I have ubuntu setup to display a fortune cookie from the program ‘fortune’ at each boot in a little window.
I really wish it would stop giving me Mark Twain quotes. He’s so pretentious.
For the curious, create a file with this in it:
fortune | gmessage -font "georgia 10" -file - -wrap -center -geometry 520x180 -title "Fortune Cookie" -buttons Close -default Close
Then make it executable and add it to the start up programs in gnome (or whatever you use).