Macquarium

plural Macquariums · plural rare Macquaria · alternative MacQuarium

1. An aquarium (fish tank) constructed using the case of a defunct Macintosh personal computer.

plural MacQuariums

1. Alternative letter-case form of Macquarium.

   Trusty old Mac computers never die, they morph — into MacQuariums.

   2000 July 20, Sam Vincent Meddis, “The Net: New & notable: It was a dark and stormy night …: Your Mac sleeps with the fishes”, in USA Today, Arlington, Va.: Gannett Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3D, column 2

   5 more examples

   Matt’s MacQuarium page could glue you to the screen, especially if you’re avoiding an odius^([sic]) chore. […] The MacInTouch Home Page and EvangeList are the most useful, but my favorite is Matt’s MacQuarium Page. Turning my old Mac SE into a fish tank has always seemed like a neat idea.

   1997 January 2, James Cook, “On the Internet: Pining for a Bookmark Housekeeper: Which is worse: taking down the tree, or cleaning your list of favorite Web sites?”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume 119, number 2, St. Louis, Mo., →ISSN, →OCLC, “Get Out: The Entertainment Magazine of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch” supplement, page 40, columns 2–3

   Perhaps his [Andy Ihnatko’s] greatest accomplishment is his 60-page manual on the building of a MacQuarium, a functioning 2.5-gallon fish tank made from a converted classic Mac.

   1998 August 27, “Online Chat”, in The Evansville Courier, Evansville, Ind., →ISSN, →OCLC, page C6, column 1

   Then he [Andy Ihnatko] produced detailed instructions so that others could create “The Original MacQuarium.” Immediately upon reading these instructions, Ihnatko’s girlfriend announced, “This is what you’ve been working on for the past two months!”, and dumped him. [Terry] Spicknell, who teaches music at Edward Hand Middle School, says his wife recently had a similar reaction after hearing that he might continue making MacQuariums based on Ihnatko’s instructions. […] Spicknell has turned seven old Mac computers into MacQuariums. […] There are few things on this earth that are funnier than a MacQuarium.

   1999 October 26, Jack Brubaker, “What to do with that outdated computer? Why not turn it into an aquarium?”, in Robert J. Kozak, editor, Lancaster New Era, 123rd year, number 38,357, Lancaster, Pa.: Lancaster Newspapers, →OCLC, page A-14, columns 1–4

   You may want to join the MacQuarium movement, launched in 1992 by Andy Ihnatko, a columnist for the defunct MacUser magazine. […] Now there are MacQuariums everywhere!

   1999 December 22, Alex Beam, “Computer skeletons in our closet”, in The Boston Globe, volume 256, number 175, Boston, Mass.: Globe Newspaper Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page F1, column 1

   The last time I bought something on EBay,^([sic]) it was the old Macintosh I turned into a MacQuarium.

   2000 July 3, Stephen Jacobs, “Gadget Boy: E-commerce gets up close, personal”, in Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, N.Y.: Gannett Rochester Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3F, columns 3–4