gnome-appearance-properties does not launch

It just plainly will not start.

tom@bigred:~$ gnome-appearance-properties %F

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_new: assertion `width > 0' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_scale_simple: assertion `src != NULL' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_new: assertion `width > 0' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_scale_simple: assertion `src != NULL' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_new: assertion `width > 0' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_scale_simple: assertion `src != NULL' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_get_width: assertion `pixbuf != NULL' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_get_height: assertion `pixbuf != NULL' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_get_width: assertion `pixbuf != NULL' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_get_height: assertion `pixbuf != NULL' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_get_width: assertion `pixbuf != NULL' failed

(gnome-appearance-properties:11846): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **: gdk_pixbuf_get_height: assertion `pixbuf != NULL' failed
The program 'gnome-appearance-properties' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)'.
  (Details: serial 144 error_code 11 request_code 53 minor_code 0)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)