By this point, I’m sure most of you know about the situation in Australia.  If somehow you aren’t, the continent is on fire.  Millions of animals have died, thousands of people have been displaced, and as of right now, the fires show no signs of stopping.  Today’s word should be self-explanatory….

inferno, noun –  an intense, uncontrollable blaze

Learned from:  Shadowgate  (Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Amiga, CD-I, Game Boy Color, Macintosh, NES, Palm OS, PC, mobile phone)

Developed by ICOM Simulations, Inc.

Published by Mindscape (1987), (Kemco, 1989 for the NES)

Far from the real-world horrorscape that is Australia right now, opening a door to find just an entire chasm full of fire seems downright passe.  Shadowgate was known for being unpredictable.  Each door, or hatch, or hallway could just as easily lead to a wizard’s laboratory, or a dragon’s hoard, or a bridge over a sea of flames.  The sheer variety of scenes led to an equally broad set of creative solutions in order to progress.

Sadly, there’s no icy crystal orb we can shatter against the ground to put out the infernos raging across Australia.  Indeed, once you see some of the photos from the area, it can be easy to feel like there’s no solution at all.  And for any one of us, that’s true.  Fortunately, fixing this–or any other problem of this scope–doesn’t fall on the shoulders of any one person.  The most any one of us can do is what we can.  If you’re inclined to spit in the face of impossible odds, and do all that anyone could ask, this article has a list of things you can do to help, at the bottom.  Again, no one person could be expected to do all of them, but any of us could do at least one.