oh, this handy page clears things right up. preferences.com belongs to MatchLogic which is a member of the Excite @Home network which serves up banner ads for companies like GM through doubleclick AND deliverE their "by choice" email system AND their sweepstakes network. (step 1: enter your email address. ha!) The banner ads are then served up on pages like Wired news and suck. (members of the Lycos network) Well, now I know.