Core dumps...

[Adam K Kirchhoff <adamk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This started happening this morning:

[ adamk@sorrow - ~ ]: gnome-terminal 
Fatal error 'gc cannot wait for a signal' at line ? in file /usr/src/lib/libc_r/uthread/uthread_gc.c (errno = ?)
Abort trap (core dumped)

Same for mozilla, thunderbird, firefox, etc..

I left my machine, brushed my teeth, came back, and suddenly it's working again.  Any ideas what happened? 

Adam