Here’s a fun little thing you can do for your next site goodie: display your users’ “fortunes” from the command-line interface, CLI, application Fortune.
On Fedora, install:
% sudo yum install fortune-mod
from PHP (fortune.php)
<pre>
<? passthru('fortune'); ?>
</pre>
I pre-formatted the text because it comes out looking as it does in the CLI. In its simplest form you can simply include this into a nice little div tag somewhere on your site (little side box above/below the nav?). If you don’t have privileges to install apps on your machine, this probably won’t work for you.
While you’re at it, take a look at simply parsing RSS feeds for your site. I found a good source over at BrainyQuote.com. Give it a shot!