My son is finally old enough to play Halo 3 with me. Should I let him win sometimes or just crush him as I would any other inferior opponent?

If you're honestly thinking of obliterating your kid in Halo 3, it's time to return all that "World's Number One Dad" merchandise. Turning your death matches into 30-second routs will only sour the boy on gaming. And it won't be all that fun for you either.

That said, you also shouldn't take dives: You want to give your son an incentive to keep sharpening his skills. "If you're capable of winning, win," says Theodore Ross, cofounder of DadWagon, a group blog about fatherhood. "Just take it a little bit easy." When the boy lucks into a nice move, for example, take a moment to offer praise before shotgunning him in the face. And when you execute a coup de grè2ce, do it with grace — teach the kid to be a good sport even as you demonstrate the finer points of wielding the gravity hammer.

Last night I had a dream that led to a major creative breakthrough on a work project. Can I bill my client for the sleep time?

At what point in your dream did this idea strike — while you were sitting naked in high school French class or when you realized that all your teeth were loose? Whatever the case, we get where you're coming from: In the Google Docs era, work has become an around-the-clock grind. We'd wager that checking email now rivals toothbrushing as America's favorite pre-bedtime ritual.

But that doesn't mean it's kosher to bill for REM. "To be billable, the time spent has to be willfully expended," says William G. Ross, author of The Honest Hour: The Ethics of Time-Based Billing by Attorneys. Once the alarm clock buzzed, however, the meter started running. Did you jot down your brainstorm on a bedside notepad or spin it around in your mind while eating Trix? If so, bill for those minutes. Now you're living the dream.

I use an online data backup service, and I just realized that I copy lots of pirated files to its servers. Should I be worried about this?

Officially, your backup service thinks you rank among history's greatest monsters. Just check out its terms of service; there's doubtless a strongly worded bit in there along the lines of "Any unlawful use shall result in your immediate exile to a Saharan salt mine where the living envy the dead."

In practice, though, backup services don't bother to sniff out offenders. The likes of Mozy and Carbonite don't scan files for pirated material, and that makes business sense — they'd be hard-pressed to attract customers if they had a reputation for snooping.

If your piracy is so epic that you end up being sued by copyright holders (where do you find the time?), your backup service could be hit with a subpoena that compels it to hand over your data. But that's unlikely to occur if you encrypt your files before backing them up (a common option). Since the feds won't have the key, decoding and identifying that illicit Chamillionaire album will be very difficult.

Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email us at mrknowitall@hyzs518.com.