John,

>1. Does unsafe = unmanaged

No, it doesn't...unsafe is still managed. Here's another good link discussing C#'s unsafe features...it provides a good explanation of 'Why is "Unsafe" Unsafe':

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dncscol/html/csharp11152001.asp

Also, the book "Professional C#" by Wrox has a section "Unmanaged Code and Unsafe Code" and shows that these two terms are not synonymous.

>2. Can VB run code like this (I suspect not....)

You're right...C# can create unsafe code, but VB can't.

Regards,