Commas, serially

Rico says that the much-vaunted New York Times also continues to commit serial-comma failure in all its articles. Seemingly unimportant, the reason for them was best summed up in an example of a book dedication once given to him by Rani Cochran, a co-worker when Rico was at Apple:

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

Amazing, the difference one little comma would make...