Laura Osnes, Lilla Crawford, Kate Baldwin, Brenda Braxton, Adam Pascal, Lindsay Mendez, Andréa Burns, and Douglas Carter Beane. - Squigs

Solo Card: 2021

Though Brenda does not currently have a Sardis caricature, she was included in a special edition Squigs card. In 2016, Squigs released a limited edition series commissioned by Playbill to feature their cruise lineup, Broadway on the High Seas.  The cards were available for passengers to have signed by the cast.

[worldtodaysposts]

Prominent Couple Indicted Following 19-Year-Old's Drowning Death

A prominent Nashville couple faces criminal charges stemming from the August 2019 drowning of a 19-year-old Montgomery Bell Academy graduate during an overnight graduation party.

Forrest Conner, 49, was indicted on charges that he purchased alcohol for underage partygoers and allowed them to consume alcoholic beverages on the Dickson County farm that he owned.

His wife, Stephanie Barger Conner, 51, faces a single charge of allowing underage drinking on the property.

Both crimes are Class A misdemeanors, which carry a potential penalty of 11 months, 29 days in jail.

Dickson County sheriff's investigators were called to the farm at 1500 Timber Ridge Road, near Charlotte, on the morning of Friday, August 2. The party included recent graduates of MBA, an elite, all-boys school, and the all-girl Harpeth Hall.

A farm aide discovered the body of Will Caver in a pond on the property after he could not be located. 

Will Caver's autopsy has been sealed at the request of District Attorney General Ray Crouch's office.

“Mr. Conner did not provide alcohol that evening to the group, nor did he provide alcohol of any type to anyone under the age of 21 who attended, outside of his immediate family.”

Young provided a statement attributed to Forrest Conner.

“The loss of Will Caver is a devastating tragedy, and we mourn him above all else," the statement said.

"Since the accident occurred, we have cooperated fully with the investigation. We understand and respect the process undertaken by the office of the District Attorney of Dickson County and the Grand Jury. We will continue to work with the authorities and, out of respect for their process, will not have further comment.”

Stephanie Conner's lawyer, Timothy Potter, said in an email that she "is heartbroken over the death of Will Caver. It was a terrible tragedy, and she prays daily for the Caver family."

Potter said Stephanie Conner "did not provide alcohol to anyone. She is also not an owner of the property, nor does she have an ownership interest in the property."

Forrest Conner is the CEO of the manufacturing company McCarthy Jones & Woodard. Stephanie Barger Conner is a member of the Tennessee Arts Commission and former executive director of the Tennessee Film Commission.

The couple was quietly indicted, with no public announcement, on December 9th. DA Ray Crouch had not responded to requests for updates on the status of the investigation.

[jcmarchi]

Many firms prefer ready-made AI software with a few tweaks - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/many-firms-prefer-ready-made-ai-software-with-a-few-tweaks-technology-org/

Many firms prefer ready-made AI software with a few tweaks - Technology Org

Artificial intelligence has changed nearly every industry, from manufacturing and retail to construction and agriculture. And as AI becomes even more ubiquitous, firms often opt for off-the-shelf technology that can be modified to meet their needs.

Chris Forman, the Peter and Stephanie Nolan Professor in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, was part of a research team that examined firms’ decisions to adopt AI technology and how that adoption was sourced: by purchasing ready-made software; by developing their own; or with a hybrid strategy, which the researchers say may reflect “complementarity” among sourcing approaches.

In an analysis of more than 3,000 European firms, they found that many—particularly in science, retail trade, finance, real estate, and manufacturing—are increasingly opting for ready-made technology tailored to the firm’s specific needs. While AI may seem to be threatening the human workforce, these findings indicate that workers with AI-related skills will still be needed.

“In the vast majority of industries, firms are doing both readymade and in-house development, and I think it’s an interesting question for future work to understand why that’s the case,” said Forman, co-author of “Make or Buy Your Artificial Intelligence? Complementarities in Technology Sourcing,” which published March 5 in the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy.

“Ready-made software is important,” he said, “but for the vast majority of firms, it does not appear to be a substitute for in-house software, which suggests that it’s not, at least in the short run, going to eliminate the need for AI-related skills.”

Charles Hoffreumon, a doctoral student at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, is the corresponding author. Nicolas van Zeebroeck, a professor of digital economics and strategy at the Solvay Brussels School, is the other co-author.

For their study, the researchers examined data from a survey conducted in 2020 by the Directorate-General of Communications Networks, Content and Technology from the European Commission (EC), which assessed AI adoption across the 27 countries of the European Union. The team used data from 3,143 firms across Europe in the study.

Business software is hard to implement, and historically as new technologies spread firms have relied on ready-made software. “This aspect of trying to understand the extent to which ready-made software could potentially substitute for the need for skills was interesting.” Forman said.

The study’s data comprised firms in 10 industry sectors, with the largest share coming from manufacturing (19%), trade and retail (18%), and construction (12%). Industries with the smallest share of respondents included agriculture (4%) and utilities (3%).

Firms most commonly use AI for the following purposes: fraud or risk detection, process or equipment optimization, and process automation in warehouses or robotics.

Among respondents who had adopted at least one AI application, more than 58% reported using ready-made software; nearly 38% hired an external consultant; 24% used modified commercial software; 20% used in-house software; and 20% modified open-source technology for their firm’s needs. Some firms deployed the technology in multiple ways.

Among the findings: The financial and scientific sectors – and to a lesser extent IT – preferred developing and customizing their own software while agriculture, construction and human health preferred ready-made solutions.

Forman said that in the past, as new technology spreads, the demand for different types of skills emerges. “Historically, the net effect has tended to be that, overall, labor demand goes up,” he said, “but it remains to be seen what happens in this case.”

As often happens with new technology, Forman said, the diffusion of AI technology to early adopters has resulted in users’ best practices getting incorporated into ready-made software, which makes these solutions even better. This was the case, he said, with enterprise resource planning – automation software that helps to run an entire business.

“When you look at prior digital technologies, there’s often a process of complementary innovation, or co-invention, where you figure out how to use this digital technology most effectively for your firm,” Forman said. “That usually takes place over time, through experimentation and figuring out what works and doesn’t.”

The authors wrote that this research “has taken the first steps toward highlighting the importance of sourcing strategies to understanding the diffusion of AI.”

Source: Cornell University

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[dailypress]

Prominent couple indicted following 19-year-old's drowning death

A prominent Nashville couple faces criminal charges stemming from the August 2019 drowning of a 19-year-old Montgomery Bell Academy graduate during an overnight graduation party.

Forrest Conner, 49, was indicted on charges that he purchased alcohol for underage partygoers and allowed them to consume alcoholic beverages on the Dickson County farm that he owned.

His wife, Stephanie Barger Conner, 51, faces a single charge of allowing underage drinking on the property.

Both crimes are Class A misdemeanors, which carry a potential penalty of 11 months, 29 days in jail.

Dickson County sheriff's investigators were called to the farm at 1500 Timber Ridge Road, near Charlotte, on the morning of Friday, August 2. The party included recent graduates of MBA, an elite, all-boys school, and the all-girl Harpeth Hall.

A farm aide discovered the body of Will Caver in a pond on the property after he could not be located. 

Will Caver's autopsy has been sealed at the request of District Attorney General Ray Crouch's office.

“Mr. Conner did not provide alcohol that evening to the group, nor did he provide alcohol of any type to anyone under the age of 21 who attended, outside of his immediate family.”

Young provided a statement attributed to Forrest Conner.

“The loss of Will Caver is a devastating tragedy, and we mourn him above all else," the statement said.

"Since the accident occurred, we have cooperated fully with the investigation. We understand and respect the process undertaken by the office of the District Attorney of Dickson County and the Grand Jury. We will continue to work with the authorities and, out of respect for their process, will not have further comment.”

Stephanie Conner's lawyer, Timothy Potter, said in an email that she "is heartbroken over the death of Will Caver. It was a terrible tragedy, and she prays daily for the Caver family."

Potter said Stephanie Conner "did not provide alcohol to anyone. She is also not an owner of the property, nor does she have an ownership interest in the property."

Forrest Conner is the CEO of the manufacturing company McCarthy Jones & Woodard. Stephanie Barger Conner is a member of the Tennessee Arts Commission and former executive director of the Tennessee Film Commission.

The couple was quietly indicted, with no public announcement, on December 9th. DA Ray Crouch had not responded to requests for updates on the status of the investigation.