Im using radrails and mysql database, im using DATE in mysql for a date of birth column, When i use this in Radrails the date shows as dropdown lists, the days and month are fine but the year list only shows 2002-2012.
i was a bit misleaded because of the mysql bit, but after reading your mail twice i’d say the db has nothing to do with this problem and your problem is about date_select
under this assumption, i would recommend to read through the
date_select documentation, specially where it says " It‘s possible to
tailor the selects through the
options hash, which accepts all the keys that each of the
individual select builders do (like :use_month_numbers for select_month)
as well as a range of
discard options"
then if you go to the “select_year” doc you will see a couple of interesting options: :start_year and :end_year.
so… if you provide date_select with these two options, you can constraint the date range to use instead of going with the default (which is 5 years before/after the given date).
For future questions to the list i’d recommend to post the code where
you have the problem, that way no assumptions about what you are doing
are needed 
regards,
javier ramirez