"Take your head out of the sand and face up to reality because it will hit you between the eyes like a steam train if you don't wake up to it, " he said.

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And while it used to require a certain set of characteristics to thrive as a bully, the internet makes it simple for almost anyone to graduate from cowering weakling to kicking virtual sand in the face of friends and strangers in no time.

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As in the old Charles Atlas ads, the 97-pound weakling eventually gets tired of having sand kicked in his face, heads off to the gym and becomes just as muscled as the bully.

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Using that information, her imagination, and powdery material she described as similar to sand and glue, she constructs a face and brings it into being with a three-dimensional printer.

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The public face of their San Francisco firm, Venture Frogs, is more Melrose Place than Sand Hill Road.

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Offenders know a slap on the wrist or a sternly-raised eyebrow is the worst they face, and when the economy is buzzing again, no one wants to throw sand in the gears.

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