shaglio
The Prince of Dorkness
I think that they're also intended to give you heads up about your position in the game. You'll notice that you'll also get complements from your friends. Either way, they'll refer to your military strength, economy, culture (that one always makes me LOL, "What do you guys do for fun over there, play with rocks?") size, treatment of CS's, or War Mongering.
They don't always give you an accurate heads up though. Many times I've had somebody pop up to tell me my Economy is in pretty bad shape . . . yet I had the most Gold and highest GPT of all the civs.