Reiterating the obvious

Rico says he feels no compunction against editing the words of others that he posts here, no matter how august the source, and especially insists on putting in serial commas.
Why? Because Rani Cochran (one of Rico's co-workers at Apple) once made clear their importance by quoting this book dedication:

She wished to thank her parents, Ayn Rand and God.

Imagine how differently that would read with a comma after Ms. Rand's name...